Introducing Plex Collection Importer: Streamline Your Media Library Management

Dev Community Apps & Creations
1

Hello Plex Community,

I’m excited to introduce a new tool I’ve developed called the Plex Collection Importer. This tool is designed to enhance your Plex media library management experience by allowing you to import lists from Douban, IMDb, Trakt, or other local lists directly into your Plex media library.

How It Works:

The script fetches movie (TV show) data from the network or local list, matches it with the movies (TV shows) in your selected library, and adds the matched movies (TV shows) to a collection named after the list. This way, you can easily import lists into your Plex media library.

Getting Started:

Before running the script, you’ll need to configure your Plex server address and X-Plex-Token in the config.ini file. If you want to add TMDB ID information to the movies (TV shows) when fetching the list, you can also provide your TMDB API key.

Importing Lists:

The script supports two modes of operation:

  1. Online Lists Mode: If the collections folder is empty, run the script, and follow the prompts to import lists from online platforms like Douban, IMDb, or Trakt. Here’s an example:
Here are all the MOVIE and TV libraries on your Plex server: 

1. Movies
2. Anime
3. TV Shows
4. Variety Shows

Please enter the number of the library you want to select (separate multiple numbers with spaces): 1

Please enter the ID of the list: x1ao4 low-budget-big-ideas
Please enter the type of the list (movie or tv): movie

Fetching list: Low Budget, Big Ideas

1 Time Lapse (2014) {tmdb-273271}
2 The One I Love (2014) {tmdb-242090}
3 The Double (2014) {tmdb-146015}
4 Following (1999) {tmdb-11660}
5 Coherence (2014) {tmdb-220289}
6 Primer (2004) {tmdb-14337}
7 Dogville (2003) {tmdb-553}
8 Memento (2001) {tmdb-77}
9 K-PAX (2001) {tmdb-167}
10 Ex Machina (2015) {tmdb-264660}
11 One Cut of the Dead (2017) {tmdb-513434}

Matching library: Movies

"Coherence (2014)" has been added to the "Low Budget, Big Ideas" collection
"Dogville (2003)" has been added to the "Low Budget, Big Ideas" collection
"Following (1999)" has been added to the "Low Budget, Big Ideas" collection
"Memento (2000)" has been added to the "Low Budget, Big Ideas" collection
"The One I Love (2014)" has been added to the "Low Budget, Big Ideas" collection
  1. Local Lists Mode: If a .txt list is in the collections folder, run the script to import this local list into your Plex library. The script does the matching and organizing automatically. Here’s an example:
Here are all the MOVIE and TV libraries on your Plex server: 

1. Movies
2. Anime
3. TV Shows
4. Variety Shows

Please enter the number of the library you want to select (separate multiple numbers with spaces): 1

Reading the list...

DOUBAN Top 250 Movies

Matching library: Movies

"The Shawshank Redemption (1994)" has been added to the "DOUBAN Top 250 Movies" collection
"Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)" has been added to the "DOUBAN Top 250 Movies" collection
"Titanic (1997)" has been added to the "DOUBAN Top 250 Movies" collection
"The Truman Show (1998)" has been added to the "DOUBAN Top 250 Movies" collection
"Zootopia (2016)" has been added to the "DOUBAN Top 250 Movies" collection

Additional Tools:

In addition to the main script, I’ve also included some handy tools for fetching, converting, and editing playlists separately. These include get-douban-list , get-imdb-list , get-trakt-list , and more.

While I’m aware that there may already be some tools out there with similar functionalities, what sets this script apart is its standalone nature. The Plex Collection Importer I’ve developed is designed to operate independently, offering a simple and convenient solution for managing your Plex media library. It doesn’t require any additional software or complex setup, making it an accessible tool for all Plex users. Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned Plex user, you’ll find this script easy to use and incredibly helpful in organizing your media collections.

Please check out the GitHub repository for more detailed information and instructions. I hope you find this tool helpful. Enjoy enhancing your Plex media library experience with the Plex Collection Importer!

2

Hi. I’ve just read your thread on the Plex Collection import tool. Your application appears to be. for importing collection like data from 3rd party software into Plex. Actually, I have a need to import all my collections from one plex account to another plex account that I have where both accounts have the same underlying media and both accounts reside on separate machines connected to the same local network. Just wondering if you have a tool to do this or know of one or of some process which i not too technical? I need to be able to do this primarily for backup purposes and because there are too many collections to make manual creation of the backup practical. If you are able to email me your insights on this at mike_power01@outlook.com that would be the ideal way for me to receive your comments and I would be immensely grateful Many thanks Michael Power.

3

Are you saying that you have two hosts on the same local network, and each of them has its own Plex Media Server set up with different accounts, but they both have the same media files added to them? And now, you want to copy collections from one Plex Media Server to the other, right?

My application is made specifically for importing collections. If you can export the collections from your first Plex Media Server (let’s call it PMS A) into text files following my instructions, then you can use my application to import them into the second Plex Media Server (let’s call it PMS B).

Alternatively, you can try locating the collection data folder of PMS A. Then, you can copy that folder and replace the corresponding folder in PMS B. For example, on a Mac, the location of the PMS collection folder is /Users/yourusername/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Metadata/Collections. You can find a similar folder on your device and replace it on PMS B. This might also directly generate the collection information, but I’m not completely sure about that.