What do you mean with Settings / Scan My Library Automatically = ON / OFF and Scan My Library Periodically = ON / OFF. The only flag is FORCE_RUN_AT_START = False or did you put additional flags and switches in the code?
There is a 120 second delay in the processing. I have tested so far and it works for my library. But I have not tested adding photos from different dates as this is now different in processing.
I will check that.
Sorry for delay in replying…I am referring to the Plex server settings as follows:
If i should leave both unchecked please let me know. Thanks!
Ok, the script only works correctly when the plex server is set to auto update.
Periodical scans are not supported by the script because the script then needs to be informed by the plex server. There may be an option to implement such a functionality, but it is not on my list. I was gathering information some time ago about that and found that this is not supported by plex for photos like it is supported for movies. So I skipped it, to complicated and prone to error.
Hi, it is possible to use the script on Synology NAS? And if it is, how should I do?
It could be run on any platform supporting python. If your Synology nas supports docker containers it is even easier. Just install the docker image arehbein/pptag and follow the readme in the repository. You need to map the photo folder and the configuration file inside docker.
If your nas doesn’t support docker you can run the script on a computer that is in the same network. This is not the best solution but it works. Unless you stop the computer you also get the auto update functionality running. Once stopped you can always sync the plex server by running the script manually.
If you need further assist please let me know.
I have been trying to add the following to the script, but cannot figure out where.
xy = 0
xy = xy + 1
print(xy)
I just want to keep an eye on how many photos have updated as it is progressing. This helps to see how long before the process is finished. Can you point me the right direction ? thanks
You could simply check the Plex Server “Alerts” tab and it will log photos’ tags that have been updated in real time. Note that there will be no updates in the Alerts tab when processing photos without tags.
Alternatively, you add print (filename) after line “filename = …” and it will print the name of the file being processed:
Or you could add xy=xy+1 (assuming xy=0) is added to the top of the code near p=None
Hi,
sry getting back to you late. As @EEDacho described you can add some logging to the script.
Meanwhile I‘m thinking about adding some logging functionality to the script that writes the data to a given folder in files named by date and time. This feature will be configurable using the config file. Maybe I can implement something like this in the next week.
I can get the file name to print, but i cannot get the count to work.
I get this error UnboundLocalError: local variable ‘xy’ referenced before assignment.
When i put:
xy = xy + 1
print(xy)
I have tried in almost every section of the code. I am missing something…
You need to put
global xy
After the function definition
so:
def update.......
global xy
...
Perfect…thanks 
I think it’s awesome that someone worked out a way to get this to work, but I wanted to get back to the original focus of this post: that using tags embedded in the file should be supported natively in Plex. Plex has always been the option for people who don’t want to upload their entire collection to the web somewhere and then sever the ties to their existing files. It’s for people who want remote access to the files they’ve spent time updating, organizing, and curating. I recently started using Photos in Plex and love the timeline view, but I would like to organize them according to tag for searchability. If I decide to use a different photo program, I’d like to not just have the tag in Plex, but on the file itself. Again, this gives Plex users flexibility instead of being locked into one program or service, which is a huge reason why I use Plex. I don’t plan on cancelling my Plex Pass or abandoning Plex if it doesn’t get added, but would request re-examining this feature request as something that would improve the functionality of Plex in dealing with photos. It already reads the date taken and location information, I can’t imagine it’s a big ask to have it sync the tag information as well. It doesn’t even have to write anything back to the file or be updateable through Plex, just read it and update in Plex if it changes
Not sure how simple this would be, but is it possible to add a line that says, if the tags in plex file are the same as the file been read from then skip. This way the script can be used quickly to only update files that have changed, without the script always running in the background…thanks in advance.
To check if the data is already the same we need to fetch the data from plex and parse the data of the file. So there is no benefit in speed. The only way would be to use the timestamps of the files and save them into a database. Then in another run the script could use these timestamps to only process files that are newer or recently changed. This timestamp is not always correct and in fact different on linux/windows/mac. So I think it is not easy and the benefit is not clear to me. The script already works this way when you keep it running (not the initial scan)
I have 150,000 photos and all have face tags and item tags as well as locations - yet Plex cannot search on them in any meaningful way? That seems a bit poor. Being able to search on existing metadata and on XML tags seems like a MINIMUM standard for any photo library
Thanks for this! Seems to work fine with Photoshop Elements having written tags to the metadata.
I must agree, I have just pointed Plex at my nearly 6000 pictures folder, holidays etc., all are already tagged with face names, locations, cat, mountain and at least 100 other tags…but inexplicably plex cannot even see them never mind use them. Why would anyone be content with having to retag all their photos again? Made worse by those tags added in plex not being visible to anything else.
Another user here, full plexpass, with tens of thousands of carefuly tagged images in Lightroom. How hard can it be to use the tags?
AMEN brother - I have 40 years of images, all labouriously tagged, face ID’d and labelled. Yet Plex does not care. Why? Every other service (Google, Amazon, FB, Flickr, Smugmug) all read them with no issues
Amen. There is a real programme management issue with their priorities. We don’t all steal films and music from torrents and share them with friends; some of us actually CREATE CONTENT
