# Plex doing what it wants

**URL:** <https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-doing-what-it-wants/909178>\
**Category:** Plex Media Server\
**Tags:** server-mac\
**Created:** [March 17, 2025, 5:58pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-doing-what-it-wants/909178 "2025-03-17T17:58:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![noname351](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@noname351](https://forums.plex.tv/u/noname351)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2025, 5:58pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-doing-what-it-wants/909178/1 "2025-03-17T17:58:12Z")

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Why when i organize my TV Shows and properly name episodes and Series names, when i add anything new to Tv Shows, Plex scrambles my already organized files? Example…Bosch and Bosch Legacy…i put all Bosch seasons properly named into Bosch and all Properly edited tagged and named season of Bosch Legacy..everything matches fine…when i add a new show to the library, it Moves seasons of Bosch into Bosch Legacy…i’ve tried everything and no matter what i do ..Plex messes it up..any  
help

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![nx6](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/nx6/32/103992_2.png) [@nx6](https://forums.plex.tv/u/nx6)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2025, 7:19pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-doing-what-it-wants/909178/2 "2025-03-17T19:19:40Z")

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Post a screenshot of your directory layout.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![noname351](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@noname351](https://forums.plex.tv/u/noname351)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2025, 10:15pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-doing-what-it-wants/909178/3 "2025-03-17T22:15:29Z")

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here is The Wire ( all 5 Seasons are labeled exactly the same…

 ![Screenshot 2025-03-17 at 3.07.45 PM](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/4X/7/2/2/7227274055d3bebc482b2fb55fb54a42e2e8b984.jpeg) # seasons add fime 2 are left out why? Because Plex says so..  
 ![Screenshot 2025-03-17 at 3.08.16 PM](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/4X/3/9/7/397b318c68db15cf0a1b76dd0ee79497b8fcd294.jpeg) That is how plex adds The Wire S4…i’ve edited this 15 times and it just won’t take even though it is read as The Wire in the media section…i’ve edited all tags..match unmatch fix match and nothing..  
 ![Screenshot 2025-03-17 at 3.08.30 PM](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/4X/d/a/6/da68409e3d283617284590619d0961ef15e708c3.png)  
 ![Screenshot 2025-03-17 at 3.09.03 PM](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/4X/3/5/b/35b2887759401e019851b6fe041fdf2668e593ef.jpeg)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tom80H](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/tom80h/32/19753_2.png) [@tom80H](https://forums.plex.tv/u/tom80H)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2025, 10:24pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-doing-what-it-wants/909178/4 "2025-03-17T22:24:14Z")

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So… just to clarify.  
Your library is pointing at `/Volumes/Easy Story Main Drive/TV Series`?

You need to seriously consider cleaning up your file/folder naming inside that library folder!

- drop all the technical junk (or at least place it in a set of square brackets)
- stick to the actual show name and not what box they came in

All that mumbo jumbo has the potential of throwing Plex off.

e.g.

```plaintext
My TV Series <- the folder linked in your library
  The Wire (2002) [The Wire Complete Box Set 1080p BluRay x 265 HEVC 10bit OPUS 6 Ch (2002-2008)]
    Season 04 [1080p BluRay x 265 HEVC 10bit OPUS 6 Ch]
      The Wire (2002) - s04e01 - Boys of Summer.mkv

```

or even cleaner

```plaintext
My TV Series <- the folder linked to your library
  The Wire (2002)
    Season 04
      The Wire (2002) - s04e01 - Boys of Summer.mkv

```

Edit:  
[https://support.plex.tv/articles/naming-and-organizing-your-tv-show-files/](https://support.plex.tv/articles/naming-and-organizing-your-tv-show-files/)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![noname351](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@noname351](https://forums.plex.tv/u/noname351)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2025, 11:18pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-doing-what-it-wants/909178/5 "2025-03-17T23:18:15Z")

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hey thanx for responding and i hear ya but…i have 2’000 tv shows and no way i’m renaming them all…and all my TV shows have all that junk and Plex reads 3 out of 5 but scrambles 2 when they all are labeled exactly the same… i don’t see that as a me thing…

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tom80H](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/tom80h/32/19753_2.png) [@tom80H](https://forums.plex.tv/u/tom80H)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2025, 11:19pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-doing-what-it-wants/909178/6 "2025-03-17T23:19:45Z")

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There’s tools that can help with cleaning up those names, filebot being one of them.  
If you want to stick with the current naming, you’ll need to accept that Plex can’t fix that 100% and will occasionally stumble.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![nx6](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/nx6/32/103992_2.png) [@nx6](https://forums.plex.tv/u/nx6)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2025, 11:35pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-doing-what-it-wants/909178/7 "2025-03-17T23:35:50Z")

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> [@noname351](#):
>
> i have 2’000 tv shows and no way i’m renaming them all  
> …  
> i don’t see that as a me thing…

Plex can only tell what files are when they are presented in a directory structure that it understands. It does not understand that it should ignore phrases like “Complete Box Set” or all the technical info you have included. Naming folder following prescribed ways is how to avoid matching issues with series and individual files.

