Hi there,
I recently placed a .plexignore text file in my HDHOMERUN-DVR recording folder, so that plex would ignore a couple of folders in it. Specificaly, the HDHR system records TV shows into the subfolders by show title in the main recording folder, and then creates a single subfolder for all movies. So the structure looks like this:
/volume1/HDHomerun/movies/
/volume1/HDHomerun/Nova/
/volume1/HDHomerun/60 Minutes/
and so forth.
I also have another subfolder that I created called
/volume1/HDHomerun/mcebuddy_finished/
That’s where I’m playing with / testing some mcebuddy stuff.
For my “TV Shows” Plex library, I wanted to include the main HDHR folder, /volume1/HDHomerun/ so Plex would scan and get all the TV show sub-folders therein. But I wanted it to ignore the movies subfolder as well as the mcebuddy_finished subfolder, and everything in them.
Here’s the .plexignore file I placed into /volume1/HDHomerun/
# Ignore all files with "trailer" in the name
#*trailer*
# Ignore files with the extension
*.log
*.conf
# Ignore directories called "Modified"
#Modified/*
mcebuddy_finished/*
Movies/*
# Ignore all ".tif" files in the "thumbnails" subdirectory
#thumbnails/*.tif
Plex seems to have ignored the movies folder, but it did not ignore the mcebuddy_finished folder.
Can anyone explain why, or tell me if I’ve done something wrong?
Also, please ignore the tick-marks before each line. I’m trying to use the “code” tag… haven’t quite figured that out yet!
It seems the Plex Media Server 0.9.16.4 release changes the way plexignore directives are applied.
The plexignore example below applied using Plex Media Server 0.9.16.3 results in media with “BADTV” in the file name to be ignored. Only media with filename containing “BADTV” is ignored – all other media remains available. In Plex Media Server 0.9.16.4 the same directives cause all media to be ignored. Sigh… I suppose this change will please some people and not others. Perhaps Plex team could elaborate on the changes in plexignore feature between the two releases. Please.
— material below I posted in another thread of discussion but is re-used here —
The .plexignore feature is working well for me (Plex Media Server 0.9.16.3). Most reports of problems are not bugs with this feature, rather Plex users not implementing it correctly. I think the documentation for this feature could be improved perhaps with a few more examples. The implementation I describe below might help users troubleshoot problems.
I find the best way of implementing this feature on my Plex Media Server library is to maintain just one “.plexignore” file for each library shared by Plex Media Server – a single .plexignore file with directives located at the library’s root directory/folder.
With this approach I maintain one “.plexignore” file per library containing the few lines (directives) to achieve all that I require. The slash (/) allows me to create directives that apply to sub-folders several layers deep. Here are the directives in my “.plexignore” file:
*BADTV*
*/*BADTV*
*/*/*BADTV*
*/*/*/*BADTV*
With these directives any file with “BADTV” in the file name (up to four layers deep) will be ignored by Plex Media Server – they won’t be viewable in Plex clients.
It might be worth noting (again) that unix-based operating systems (including OS X) will hide files where the filename begins with a period (.) There are many text editors that can access and edit text files “hidden” in this manner. On OS X I use TextWrangler (free) to create, open and edit text files hidden in this manner.
I wonder if it might be easier for Plex Media Server users/administrators if Plex Media Server could be made to recognise directives in files named “plexignore” in addition to files named “.plexignore”. Just an idea/suggestion.
The changes to how plexignore directives are applied between Plex Media Server 0.9.16.3 and Plex Media Server 0.9.16.4 seem to be this…
plexignore directives in Plex Media Server 0.9.16.3 ︎/︎BADTV:eight_spoked_asterisk:︎ <---- files containing “BADTV” in any sub-directory (limited to one directory deep) are ignored.
plexignore directives in Plex Media Server 0.9.16.4 ︎/︎BADTV:eight_spoked_asterisk:︎ <---- all files and folders are ignored.
With Plex Media Server 0.9.16.4 if a directive starts with a wildcard (︎) then it doesn’t matter what comes after it – Plex Media Server 0.9.16.4 will ignore everything.
@SamVen :
Please don’t repeat your posts in here.
You already had the attention of a plex developer in the other thread. There is no need to copy 'n paste all over the place.
@OttoKerner said: @SamVen :
Please don’t repeat your posts in here.
You already had the attention of a plex developer in the other thread. There is no need to copy 'n paste all over the place.
My cross-post wasn’t so much to get the attention of Plex developer rather to support end-users. I agree cross-posting adds clutter to the forums. Had Plex team better done a better job explaining the changed behaviour of the plexignore feature in the Plex Media Server released this morning I would not have cross-posted.
In short, (A) I’ll avoid cross-posting in the future and (B) I ask Plex crew to please improve communications of changed PMS feature behaviour to users.
Well, I appreciate the cross-posting, as I did not find SamVen’s other thread when I searched.
What I’d like to do is have Plex ignore an entire sub-directory, but not ignore the main directory. So per my structure that I outlined in my original post, I want Plex to add to the library, everything in
/volume1/HDHomerun/
… including all sub-directories, except for two specific sub-directories, namely:
/volume1/HDHomerun/movies/
and
/volume1/HDHomerun/mcebuddy_finished/
Can someone show me an example .plexignore file that would achieve this goal?
@OttoKerner said:
If you start a line with # it means this line will be treated as a ‘comment’ and not as an instruction to ignore a file/path.
Yes, I know. That’s exactly how I’ve implemented them in my example file above.
Thanks for replying, but… This is the Ninja response? I don’t mean to be rude or ungrateful, but it seems like you didn’t really read my original post in detail. I tried to put a lot of detail into my question and I get a boilerplate response that doesn’t help or apply.
# Ignore directories called "Modified"
#Modified/*
mcebuddy_finished/*
Movies/*
Plex seems to have ignored the movies folder, but it did not ignore the mcebuddy_finished folder.
Have you checked that your mcebuddy_finished folder name contains no capital letters at all (i.e. the capitalisation in the .plexignore file matches that of the folder name exactly)?
I just tried this feature, using the same syntax you used above.
It worked for me, but there is a catch:
All items which are already read into the library, stayed there even after I put the .plexignore file in.
I had to practically Plex Dance the to be ‘ignored’ items.
Then it worked. YMMV.
Thank you, I will try the “dance” when I get a chance (no rhyme intended.)
Are you sure the .plexignore functionality is case-sensitive? I ask because ironically, the “Movies” folder is actually “movies” and the “mcebuddy_finished” folder is exactly as shown (all lowercase). And yet the “movies” folder was ignored, despite the capitalization typo.
Weird…
@kieranc said:
Are you sure the .plexignore functionality is case-sensitive?
Actually, I am not. :-?
I remember having chatted about it with the developers and there was first also some confusion on whether it should be case-sensitive and how it is currently.
But since then, the feature was reprogrammed several times already. So I mentioned it anyway, just to be on the safe side.
︎/
