Is there a way I can have Plex STOP scanning and adding pictures to the library? I have private pictures and use Plex in front of lots of people. I want to use Plex just for videos I have made and movies I download. Is there a way to limit the folders on my server that get scanned??
Thanks,
Cameron
You can delete your photos library if you do not want it to scan pictures at all.
You can also setup a different profile that has limited access that you can use when people are around and switch between them.
Whatever folders you specify when you add a library it will scan so you can limit it that was as well.
Can you tell me how to delete the photos library? I have looked in the knowledgebase and don’t see anything for deleting a PART of a library.
And, when I pointed Plex to my computer hard drive, it just automatically started scanning everything…I didn’t specify Photos, Videos, etc. So, I don’t understand how to set it up so it doesn’t scan any folder other than one particular folder.
Thanks,
Cameron
What you do is create folder for your media based on type.
EG:
Movies Folder
Music Folder
TV Folder
Photos Folder
Place the appropriate media in each folder.
Then create new libraries for each type than point that library to the appropriate folder.
Now you Photos are in their own library and you can manage access to those photos.
NEVER scan libraries in from the Root. Plex will put all sorts of stuff into your library out of your control.
Does that make sense???
Under Documents in the Finder on my Mac, I have a folder called Movies. That is the only folder I selected. But, yet I’m seeing photos and podcast info on my main home page/library in Plex.
If I was to create the folders you suggested, where is the best place to put them. All my music is under iTunes Media folder. Can I just add a folder in Itunes Media for the other folders you mentioned (Movies, TV, etc.)? Will Plex look under the Itunes Media folder for my movies?
Do I need to start over somehow now that I have all this stuff on Plex (photos and podcasts)? Is there a way to delete the pointers to the current folders? I don’t even know how it is finding the photos and podcasts to be honest. It is all very confusing.
I would DO ANYTHING to be able to contact support and talk by phone to someone. I have tried to find info in the support/FAQs and nothing is helpful for me. Obviously, I am not very well versed on all this, but I got it all to work and I like it way better than Beamer. I just don’t understand the pointers and how to fix them.
I also have a Drobo5N, but it looks like that’s not a good place to point to…and god knows I would never figure out how to do it anyway. But, now I’m storing large files of movies on my laptop!!
Any help is SUPER appreciated.
Can you post a screen shot of what you are seeing?
This is what I have for libraries myself.
You might be looking at like a file view in Plex instead of library view or something…
Thank you so much for being willing to try to help me here. It means so much. I am attaching a few screen shots. First is the one like you showed me above. How did it get the music library? I never asked it to look for music.
can you see the screen shot? it looks like a link in the text above.
and this screen shot is the music. where is it pulling from??? how can i just stop all the pulling from anywhere except one folder. is this hard to do?
this is what i see when i try to edit one of the Music libraries. I never set this up!!!
So yeah not sure but somehow you have 2 photo and 2 music libraries…
Just hover over the library and select the 3 dots for the menu and delete them.
This will just remove them from Plex and not delete all your photos or music…
You can edit them if you want to select a specific folder for music or multiple folders for that matter.
In your shot above select “Add Folders” to select the folders you want to include for scanning.
Either way this is what it looks like
That was really helpful. Now my pictures don’t show up on the main home screen. And I assume it will stop scanning for those types of files as well, is that correct?
Can I ask you another question? Right now all my movies are just in my “Documents” folder which is NOT where I want to store such large files. Can I store them on my Drobo and point there? From what I read Drobo5N is supported, but not for transcoding. Does that mean if I get a movie in a mkv format they can’t be converted. One of the amazing things about Plex is that I’m not doing the same conversions I used to with VLC and Beamer. But, I’d like to store the movies in a better location that is accessible by all my computers (so if I get a movie on one computer I can easily add it to the movie library for Plex to scan later).
Last, how often do you have Plex scan? I’m getting ton of pop ups telling me that Plex is scanning. I would rather just scan manually when I add a movie (which is about once per week). What do you recommend?
And, remember I’m an idiot when giving instructions. You may have to tell me what screen to go to and what to press. I don’t necessarily need screen shots and I don’t want to inconvenience you. But, just explicit things to click on is really helpful.
Thanks,
Cameron
Yes it will stop scanning for those item types now.
Yes you can move your files to the Drobo and access that share from your Plex Server.
No you will not need to convert anything if you do that as long as Plex is not running on the Drobo which sounds like it isn’t and you just plan to store your files on the Drobo.
There are a couple ways you can do this.
What do you run Plex on? some Windows computer?
And do you already have a “Share” on your Drobo where you plan to store this?
As far as library updates you can go to this screen, follow the red circles and you can modify auto scans how often or disable it to scan yourself when you want. You might need to click the “Show Advanced” for some of these options
First, what is the best way to activate a scan? Let’s say I don’t update anything automatically or run partial scans hourly, etc. How do I just do a scan once i have uploaded a movie to the movie folder?
Second, my Drobo is just on my network at home. So, all the folders on the Drobo are “shared.” The problem is that when I browse for the movie folder (after I try to add a movie library), Drobo doesn’t show up. The only folders that show up are the ones on my actual hard drive of my computer. How do I get it to look on the network for a drive?
Thanks,
Cameron
So I like it to scan and pickup new stuff auto-magically but if not the same way you deleted that library there is an option “Scan Library Files” that is how you would manually scan a specific library.
If you are using Windows for your Plex Server (which is why I asked) I think you can use \\192.168.1.x\ShareName where 192.168.1.x is the IP or Name of your Drobo and ShareName is whatever share you want i.e. Movies or TV So try that when you go to “Add Folder” instead of browsing type that in and see.
If you dont use Windows or that doesn’t work you will need to add a “Network Drive” to your system that is mapped to your Drobo so when you browse your computer it will show that as an available resource.
I am using a Mac. Can you still help me? I’m not sure how to add a “Network Drive”
Try this…
I haven’t had a Mac in a while but should be fairly straightforward.
