# Plex won't recognize external subtitle files (sometimes)
**URL:** https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-wont-recognize-external-subtitle-files-sometimes/727893
**Category:** General Discussions
**Tags:** server-windows
**Created:** [July 10, 2021, 3:32pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-wont-recognize-external-subtitle-files-sometimes/727893 "2021-07-10T15:32:02Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ipalm](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ipalm)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2021, 3:32pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-wont-recognize-external-subtitle-files-sometimes/727893/1 "2021-07-10T15:32:02Z")
See image. I went through and made sure everything was named the same, Plex recognized the subs for a moment then went back to this
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### Author:  [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2021, 3:36pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-wont-recognize-external-subtitle-files-sometimes/727893/2 "2021-07-10T15:36:48Z")
Please copy the content of the ``guid="…` property from the [Plex XML info](https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/201998867-Investigate-Media-Information-and-Formats "Plex XML info") of that episode.
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### Author:  [@ipalm](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ipalm)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2021, 3:50pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-wont-recognize-external-subtitle-files-sometimes/727893/3 "2021-07-10T15:50:41Z")
[Document.txt](https://forums.plex.tv/uploads/short-url/prcv4QDDgVh9vD2Pjb925vzLFQn.txt) (1.8 KB)
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### Author:  [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2021, 3:57pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-wont-recognize-external-subtitle-files-sometimes/727893/4 "2021-07-10T15:57:51Z")
Do you have the display of file name extensions enabled or disabled (default) in Windows?
This can produce confusion about what the actual file name is.
I recommend you to enable it. [https://www.howtogeek.com/205086/beginner-how-to-make-windows-show-file-extensions/](https://www.howtogeek.com/205086/beginner-how-to-make-windows-show-file-extensions/)
- Try to use 3-letter language codes (e.g. `eng` instead of `en`)
- After adding fresh subtitles, “Refresh Metadata” of the _whole_ tv show
- use square brackets to hide parts of the folder and file names from Plex, which are not part of the [official file naming schema](https://support.plex.tv/articles/naming-and-organizing-your-tv-show-files/)
e.g.
```auto
/Drake & Josh (2004)
/Season 01 [2004]
Drake & Josh (2004) - s01e01 - Hug Me, Brother (Pilot) [480p AMZN Web-DL].mp4
Drake & Josh (2004) - s01e01 - Hug Me, Brother (Pilot) [480p AMZN Web-DL].eng.srt
```
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### Author:  [@ipalm](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ipalm)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2021, 4:12pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-wont-recognize-external-subtitle-files-sometimes/727893/5 "2021-07-10T16:12:24Z")
I’d already tried three letter suffix, and the file extension display was correct. I added brackets and refreshed metadata and that’s working so far
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### Author:  [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2021, 4:12pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-wont-recognize-external-subtitle-files-sometimes/727893/6 "2021-10-08T16:12:49Z")
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