You not wanting to follow those rules **is** a you problem.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![noname351](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@noname351](https://forums.plex.tv/u/noname351)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2025, 11:48pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-doing-what-it-wants/909178/8 "2025-03-17T23:48:54Z")

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nah i added the folder as a whole and it added 3 of the 5 seasons perfectly but gave me Chinese lettering and completely different titles. for 2…so yeah like i said..not a me thing..

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![noname351](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@noname351](https://forums.plex.tv/u/noname351)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2025, 11:50pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-doing-what-it-wants/909178/9 "2025-03-17T23:50:52Z")

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thanx for your help but if Plex reads 3 out of 5 files in a series but scrambles the other 2 which are named EXACTLY as the first 3..i don’t see how cleaning up my files helps

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tom80H](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/tom80h/32/19753_2.png) [@tom80H](https://forums.plex.tv/u/tom80H)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2025, 11:52pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-doing-what-it-wants/909178/10 "2025-03-17T23:52:55Z")

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Common saying here in the forum is: You might get lucky deviating from the official naming schema… until you don’t.

I’ll leave it at this.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![noname351](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@noname351](https://forums.plex.tv/u/noname351)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2025, 11:55pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-doing-what-it-wants/909178/11 "2025-03-17T23:55:43Z")

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i hear ya…explain this one…i added these files after " cleaning them up" and this is what i got…S1 has 8 episodes but Plex decided to mix 2 seasons together..and S7 has 12 episodes but Plex decided it only has 3…

 ![Screenshot 2025-03-17 at 4.52.13 PM](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/4X/1/b/8/1b890d054092ea2c9ec178a0732b9c128507636a.jpeg)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tom80H](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/tom80h/32/19753_2.png) [@tom80H](https://forums.plex.tv/u/tom80H)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 12:00am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-doing-what-it-wants/909178/12 "2025-03-18T00:00:24Z")

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Exact file names please (incl. folders).  
If you changed the names after you originally catalogued the files, you might need to do a [Plex Dance](https://forums.plex.tv/t/the-plex-dance/197064) to make plex forget the current associations.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![noname351](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@noname351](https://forums.plex.tv/u/noname351)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 12:02am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-doing-what-it-wants/909178/13 "2025-03-18T00:02:06Z")

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Thanx for that..appreciate all the help but i’m done with Plex TV…garbage

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![nx6](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/nx6/32/103992_2.png) [@nx6](https://forums.plex.tv/u/nx6)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 12:06am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-doing-what-it-wants/909178/14 "2025-03-18T00:06:30Z")

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Jellyfin is actually worse at this stuff. I can tell you from first-hand experience.

I would suggest setting up Sonarr and pointing it at your library, and have it reorganize the files. It can even make .plexmatch files for show matching for you.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dbirch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f19dbf/32.png) [@dbirch](https://forums.plex.tv/u/dbirch)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 1:18am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-doing-what-it-wants/909178/15 "2025-03-18T01:18:13Z")

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> [@noname351](#):
>
> i have 2’000 tv shows and no way i’m renaming them all

My canned response is to see [https://support.plex.tv/articles/naming-and-organizing-your-tv-show-files/](https://support.plex.tv/articles/naming-and-organizing-your-tv-show-files/) and:

If you want to save yourself a lot of time I would recommend using [https://www.tinymediamanager.org/](https://www.tinymediamanager.org/) and use:

Episode format:  
`${showTitle} - S${seasonNr2}E${episodeNr2} - ${title}`

Folder format:  
`${showTitle} (${showYear}) {tvdb-${tvShow.ids.tvdb}}/Season ${seasonNr2}`

as the new name format.

You can cleanup thousands of files fairly quickly.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jfreiman](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/jfreiman/32/82584_2.png) [@jfreiman](https://forums.plex.tv/u/jfreiman)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 2:03am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-doing-what-it-wants/909178/16 "2025-03-18T02:03:18Z")

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> [@noname351](#):
>
> …i have 2’000 tv shows and no way i’m renaming them all…and

I have been using MCE Buddy for over a decade and Love it. You don’t need to transcode you videos to use the app, it will quietly move and rename your series based on what it finds on IMDb or TheTVdb - I force the all to only use TheTVdb so the naming is consistent.  
You won’t be disappointed.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![noname351](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@noname351](https://forums.plex.tv/u/noname351)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 3:46am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-doing-what-it-wants/909178/17 "2025-03-18T03:46:48Z")

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Hey thanx…extremely helpful

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![noname351](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@noname351](https://forums.plex.tv/u/noname351)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 3:47am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-doing-what-it-wants/909178/18 "2025-03-18T03:47:30Z")

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Thanx for the help

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![noname351](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@noname351](https://forums.plex.tv/u/noname351)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 4:03am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-doing-what-it-wants/909178/19 "2025-03-18T04:03:33Z")

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> [@jfreiman](#):
>
> MCE Buddy

hey thanx but i don’t use windows…

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![noname351](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@noname351](https://forums.plex.tv/u/noname351)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 4:37pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-doing-what-it-wants/909178/20 "2025-03-18T16:37:52Z")

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> [@tom80H](#):
>
> drop all the technical junk (or at least place it in a set of square brackets)

- drop all the technical junk (or at least place it in a set of square brackets)
- hey thanx for this…i put all the “mumbo jumbo” into those brackets for the files i was having trouble with and it fixed 95% of them HUGE HELP…

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