# Clear watched episodes for a specific user

**URL:** <https://forums.plex.tv/t/clear-watched-episodes-for-a-specific-user/328876>\
**Category:** General Discussions\
**Created:** [November 8, 2018, 12:34pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/clear-watched-episodes-for-a-specific-user/328876 "2018-11-08T12:34:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Zerith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/49beb7/32.png) [@Zerith](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Zerith)\
**Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 12:34pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/clear-watched-episodes-for-a-specific-user/328876/1 "2018-11-08T12:34:51Z")

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Hi,

How would I go about clearing the watched status of an entire user. At some point I had an issue where watched status was synced to all users which was incorrect so now want to reset this for a specific user.

I’ve tried to remove the user completely and re-add them but the problem persists.

Thanks.

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**Author:** ![anon18523487](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@anon18523487](https://forums.plex.tv/u/anon18523487)\
**Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 9:14pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/clear-watched-episodes-for-a-specific-user/328876/2 "2018-11-08T21:14:03Z")

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There isn’t a way in Plex to remove the watched status, except to have that user mark each library as unplayed.

If you are adventurous, you could manually do it by manipulating the Plex database.

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**Author:** ![Zerith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/49beb7/32.png) [@Zerith](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Zerith)\
**Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 10:04pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/clear-watched-episodes-for-a-specific-user/328876/3 "2018-11-08T22:04:35Z")

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I am a software developer by trade so if you can point me in the right direction I’m sure I’ll be able to sort it out but if it can be updated on a library level it might not be the end of the world. Just scared that content no longer available in the libraries might still stay as watch in the database.

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**Author:** ![anon18523487](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@anon18523487](https://forums.plex.tv/u/anon18523487)\
**Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 10:15pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/clear-watched-episodes-for-a-specific-user/328876/4 "2018-11-08T22:15:57Z")

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> [@Zerith](#):
>
> Just scared that content no longer available in the libraries might still stay as watch in the database.

Yes, that will happen. Plex is like an elephant and never forgets. It’s intentional so if you remove a movie, then add it back later, the status will still be there. You’ll have to edit the database to totally remove that info.

Here is a support article on repairing the Plex database. You don’t need to do that, but it has info on how to find and access the database. [https://support.plex.tv/articles/201100678-repair-a-corrupt-database/](https://support.plex.tv/articles/201100678-repair-a-corrupt-database/)

You basically want to run an SQL statement to remove all the entries from 1 specific table for that user. You should first shut down PMS, then you’ll need to identify the user id.

SELECT id, name FROM accounts;

This will give a list of your users and their ID. Then the removal.

DELETE FROM metadata\_item\_settings WHERE account\_id = 999;

Change the 999 to match the user you are interested in.

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**Author:** ![Zerith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/49beb7/32.png) [@Zerith](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Zerith)\
**Post date:** [November 9, 2018, 8:45am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/clear-watched-episodes-for-a-specific-user/328876/5 "2018-11-09T08:45:18Z")

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Thanks for the response, it seems that the metadata table provided does not exist but found that it was just called item instead of items.

I have removed the details from said user and the on deck information is no longer showing.

Thanks for the help.

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**Author:** ![anon18523487](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@anon18523487](https://forums.plex.tv/u/anon18523487)\
**Post date:** [November 9, 2018, 8:59am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/clear-watched-episodes-for-a-specific-user/328876/6 "2018-11-09T08:59:01Z")

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Oops, yeah typo. Edited my post above.

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 9:00am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/clear-watched-episodes-for-a-specific-user/328876/7 "2019-02-07T09:00:24Z")

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