# \[Feature Request\] Include "The" when sorting media. **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussions\ **Created:** [October 30, 2016, 11:32am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/feature-request-include-the-when-sorting-media/165173 "2016-10-30T11:32:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![terids](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/41988e/32.png) [@terids](https://forums.plex.tv/u/terids)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2016, 11:32am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/feature-request-include-the-when-sorting-media/165173/1 "2016-10-30T11:32:47Z")
Include the word “The” when sorting media. Eg. I would like to search for “The Libertines”, not “Libertines, The”. ---
**Author:** ![Elijah\_Baley](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/elijah_baley/32/10336_2.png) [@Elijah\_Baley](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Elijah_Baley)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2016, 1:24pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/feature-request-include-the-when-sorting-media/165173/2 "2016-10-30T13:24:11Z")
The normal sorting used in everything from dictionaries and reference books to cookbooks is to omit “the,” “a” and other articles and only use words with meaning for the sort. If you wish to sort outside the norm Plex does provide a method. You can simply place what you want in the “sort” field by editing the item you want to be different. Then you can have all the “thes” in you database all together like you are asking for. It is a tiny minority of people that would want that improper sorting so Plex, in this case, would be well served to simply leave everything as it is and those few that want to do it differently can simply use the sort filed and accomplish what is wanted. ---
**Author:** ![JuiceWSA](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/juicewsa/32/12253_2.png) [@JuiceWSA](https://forums.plex.tv/u/JuiceWSA)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2016, 4:25pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/feature-request-include-the-when-sorting-media/165173/3 "2016-10-30T16:25:52Z")
… and judging by the numerous feature request threads already in existence on this matter and the way in which they get ignored by Plex I would expect this tradition to continue. ---
**Author:** ![terids](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/41988e/32.png) [@terids](https://forums.plex.tv/u/terids)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 3:12pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/feature-request-include-the-when-sorting-media/165173/4 "2017-09-07T15:12:05Z")
The idea of Plex is to automate everything. All we need is a setting that we can turn on or off with a list of comma separated strings with prefixes to ignore. It’s not a big feature to ask for at all, give me the source code and I’ll write it myself 😛 On my PC I use a different player for music, sorted the way I like. Plex goes against this grain, so when searching for music outside of my home I always go to “the” to find my album, but isn’t there. It also just looks wrong to have loads of “The…” in the middle of an alphabetical sorting. Standard or not…people like options. ---
**Author:** ![Nights0ng](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/nights0ng/32/11035_2.png) [@Nights0ng](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Nights0ng)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 3:23pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/feature-request-include-the-when-sorting-media/165173/5 "2017-09-07T15:23:14Z")
@terids Check the following link: [Advanced, Hidden Server Settings](https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/201105343-Advanced-Hidden-Server-Settings "Advanced, Hidden Server Settings") There is a settings called **ArticleStrings** , if you remove the items from this you should have one you want. Unfortunately this is only used on creation of an item, refreshing in your current library will not honor this. ---
**Author:** ![OttoKerner](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ottokerner/32/10079_2.png) [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 3:27pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/feature-request-include-the-when-sorting-media/165173/6 "2017-09-07T15:27:08Z")
Edit your server’s advanced configuration [https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/201105343-Advanced-Hidden-Server-Settings](https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/201105343-Advanced-Hidden-Server-Settings) If you want all articles to be relevant for sorting, you need to create an empty string named `ArticleStrings` This change will only affect _newly_ added items, because what it actually does is to influence how the ‘Sort Title’ of items is generated: ![](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/uploads/default/original/3X/3/3/332f96632b2a25b9afc5cdd885a4f5a3b597f5fd.png) ---
**Author:** ![terids](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/41988e/32.png) [@terids](https://forums.plex.tv/u/terids)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 3:27pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/feature-request-include-the-when-sorting-media/165173/7 "2017-09-07T15:27:44Z")
Thanks, I spotted this today and am giving it a go for future additions. Let the manual labour begin… 😛 ---
**Author:** ![OttoKerner](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ottokerner/32/10079_2.png) [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 3:33pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/feature-request-include-the-when-sorting-media/165173/8 "2017-09-07T15:33:27Z")
> @terids said: > Thanks, I spotted this today and am giving it a go for future additions. Let the manual labour begin… 😛 There should be a SQL command floating around these forums to copy the ‘Title’ unchanged into the ‘Sort Title’ field. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2020, 10:09pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/feature-request-include-the-when-sorting-media/165173/9 "2020-01-07T22:09:04Z")