# Plex Not Recognizing TV Shows

**URL:** <https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-not-recognizing-tv-shows/226298>\
**Category:** General Discussions\
**Created:** [February 20, 2018, 7:50pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-not-recognizing-tv-shows/226298 "2018-02-20T19:50:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 14\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![BigBillKahuna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@BigBillKahuna](https://forums.plex.tv/u/BigBillKahuna)\
**Post date:** [February 20, 2018, 7:50pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-not-recognizing-tv-shows/226298/1 "2018-02-20T19:50:21Z")

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After a few months of hair-pulling, I finally “imported” all my media content to Plex. All that is except for 5 remaining tv documentaries. The docu’s that were theatrically released, I put into the movies container, and renamed to “Documentaries”. The remaining are TV documentaries that I want to put into the TV container, renamed “Documentaries 2”. I manually named and tagged all the shows according to Plex structure requirement and confirmed with TVDB.  
This is where the mystery begins. Although all the shows were tagged/named the same, Plex is only recognizing one; Ken Burns “The West”. The other 4 Ken Burns, along with the BBC “Planet Earth” are not.  
Here’s the successful one:  
/Media  
/Documentaries 2  
/The West (1996)  
/Season 1  
The West - S01E01 - The People (1500-1806).avi

Here’s one of the ones that are not:  
/Media  
/Documentaries 2  
/The Civil War (1990)  
/Season 1  
The Civil War - S01E01 - The Cause (1861).avi

I’m at a loss as to how Plex is recognizing one and not the others. Am I missing something? I’ve even tried many different namings to no avail. Also tried using FileBot and got even worse results.  
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Anyone with these shows in your collection?  
So close to finishing, I can almost see daylight.  
Hopefully someone can come up with a solution to my dilemma. My fate is in the hands of the community!

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**Author:** ![Elijah\_Baley](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/elijah_baley/32/10336_2.png) [@Elijah\_Baley](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Elijah_Baley)\
**Post date:** [February 20, 2018, 8:00pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-not-recognizing-tv-shows/226298/2 "2018-02-20T20:00:04Z")

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If your TV library is pointing at “Media” then that is the problem. TV libraries cannot have sub-folders except the shows themselves. Your TV library should point to “Documentaries 2”

Also single digit season numbers have been known to cause problems. Try using “Season 01” instead.

Aside from that there are many documentaries that are not in TheTVDB but are in theMovieDB. Those are considered movies not TV shows.

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**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:** [February 20, 2018, 8:01pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-not-recognizing-tv-shows/226298/3 "2018-02-20T20:01:08Z")

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make sure the 1st part of the episode file names matches the show name as found in the main folder. Should be…

- `Media > Documentaries 2 > The West (1996) > Season 01 > The West (1996) - S01E01.avi`
- `Media > Documentaries 2 > The Civil War (1990) > Season 01 > The Civil War (1990) - S01E01.avi`

a few comments…

- try to use 2-digit season numbers… 1-digit season folders work most of the time but there’s examples where this is causing trouble for Plex.
- the episode name after the sXXeYY pattern is optional and should work most of the times… if there’s some special notation, punctuation, digits this might interfere with the scanning. that’s why I recommend to drop it.

Question: does Plex not find the files at all or are they just not matched properly?

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**Author:** ![NewPlaza](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/newplaza/32/128634_2.png) [@NewPlaza](https://forums.plex.tv/u/NewPlaza)\
**Post date:** [February 20, 2018, 8:16pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-not-recognizing-tv-shows/226298/4 "2018-02-20T20:16:15Z")

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To add to @Elijah_Baley comment. Be sure your library points to Documentaries 2. An example…

 ![](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/uploads/default/original/3X/b/3/b3be18c4ebf04ca16c89c31323fff49569923f0e.jpg)  
And all of your docu’s should be in it’s own folder under `/Media/Documentaries 2` folder.

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**Author:** ![BigBillKahuna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@BigBillKahuna](https://forums.plex.tv/u/BigBillKahuna)\
**Post date:** [February 20, 2018, 8:57pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-not-recognizing-tv-shows/226298/5 "2018-02-20T20:57:14Z")

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Didn’t realize that about the season numbering. I’ll try that first when I get the chance tonight. Thx.  
{And yes, all shows are pointing to the “Documentaries 2” folder.)

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**Author:** ![JuiceWSA](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/juicewsa/32/12253_2.png) [@JuiceWSA](https://forums.plex.tv/u/JuiceWSA)\
**Post date:** [February 20, 2018, 9:00pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-not-recognizing-tv-shows/226298/6 "2018-02-20T21:00:38Z")

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You should only have one (1) pointer for each TV Show Library.  
Individual TV Shows don’t have a pointer.  
If structured properly all TV Shows in a TV Show Library are found.

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**Author:** ![BigBillKahuna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@BigBillKahuna](https://forums.plex.tv/u/BigBillKahuna)\
**Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 2:54am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-not-recognizing-tv-shows/226298/7 "2018-02-21T02:54:59Z")

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Tried the “01” for Seasons, but still no luck. To answer tom80H’s question, no, Plex is not recognizing ANY of the other docus. Just the one. And to answer NewPlaza, the docu’s are all in their own folders as I indicated above. Again, none of this makes sense because ALL my TV Docus are structured in EXACTLY the same way, but only one of them is being recognized!  
Tomorrow I’ll try tom80H’s other suggestion to drop the episode names and see what happens.  
Thx for all your suggestions.

