# Force Generating Thumbnails

**URL:** <https://forums.plex.tv/t/force-generating-thumbnails/819326>\
**Category:** Plex Media Server\
**Tags:** server-linux\
**Created:** [November 20, 2022, 9:11pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/force-generating-thumbnails/819326 "2022-11-20T21:11:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Italicize4786](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e480ec/32.png) [@Italicize4786](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Italicize4786)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2022, 9:11pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/force-generating-thumbnails/819326/1 "2022-11-20T21:11:31Z")

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I have media that was in SD quality and recently added the HD quality but it didn’t scan for thumbnails. Is there a way to force it to scan for thumbnails or no? If not it’d be nice to have that option because now I’m stuck with media that doesn’t have any.

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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 21, 2022, 6:50am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/force-generating-thumbnails/819326/2 "2022-11-21T06:50:49Z")

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Refreshing the metadata should fix that. If not, the other option is to perform the [Plex Dance](https://forums.plex.tv/t/the-plex-dance/197064) on the video.

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**Author:** ![JaysPlex](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/jaysplex/32/281767_2.png) [@JaysPlex](https://forums.plex.tv/u/JaysPlex)\
**Post date:** [November 21, 2022, 7:14am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/force-generating-thumbnails/819326/3 "2022-11-21T07:14:16Z")

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If refreshing metadata doesn’t work try to analyze the files

[https://support.plex.tv/articles/200289336-analyze-media/](https://support.plex.tv/articles/200289336-analyze-media/)

 ![Screenshot (823)](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/4X/4/a/a/4aa53b1012d3597f32aeff736d49520da925807d.png)

For some reason when I’ve tried to analyze a show it didn’t work. I actually tried to analyze multiple shows/movies at one time and nothing happened.

I had to go all the way down and do it per season or per episode

Idk if that’s just my picky server or maybe the version I’m on has a bug

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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 21, 2022, 7:32am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/force-generating-thumbnails/819326/4 "2022-11-21T07:32:15Z")

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“Analyze” will work for videos that do not already have the thumbnails, but will not replace an existing one.

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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 19, 2023, 7:32am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/force-generating-thumbnails/819326/5 "2023-02-19T07:32:24Z")

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