Two suggestions/requests on Collections:
(1) Have tags be associated with the video file, not the library. So, if a video file shows up in multiple libraries, the tags are automatically there.
Why? I have an “All Movies” library and a “Kids Movies” library. The kids movies are in both the Kids and All libraries. If I create a collection in the kids library (e.g. “Toy Story” collection), I’d like the same collection to be automatically created in the “All Movies” library. At this time, I have to manually re-create EVERY collection in both libraries, which is a PITA.
(2) If a movie is moved physically to another NAS directory, or another library, the tags are lost when Plex re-scans and discovers the movie again. Having the tags associated with the file instead will also solve this problem and allow collections to persist across moves.
Re #1/ you can configure Plex to automatically create collections for you (setting a minimum threshold for how many movies it takes to establish a collection).
Re #2/ there’s a support article describing how to transfer media without losing metadata / your modifications.
TL;DR: make sure you disable automatic emptying the trash after a scan
On #1, I want to create the collections myself (i.e. not use the MovieDB automatic collection generation). You did not provide details on how to accomplish #1 in your response (so assumed you meant the MovieDB methodology).
On #2, i’m not moving the entire media collection to a new drive. I’m talking about moving a few video files from one RAID server to another. I have multiple NAS RAID drives. I believe #2 may not be an issue, although it would benefit by having tags associated with files (vs libraries).
COPY the files you want to move first.
Let Plex find them and Merge them (Blue Two in upper left corner).
All metadata including Collection Tags will be shared (cept maybe those pesky VPTs).
When Indexing is all finished - may take some time - remove the old media location and rescan.
Yes, the automatic collections are based on data from The Movie Database. Given Plex will also download the artwork and descriptions, it’s now much more convenient.
As Juice stated… you can also apply the copying while emptying-the-trash is disabled approach when moving single files.
Good idea, but since I don’t ‘Move’ files - only ‘COPY’ - there’s nothing to delete yet. I never change that at my house, but still it’s a good idea to be safe.
When movies are in two different libraries the movies have different media ID numbers which it’s metadata is tied to. So Star Wars in the Kids library might be media item 234 and star wars in the Adult library would have media item 567. Their metadata, which the collection tag is part of, are separate.
I initially had more Libraries, with divisions similar to yours. Over time I’ve combined most of them, and rely instead on Collections/Tags/Labels/Sharing Restrictions.
If you like separating the “Kids Movies” into a distinct Library, have you considered not duplicating the content? If Toy Story is only in the “Kids Movies” Library, adults can still browse or search for it.
Another option would be to put all movies into a single Library. If you have multiple users, you can use Content Ratings and/or Sharing Labels to restrict who has access.
I know that probably doesn’t address the user experience you have today.
It would be nice if Plex allowed Tags/Labels/Collections/Filters to be “Promoted” in the UI so they behaved more like top-level Libraries.
I think it’s very unlikely that Plex will change the data model in the way you describe. Metadata and Labels and Tags are all associated with Library items. Files aren’t the “root” objects.
And I don’t think they should be. It would also take away from some of the flexibility that exists today - one reason to have multiple Libraries is to use different Labels/Tags/metadata. Your proposal would make that more difficult or impossible.
Apparently, that seems to be the direction Plex is going (no matter how much users kick and scream) and I too saw the light some time ago. It is an option to consider - if you wanna be more Plex Compliant - in the long run.
