# Sort Title **URL:** \ **Category:** Plex Media Server\ **Tags:** server-synology, library-management\ **Created:** [May 23, 2022, 3:03pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/sort-title/793936 "2022-05-23T15:03:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dherrington1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecd19e/32.png) [@dherrington1](https://forums.plex.tv/u/dherrington1)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2022, 3:03pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/sort-title/793936/1 "2022-05-23T15:03:06Z")
Server Version#: 1.26.1.5798.-7000 Player Version#: 4.76.1 Greetings all, I have been having a Sort Title issue that I cannot find a solution to. Every single import of a movie into my Movies folder that Plex is pointing to imports with the correct Title however Sort Title drops “A or The.” I have attempted adding the below string to the correct Preferences.xml, however it had no effect after a reboot of both Plex server and Synology server. Any help is greatly appreciated. ArticleStrings=“The, A, An” ArticleStrings string A comma-separated list of words considered to be grammatical articles, which are removed in sort titles. `the, das, der, a, an, el, la` ---
**Author:** ![beckfield](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/beckfield/32/7227_2.png) [@beckfield](https://forums.plex.tv/u/beckfield)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2022, 3:11pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/sort-title/793936/2 "2022-05-23T15:11:14Z")
Anything in the ArticleStrings variable _will_ be dropped in sort titles. If you don’t want Plex to drop them, remove the ArticleStrings line from the preferences.xml file. ---
**Author:** ![dherrington1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecd19e/32.png) [@dherrington1](https://forums.plex.tv/u/dherrington1)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2022, 3:37pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/sort-title/793936/3 "2022-05-23T15:37:30Z")
Thank you for the quick reply. I should have stated that the ArticleStrings value was not present in my Preferences.xml file originally. I added it per the article found at the below support article from Plex. Should the value of ArticleStrings be left, but all the strings be dropped? > **[Advanced, Hidden Server Settings | Plex Support](https://support.plex.tv/articles/201105343-advanced-hidden-server-settings/)** > > There are a number of advanced, hidden Plex Media Server settings, some of which are not available from the normal... ---
**Author:** ![beckfield](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/beckfield/32/7227_2.png) [@beckfield](https://forums.plex.tv/u/beckfield)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2022, 3:44pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/sort-title/793936/4 "2022-05-23T15:44:02Z")
It’s worth a try. Make it `ArticleStrings=""` and see what happens. ---
**Author:** ![dherrington1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecd19e/32.png) [@dherrington1](https://forums.plex.tv/u/dherrington1)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2022, 3:47pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/sort-title/793936/5 "2022-05-23T15:47:49Z")
I went back and capitalized the strings, waiting on a DVD rip to check. I figured maybe since it was proper English if it wasn’t capitalized it would drop. Next test is nuking all the strings. ---
**Author:** ![beckfield](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/beckfield/32/7227_2.png) [@beckfield](https://forums.plex.tv/u/beckfield)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2022, 3:50pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/sort-title/793936/6 "2022-05-23T15:50:27Z")
You may need to run the “Optimize Database” command after changing the strings. I found this tip in [another thread](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-ignores-articles-the-le-la-les-in-sort-and-search/775551/3). Don’t forget to restart the Plex server after editing preferences.xml. Don’t need to reboot the machine, just stop/start the Plex server app. ---
**Author:** ![dherrington1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecd19e/32.png) [@dherrington1](https://forums.plex.tv/u/dherrington1)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2022, 6:59pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/sort-title/793936/7 "2022-05-23T18:59:27Z")
It would seem that removing all strings and optimizing the database has fixed this issue. Latest “The” movie sorted correctly. Thanks for the great help. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2022, 6:59pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/sort-title/793936/8 "2022-08-21T18:59:29Z")
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