Database browser help!

Hi I want to add some old movies, but doesn’t want the to show up in recently added.
Earlier I could either change timestamp on file or use SQL database browser to correct that, but neither solution work anymore.

How can I get it to work?
I have Plex on Unraid docker but can also install and export db file to Windows.
The built in SQL doesn’t have a browser, so really hope someone can help, so I don’t have old movies to recently added.

See Can no longer update library database with sqlite3 for a similar situation and solution near the bottom.

Changing the file’s timestamp won’t work. The added date is based on your system clock. You would need to change the date on your computer, scan the file, change the date back.

It would really be great to have a “Remove from recently added” option. I tend to add a lot of old (read: really OLD) movies that nobody ever watches or even remotely cares about. So, with an option like that, I could easily keep the queue much cleaner.

Along those lines, and sorry for hijacking the thread, what I’d also love to see is an option to “Split apart” at the library level. This would be highly useful, if your Plex count doesn’t match your file/folder count, but you have no idea what’s missing. Splitting apart at the library level would then put those movies/shows into the “Unmatched” category instead, and they would be easy to filter out and fix.

Thanks for reading! :stuck_out_tongue:

That’s been requested. Remove show from "Recently added..." list

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There’s a filter for duplicates that will show you anything that can be “split”. Not sure how useful splitting an entire library in 1 time would be. I have things that are merged on purpose.

It would be helpful for cases where something is merged, but not a duplicate. This can happen with TV shows, for example when you have two seasons of show 1, and Plex merged another show and added it as a third season, or when it merges shows at the season level, but with non-overlapping episodes. I admit, this would be rare, but it can happen. Ever since I switched to the new scanner, my show count is off by just one, and it’s been driving me nuts :wink: When you have a huge amount of shows, it’s near impossible to figure out what’s going on.

Ah, only for TV shows.

when it merges shows at the season level,

I see what you mean. I don’t know if a library level split apart would be the solution, but yeah there does need to be a way to identify these easier.

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I don’t really see another way, if something gets identified, but mismatched and therefore merged. Maybe add a filter for only splittable items, so we can at least get an idea of what’s been merged already.

Hi thanks for all the answers.
The first solution with changing the system clock is not easy. Using Unraid with Plex in a Docker.

I however found a solution. The solution is this:

Copy db to a Windows 10 machine.
Launch PowerShell:

$PlexDB = “c:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Plex Media Server\Plug-in Support\Databases\com.plexapp.plugins.library.db”
$PlexEXE = “C:\Program Files (x86)\Plex\Plex Media Server\Plex Media Server.exe”
$SQL = “UPDATE metadata_items SET added_at = ‘2005-12-03 00:00:00’ where library_section_id = ‘1’ and added_at >= ‘2022-01-05 00:00:00’”

& “$PlexEXE” “-sqlite” $PlexDB $SQL

With this command I change all movies from January 05 2022 and forward to December 03 2005.

Can’t take credit for it, saw @bpalloni wrote a post about it and a Reddit post with commands.

The little thing I stumbed upon is the following.
When I copy it back to directory afterwards the attributes is 666, before it was 644. When I change it back, it gives the following error and can’t launch Plex, but if I leave it at 666, I get no errors and can launch Plex.

Error: Unable to set up server: sqlite3_statement_backend::loadOne: attempt to write a readonly database (N4soci10soci_errorE)

Anyone that can validate if it’s okay to have the db as 666?

Did you change the user:group back to plex?

owner is root
group is users
It’s the same as the original file before changing.
Am using it in Unraid docker.

When you created your docker container via the template a userid and groupid where set, most likely 99/100 unless you changed them to root/user.

You can use 666 but I don’t know if that will cause plex to fail when it does backup and optimize.

I haven’t changed anything, but how can I see the default userid/groupid? Using Guacamole but can use commandline as well.

Got it working now. Did a ls -l and saw the other files had nobody as owner. Did a chown nobody of db file and changed to 644 and it’s working like original:)

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