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**Author:** ![NewPlaza](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/newplaza/32/128634_2.png) [@NewPlaza](https://forums.plex.tv/u/NewPlaza)\
**Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 6:17am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-not-recognizing-tv-shows/226298/8 "2018-02-21T06:17:14Z")

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Okay… Time for some screenshots. What does your folder structure look like?  
An example of what I’m asking for can be found here.  
[https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/comment/1619312/#Comment\_1619312](https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/comment/1619312/#Comment_1619312)

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**Author:** ![JuiceWSA](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/juicewsa/32/12253_2.png) [@JuiceWSA](https://forums.plex.tv/u/JuiceWSA)\
**Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 10:24am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-not-recognizing-tv-shows/226298/9 "2018-02-21T10:24:20Z")

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Like this:

File Names/Structure:

 ![](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/uploads/default/original/3X/d/7/d71e3c2856f7ba8a4d954176b1461a29ddec04cc.jpg)

Result:

File Names/Structure:

Result:

MCEB-TV TV Show Library:

 ![](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/uploads/default/original/3X/b/9/b95abb900c27227a4504a804abdb292ec42f4df5.jpg)

MCEB-TV folder is not part of another TV Show or Movie Library. The folder is unique. MCEB-TV is a folder off the root of my F:/ drive. No TV Show Folders are added to this TV Show Library. The pointer is aimed at MCEB-TV and nowhere else.

File Naming (renaming) and folder structuring (restructuring) is best done OUTSIDE the library - out of the view of Plex and you’re probably going to want to start a whole new bundle for these shows soooo…

The [Plex Dance](https://forums.plex.tv/t/the-plex-dance/197064)®:

1. remove show/movie from library - all of them - all folders - all material for both of these shows.
2. rescan library files
3. empty trash
4. clean bundles  
[https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/200392106-Library-Actions](https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/200392106-Library-Actions) \<— scan library files, empty trash, clean bundles
5. bring names and structures into compliance/Fix Library Folder Pointer (if necessary)/etc
6. replace corrected show/movie into library
7. rescan library files

_ **All Steps. In Order. No Shortcuts.** _

… and just for grins - TV Show Agents:

 ![](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/uploads/default/original/3X/0/b/0bd8317c39bf52df90ea7d7806970fa964c46f8a.jpg)

 ![](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/uploads/default/original/3X/4/b/4b31cd8b429cd2e2fee0a89922a6d9619642ece2.jpg)

Still No Joy?

Log Files:  
[https://support.plex.tv/articles/200250417-plex-media-server-log-files/](https://support.plex.tv/articles/200250417-plex-media-server-log-files/)  
drag zip file to message window and drop it.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![BigBillKahuna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@BigBillKahuna](https://forums.plex.tv/u/BigBillKahuna)\
**Post date:** [February 22, 2018, 8:33pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-not-recognizing-tv-shows/226298/10 "2018-02-22T20:33:40Z")

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I greatly appreciate everyone’s replies/suggestions. Thanks JuiceWSA for those screenshots! At least I see someone was able to get Plex to recognize the Ken Burns docus. It is however EXACTLY as I have created.  
I have read about the “Plex Dance” before and will give it a go (probably not till the weekend). Had a feeling I would be re-creating the docu folder. That must be where the problem lies.  
Again thanks to all. I always try to work out problems before going on forums because I know how valuable everyone’s time is. If I have problems still I’ll provide you with screenshots.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![BigBillKahuna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@BigBillKahuna](https://forums.plex.tv/u/BigBillKahuna)\
**Post date:** [February 22, 2018, 9:08pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-not-recognizing-tv-shows/226298/11 "2018-02-22T21:08:57Z")

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Problem solved! (But still not understood.)  
So what I did was to create a new TV folder called “Documentaries 3”. Moved all docus from “Documentaries 2” into the new one. Hit Scan Library and…voila! Everything populated.  
Am I to assume the “Documentaries 2” folder that I previously created got corrupted somehow?  
Happy man am I! I can sleep tonight!  
Thx again to everyone. Hope my simple solution might help someone else out with the same problem.

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**Author:** ![JuiceWSA](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/juicewsa/32/12253_2.png) [@JuiceWSA](https://forums.plex.tv/u/JuiceWSA)\
**Post date:** [February 22, 2018, 9:35pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-not-recognizing-tv-shows/226298/12 "2018-02-22T21:35:29Z")

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Kind of a strange way to do a half-@ss Plex Dance, but what ever floats yer boat…

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**Author:** ![muhairi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f8ce5/32.png) [@muhairi](https://forums.plex.tv/u/muhairi)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 4:34pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-not-recognizing-tv-shows/226298/13 "2019-03-13T16:34:33Z")

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it woks with me also but why Plex start to see the TV show only after i add new Libraries?

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2020, 12:38am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-not-recognizing-tv-shows/226298/14 "2020-01-08T00:38:48Z")

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