Plex doesn`t create duplicate files

General Discussions
1

Hi all,

I dont know why but plex suddenly stopped identifying duplicated files. I update my library with better quality movie quite often and delete them only when there is quite a few to delete at the same time. I just noticed that I have many more duplicate file then what Plex is showing me in the Movie/Duplicate right now.
Here one exemple… many movie are like that now… 2 quality, 480/1080. it used to show that yellow triangle and display in the duplicate menu but not its not listed in duplicate.

Plex%20duplicate
Plex%20duplicate1286×389 197 KB

Any thought on how to fix this issue?

Running plex 1.17.0.1709 in and Unraid docker for over a year now…
Tried to refresh all metadata - Same problem
Tried to empty trash - Same problem
Tried to sign out/in - Same problem

Thanks for the help in advanced.

2

have you ever changed the main agent used for the library? or maybe did a fix match with a different one than the default for the library. so they could have been scanned in with different agents.

when hovering on the poster click on the dots on the bottom right and choose “get info” then in the window that opens click on “view XML”

in the XML you will see a GUID that will show which agent was used when the item was added to the library It will look like this

16%20PM
Screen Shot 2019-09-23 at 6.37.16 PM.png896×125 40.7 KB

if Plex Movie was used it will look like this
guid="com.plexapp.agents.imdb://tt3315342?lang=en"

If TheMovieDB was used it will look like this
guid="com.plexapp.agents.themoviedb://263115?lang=en"

so if you did a fix match originally for example or change the default. the new item could be scanned in with a different agent and considered different

This can be useful if you want to track their watch status separately like if you have a theatrical and a directors cut of a movie.

You can merge them as one by selecting both (click the circle on top left on hover) then choosing Merge from the options menu on top right of page

Screen_Shot_2019-09-23_at_6_35_30_PM

3

Alright it looks your’e right.

I probably changed it to do a match and I didn’t noticed it. :confused:

There is a discrepency in the guid, one is imdb and the other is themoviedb.
What is the best way to rescan the whole library to catch all the duplicate files?

Thanks for the fast response

4

There is no quick way to do it unfortunately because they are considered different items. A refresh does not change the GUID assigned when scanned in. You would need to do the merging thing I mentioned for each. Or figure out which of each duplicate is not using the current library default and do an unmatch then match manually

5

Alright

Thanks alot! Really appreciate the quick response. At least I know wow to fix the issue.

:+1:

6

I had a similar problem with mine except there was no merge option. When I selected one it would give a message saying the other was a different file.

I turned off collections and all of the duplicates went away right away. Just leaving this here in case anyone else has this problem.

7

collections are different than duplicate/multiple versions of a movie.

collections can be

  • hidden completely
  • shown instead of movie (movies inside)
  • shown with movie (collection and movies listed inside and outside collection)

you probably have the 3rd option enabled.

you can change this setting, edit a library > advanced > collections

8

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