Friendly User Activity Log

Feature Suggestions
1

Currently we can see what users who have access to our libraries are watching, as they are watching.  I'd like to have the ability to see historically what all users who have access to my media are watching.  I'm sure this is achievable through logs, however a friendly web-based expansion of the Now Playing is what I would like to see.  It could be a simple list with the names of the users, a small thumbnail representing the content they viewed, the date and time they started, and if it was an encoding or direct play.  A step further would be to show what level of encoding was used, based on the user's preference. 

 

Weeks and weeks worth of this data will add up, so I suggest a left panel that would allow to filter by year, month, and day, with the filter options changing as more data is collected.  For example, after using this feature for a few days, only the Days filters would be available. Additionally, an option to purge data that is older an X days or months would help to maintain the data set. 

2

Within Plex this is a very requested feature already.  One of the more popular.  I suggest searching for it and adding a "Like" to the first post on the thread. (In fact, I have one here:)

https://forums.plex.tv/topic/146123-server-tools-whos-watching-what/?hl=%2Bserver+%2Btools

In the mean time, there is a third party solution that you can implement that does exactly what you are asking.  Check out these posts:

https://forums.plex.tv/topic/72552-plexwatch-plex-notify-script-send-push-alerts-on-new-sessions-and-stopped/

https://forums.plex.tv/topic/79616-plexwatch-windows-branch/

https://forums.plex.tv/topic/155326-plexwatch-and-plexwatchweb-installation-and-configuration-procedure-for-dummies-windows/

https://forums.plex.tv/topic/82819-plexwatchweb-a-web-front-end-for-plexwatch/

These should help you get the functionality you want, even though it may take a bit of effort to get it.

3

I have set up a catchall thread for this feature.

Please vote here

https://forums.plex.tv/topic/154159-native-integration-of-plex-notify-or-plex-watch-or-a-replacement-ie-native-data-export/

and comment if you wish.

4

I have set up a catchall thread for this feature.

Please vote here

https://forums.plex.tv/topic/154159-native-integration-of-plex-notify-or-plex-watch-or-a-replacement-ie-native-data-export/

and comment if you wish.

That is not really a catch-all. It's a request for push notifications, which is not what this request is at all. This OP's request seems to be a request for simple reporting of server activity, with no mention of push notifications at all.

I make this clarification because I have zero interest in push notifications to any messaging client, but I do want on demand reporting of server activities. There is a huge difference between the two.

5

Its all data export whether pushed to a notification platform or a web ui. It’s the same back end. It’s to achieve user friendly data export which this is surely.



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6

Hi All,

I'm not going to get into the semantics of how the backend should work.  I'm simply requesting a feature.  If I could code it myself, I would.  But I can't, as I am just an end user of Plex.  I prefer simplicity.  Push Notifications seems like a great idea for being notified on server uptime and utilization, however the web history tool would be more intended to drive an understanding of what is being watched and when, maybe to the extend of keeping track of how popular each piece of content is.  It could also be useful in striking up conversations with your friends about recent movies they have seen, but mostly it is about understanding what is and is not being watched. 

7

Its all data export whether pushed to a notification platform or a web ui. It's the same back end. It's to achieve user friendly data export which this is surely.


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My feature request is about how to parse and display that data.  I imagine the data already exists in logs, so this would be just a pretty log viewer. I don't see the need to build additional export functionality to accomplish this. 

8

Its all data export whether pushed to a notification platform or a web ui. It's the same back end. It's to achieve user friendly data export which this is surely.


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The difference is your request is for real-time push notifications of events, and this request is for historical data. Those are two entirely different requests. And while they both "could" be coded to use the same backend database, if designed that way, they do not necessarily require the same historical data to be recorded. A real-time Event Push like you request in your thread could just be triggered by the event happening, with no data actually being recorded at all, just a notification sent of the event. The same is not true for the OP's request, which would require that the data be recorded somewhere. As such, these are two totally different requests, with requirements that are not necessarily the same.

9

I understand what you are saying but both push data from apps like Plexwatch and Plexnotify and any web interface for historical data would show information saved in the Plex log, which is historical data. It’s just how and when you prefer to view the information that differs.



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10

I don't care one wit whether the function can make use of push notifications or not.  What I want to see is a long term record of what has and hasn't been watched, in an easy to understand web interface, built in to the Plex Web App interface.  Joew, I re-"liked" your post after you redid the first post to reflect the changes Cayars suggested, but the bottom line is, it isn't truly what I would use.  I think you kind of went about the whole thread you created in a round-about manner.  But, be that as it may, as long as the tools we need to do the job become a reality, whomever got the ball rolling is unimportant, just the fact it's moving is the important part.

Granted plexWatch can be configured to send emails, push notifications and a bunch of other types of notification tools.  These notifications can NOT be configured through the plexWatchWeb front end, which I feel is a severe limitation to the whole package, even though it's not a function I would particularly use.  The one most useful function, IMHO is a web page showing the statistics of who, what, when, where and how someone viewed one of my movies. 

This is also what the OP requested.  That's why I sent him to my thread and not yours.

Of course I would also like to see other types of tools, like server up time, bandwidth used, CPU used, memory available, CPU temp, HDD space remaining/used, episodes missing, resolutions of the shows I have on disk, file formats of what I have on disk, etc.  (Basically I want to see plexWatchWeb, Transmogrify and Maraschino as well as a few other things combined into one interface, built into Plex Media Server and the Plex Web App.) 

So, what the OP wants in this thread CAN be done, we've seen tools out there to do this already.  The question now is, if/when the Plex Team will actually put it all together in one location/interface and keep everyone happy.

11

Early 2021 clean-up: implemented (e.g. Play History)