# Plex server - Fileș not showing up

**URL:** <https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-files-not-showing-up/776653>\
**Category:** Plex Media Server\
**Tags:** server-mac\
**Created:** [February 16, 2022, 1:53am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-files-not-showing-up/776653 "2022-02-16T01:53:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![lacer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lacer](https://forums.plex.tv/u/lacer)\
**Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 1:53am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-files-not-showing-up/776653/1 "2022-02-16T01:53:04Z")

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Server Version#: PlexMediaServer-1.18.9.2571  
Player Version#: Browser

 ![Screen Shot 2022-02-15 at 5.45.01 PM](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/4X/7/1/5/71593b0369d1893c30a0610eb371366c7a640c90.jpeg)

So I have some files (see attached image). this is the first time these mkv files don’t show up in plex media server. Do I have to reencode them or is there way to salvage these files?

fyi - can’t upgrade plex server beyond this version. Hardware performance limitation.

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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 16, 2022, 8:09am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-files-not-showing-up/776653/2 "2022-02-16T08:09:10Z")

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Could be the file is actually added but mismatched as another item. You could filter your library for duplicates to see if files have been recognized as different quality versions of an existing item.

There’s a number of other potential issues, e.g. related to the naming of your media (Plex will ignore files named like an episode in a movie library and vice versa)

> **[Why is some of my content not found? | Plex Support](https://support.plex.tv/articles/201543057-why-is-some-of-my-content-not-found/)**
>
> Naming and Organization The biggest reason by far for items to not be found during a library scan is due...

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**Author:** ![lacer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lacer](https://forums.plex.tv/u/lacer)\
**Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 3:47pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-files-not-showing-up/776653/3 "2022-02-16T15:47:22Z")

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Actually I know for a fact these videos are unique as I have never added the same series. It’s a tv series so it doesn’t show any. Even after navigating it through the folder view I can’t see any media. Just folders. There are about 50 files.

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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 16, 2022, 3:54pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-files-not-showing-up/776653/4 "2022-02-16T15:54:44Z")

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Files don’t have to belong to the same show for some accidental mismatch.

If none of your files are showing, there’s always the chance of some broken permissions (though that seems unlikely as you can stills see the folders and PMS on Mac usually runs under your regular user account).

Would you mind sharing an example of what type of media library this is and how you named / organized those files?

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**Author:** ![lacer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lacer](https://forums.plex.tv/u/lacer)\
**Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 4:14pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-files-not-showing-up/776653/5 "2022-02-16T16:14:52Z")

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I agree. But all 50+ files I’d think one wouldn’t be? or does it not work like that?

“what type of media library” could you elaborate one what you mean by this?

[Name].[Name].[S##][E##].1080p.[Source].DL.DDP5.1.H.264-LAZY.mkv also tried  
[Name] [Name] - [S##][E##] - 1080p.[Source].DL.DDP5.1.H.264-LAZY.mkv

result was the same didn’t show up

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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:** [February 16, 2022, 4:26pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-files-not-showing-up/776653/6 "2022-02-16T16:26:40Z")

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When you create a library, you set what kind of media it’s going to represent, e.g. movies, tv shows, music, other video, photos… the different library types have different icons ; you can also verify this when you edit the library (`Manage Library` \> `Edit…` → `General`).

Movie type libraries will ignore files that are named as tv episodes. Plex cannot mix different content types in a single library.

# 

As for your naming example… let’s try to go with the naming schema suggested by Plex. This will give you the best results!

### Example:

```auto
TV Shows <- the folder linked to your tv-show library
  Show Name (year of 1st airing)
    Season XX
      Show Name (year of 1st airing) - sXXeYY - optional episode name.ext

```

Where `XX` is a placeholder for the season number, `YY` is a placeholder for the episode number and `.ext` is a placeholder for the file extension. The optional episode title is not considered by Plex; still it’s recommended to place whatever technical details you want to keep in your file names in a set of square brackets to avoid confusing Plex(`[…]`).

[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:** ![lacer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lacer](https://forums.plex.tv/u/lacer)\
**Post date:** [February 20, 2022, 7:54pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-files-not-showing-up/776653/7 "2022-02-20T19:54:46Z")

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Thank you for the response. I did use the folder hierarchy as shared. The result is the same the folders are seen but the file itself isn’t. I suspect the way the file was encoded seems to be the issue. I talked to another person who was using kodi and they shared it was playable.

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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:** [May 21, 2022, 7:54pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-server-files-not-showing-up/776653/8 "2022-05-21T19:54:55Z")

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