Feature request: Delete/archive content

Feature Suggestions
1

What DVR anywhere doesn't have a delete feature?  I'm sure I'm not the first to ask for this.  Seems like a no brainer.  I'm tired of having to get into a server folder just to remove some garbage or old content, then wait for a scan to refresh things.

 

You should be able to easily remove content I've seen from what is selectable.

 

Good: Delete the content - it removes the files, makes more space. done. Huge time saver over not having this feature.

Better: "Archive" the content - it removes the content from Plex, but moves the files into an archive folder that can be moved back if needed (recycle bin) or easily cleaned up/backed up on PMS because those files are now in a single convenient folder.

Best: Add some cleanup rules that can automatically do this stuff based upon a configurable policy.  Like:

 

[  ] Archive content after [x] days that has been watched

[  ] Delete content (remove files) after [x] days that has been watched

 

And make the archived section easy to get to so it can be "reverted" back into it's original location.

2

Deleting content is already available.  As for your other requests I think comparing Plex to a DVR may lead to disappointment.  It's not, nor is it designed to be, a DVR replacement.  Plex has always had a hands off approach to the users file system by design.

Settings / Library / Show Advanced Options / Allow Clients to Delete Media

3
Good: Delete the content - it removes the files, makes more space. done. Huge time saver over not having this feature.

Already present

Better: "Archive" the content - it removes the content from Plex, but moves the files into an archive folder that can be moved back if needed (recycle bin) or easily cleaned up/backed up on PMS because those files are now in a single convenient folder.

Dislike that, if it still takes up disk-space, then why not still have it avail in Plex?

Best: Add some cleanup rules that can automatically do this stuff based upon a configurable policy.  Like:

[  ] Archive content after [x] days that has been watched

[  ] Delete content (remove files) after [x] days that has been watched

And how would that work in a multi-user environtment?

/T

4

Already present

Thanks David S for showing me where.  I'm surprised this feature isn't enabled by default. 

Dislike that, if it still takes up disk-space, then why not still have it avail in Plex?

It moves your "finished" material into a separate physical bucket that can be moved to another hard drive or storage medium for archival or permanently deleted.  Weeding through the larger library for these items later is tedious. 

 

And how would that work in a multi-user environtment?

Adding a "keep this until I delete" flag on selected content content to override the policy (this is how my cable DVR works).  Archiving also gives users a chance to "undelete" before it's permanently deleted from disk.

Brainstorming further:  The goal I have here is to keep the main content menus fresh - especially TV shows, movies to some extent (not so much for music)  where there's massive churn.  Most people don't care about every single episode of most TV shows that's ever been downloaded.  Some folks do, I know.

Maybe the term "delete" isn't ideal - "expiration" could be more appropriate - 

Expire content:

[ n ] days after watching 

[ n ] days after download

[ checkbox] never expire content

Expired content is

[ checkbox ] archived / moved to selected folder [ folder location ]

Permanently delete items in archival folder after [ n ] days

--------

A menu for Archiving could show "content about to expire" - list the items showing each with the # of days before it expires.

Sons of Anarchy S06E12 - to be archived in 12 days - auto deleted in 42 days 

Mad Men S06E11 - to be archived in 13 days - auto deleted in 43 days

etc

This kind of feature helps keep fresh items in the main menus while giving a nice place to preserve the old stuff without cluttering things up.  When things are "Archived", it would be nice if Plex could include the metadata in a file that would make it easy to restore later if needed as well.

I really think that Plex should try to accommodate most use cases without requiring users to routinely fuss around with file systems manually. Otherwise you will need an IT qualification to use it and this limits the user base to geeks like us.

5

I know that there are people that use their plex setup like a DVR, however I am not one of them, I guess I am a collector, so I like just keeping my content, in case I wish to re-watch it.  However if I did use this feature, I would rather that it was linked to shows and be off by default, so that I would go in and select a show like x factor and set it to get deleted 1 week after being watched.  basically I don't want to have to go through all my shows and say save forever just to be able to auto delete one of them.

6

Maybe this is more a philosophical question about what people want Plex to be or do.

If Plex doesn’t ever want to become a mainstream app, then it can ignore these users and these features, and continue to expect that its core userbase are IT power-users and have a collection of tools, maybe their own scripts to manage their content.  I have those skills, but I get irritated when I have to maintain code to get my TV to function.  

There is a giant hole in the content management space, currently partially filled by Couch Potato, Sick Beard, and barely that – and all Plex does (and marginally, based upon quality level) is be a fancy player/sling box.  But I don’t think that Plex is setting their sights that low.  I think they want content management features.  The slogan is a “Complete Media Solution”.  In their features section (https://www.plex.tv/features) a core feature is “Save it Now Watch it Later”.

If Plex wants to be a “complete media solution” then deleting content should be a core feature set.  If you are “never delete” content hoarder, then that’s fine, you don’t ever have to delete, but your “never delete” behaviors are not mutually exclusive to what most people do – which is to delete and archive content, and some automation here is a big value.  And every DVR has these features since the dawn of Tivo.

7

Early 2021 clean-up: duplicate