# Managing Library Access **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussions\ **Created:** [November 11, 2023, 8:07am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/managing-library-access/859262 "2023-11-11T08:07:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Anami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee59a6/32.png) [@Anami](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Anami)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2023, 8:07am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/managing-library-access/859262/1 "2023-11-11T08:07:29Z")
Hello, I’m new to Plex Media Server and I’am currently trying to find the right settings for my libraries. Especially since I’ve already received two requests from people I don’t know. I even don’t know what they’re asking for. So I’m wondering what of my libraries are publicly viewable and how I can change that. Can someone please help me here? ---
**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:** [November 11, 2023, 8:26am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/managing-library-access/859262/2 "2023-11-11T08:26:34Z")
Your own libraries (provided that you actually have setup an own Plex media server) are not publicly accessible by default. If you want that, you’d need to explicitly enable it. You can see and manage that here: [https://app.plex.tv/desktop/#!/settings/manage-library-access](https://app.plex.tv/desktop/#!/settings/manage-library-access) Read those incoming requests carefully. They could just be asking to become your “Plex friend”. Being friends on Plex doesn’t automatically mean that you are going to share your media with each other. You can see all your current Plex friends here: [https://app.plex.tv/desktop/#!/friends](https://app.plex.tv/desktop/#!/friends) Being Plex friends only enables you to see what movies or shows you’ve watched (not just on Plex but in general), and leave comments about them. This is a relatively new feature and has been announced in detail here: [https://www.plex.tv/blog/discover-together/](https://www.plex.tv/blog/discover-together/) All these social features are set to “private” by default. You may have seen a prompt to customize them when you opened a Plex client recently. You can check and edit these settings here: [https://app.plex.tv/desktop/#!/profile/edit](https://app.plex.tv/desktop/#!/profile/edit) ---
**Author:** ![Anami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee59a6/32.png) [@Anami](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Anami)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2023, 8:30am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/managing-library-access/859262/3 "2023-11-11T08:30:56Z")
Thank you very much for this fast answer. Only one more question, where is it visible that I’m a member of Plex that people can send me a request? ---
**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:** [November 11, 2023, 8:34am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/managing-library-access/859262/4 "2023-11-11T08:34:34Z")
Other Plex users can search by user names or email addresses, in order to become Plex friends. Whether it is possible to be found that way, you can decide on the above linked profile page. (“Account visibility”) ---
**Author:** ![blim5001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c2a13f/32.png) [@blim5001](https://forums.plex.tv/u/blim5001)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2023, 9:51am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/managing-library-access/859262/5 "2023-11-11T09:51:50Z")
Out of curiosity, I just created a new account and by default this is how the visibility is set: ![Screenshot 2023-11-11 at 09.48.22](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/4X/d/a/a/daaff9d067c311a7e465eb27873119adf2b89976.png) ---
**Author:** ![Anami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee59a6/32.png) [@Anami](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Anami)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2023, 1:58pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/managing-library-access/859262/6 "2023-11-11T13:58:17Z")
Right, mine too. There is no option for “nobody” … ![Bildschirmfoto 2023-11-11 um 14.56.49](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/4X/0/6/9/069874dececc6befcc0db6b533debdcdd0b00208.png) ---
**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:** [November 11, 2023, 2:00pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/managing-library-access/859262/7 "2023-11-11T14:00:11Z")
The option you are looking for is “Friends only”. (German: “Nur Freunde”) ---
**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:** [November 11, 2023, 3:30pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/managing-library-access/859262/8 "2023-11-11T15:30:02Z")
> [@blim5001](#): > > Out of curiosity, I just created a new account and by default this is how the visibility is set: “Visibility” is the exception to the default of “private”. Reason is of course the intention to make it easy to start using of Plex as a kind of social media platform. On the other hand, if all the other settings are set to “private” (which again, is their default), all a foreign person can do is to see that a Plex account with your user name is existing at all. No other information is divulged by this. ---
**Author:** ![blim5001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c2a13f/32.png) [@blim5001](https://forums.plex.tv/u/blim5001)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2023, 4:13pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/managing-library-access/859262/9 "2023-11-11T16:13:15Z")
Yep, but not sure it should be, as is the case of the OP where they got email requests from unknown people. Personally I do not need random people trying to be my ‘friend’ (You can just go the add friends page and do random searches and then pick anyone from the results. This also gives away valid user names, which I don’t think is a great idea either) > [@OttoKerner](#): > > Plex as a kind of social media platform I know. But that is not something I want from Plex, Yuk,. ---
**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:** [November 11, 2023, 4:17pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/managing-library-access/859262/10 "2023-11-11T16:17:53Z")
> [@blim5001](#): > > Yep, but not sure it should be, as is the case of the OP where they got email requests from unknown people. This was also possible before. No change there in behaviour. The general advice is to simply deny these requests and be done with it. If anything, the newly added preference is now an improvement for privacy-minded users. > [@blim5001](#): > > But that is not something I want from Plex, Yuk,. In general, if you are not interested in that kind of thing, review the settings on [https://app.plex.tv/desktop/#!/profile/edit](https://app.plex.tv/desktop/#!/profile/edit) as well as the one on the bottom here: [https://app.plex.tv/desktop/#!/settings/online-media-sources](https://app.plex.tv/desktop/#!/settings/online-media-sources) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2024, 4:18pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/managing-library-access/859262/11 "2024-02-09T16:18:37Z")
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