I am totally new to Plex (trying to set it up for the first time today). I can’t seem to figure out how to list my files in the libraries so that I can play them.
I installed the Plex server add-on on my synology server. It asked me to create a plex account so I did. The setup appeared to have worked, I was able to navigate to a folder on my NAS server (/volume1/videostuff) for the library source. This folder has media files and other subfolders with more media files. But when I go to the library in plex, there is no content at all. I tried refresh/rescan and still nothing. I tried several library types: a movie, TV show and other library and still nothing.
Searched google and read a few more posts and some say I should rename all my files in some specific file format - but I’m not renaming 100’s of files!! Got better things to do.
I just want Plex to list the names of existing files that have a .mov, .mp4, etc. extension in a folder and sub folders so that I can just click to play if it can’t figure out it’s fancy formatting and pictures from the file name. I figured that would be basic functionality - I am mistaken or am I too dumb to figure out how to use plex? Figured this would be easy compared to setting up an entire NAS.
Welcome to Plex!
Naming the files or at least reviewing your folder structure could indeed help getting the job done. There’s a section in the Plex support articles describing how to prepare your media for the best Plex experience: https://support.plex.tv/articles/categories/media-preparation/
My 2 ct, having my own fair share of videos… it’s worth it, even if it appears to be an overwhelming exercise at first.
You can at least try it with a separate folder and a few movies to get started.
If you got things to work and still feel it’s too much to fix all the files – there’s apps which can help… FileBot used to be this forum’s software of choice, however it appears they’re no longer offering it for free for Windows. On macOS, Finder has a mass-rename built-in.
Thank you very much! One of your links helped when it mentioned user permissions! What was happening in my case, is that when plex installed itself on my NAS, it created a folder called Plex and a user called plex. I had to grant access for plex user to be able to read my movie media folder on the NAS.
It now appears to be populating the libraries… it may now make sense to split my movies and tv shows into separate folders per your suggestion (not a bad task) and I can rename the few files that may have been missed at some point…but it appears to be now getting the content…I am able to experiment and try things out.
