The ability to group users to grant permissions would be amazing.
Currently, if I want to restrict access to a certain plex library, I have to individually remove it from each user. The same goes for adding access to a plex library. Additionally, having groups where one can restrict the rating of the content they watch would also be very beneficial. Granted, most plex users probably don’t have 10+ users who have access to their library, but it would still be nice even with a small number.
@OttoKerner I think you closed the wrong thread, the one that was 2+ years old was closed and this one from 11 hours ago was left open.
In this case the deciding factor was not the age of the thread, but the fact that this here already had 3 votes on it and the others none.
In my humble opinion, you are trying to solve the problem incorrectly. The role-based access system currently in place is generally regarded as the right way to provide access.
The 1-to-Many relationship of Users-to-Libraries is correct. Pick a user, add/remove them from multiple libraries.
The problem is “Where can I go to add/remove MULTIPLE users from a library?”, it’s the inverse. Groups is NOT the solution, it further complicates (and regresses from the role-based-access system).
The (IMHO) correct solution is to go to a library to be able to add/remove users, in the same manner that you got to users to add/remove libraries. You either want to manage users, or you want to manage libraries. You don’t want to add a third option to manage Groups.
Yes, there is no interface for viewing/correcting Library access for Users like there is for viewing/correcting User access to Libraries. I agree, it should be fixed.
I am not sure what you mean by “role-based access system”. There are no roles in Plex as you are either a “Friend” or in the “My Home”.
I believe that Groups IS A SOLUTION. I am not saying that just because Groups is implemented you are required to use them. I’m saying that it would be nice to have the option.
A Group is simply just a bunch of users who are being represented as one. There is no added complexity by adding this feature.
Groups could make easy work of granting permissions to certain libraries. For instance, groups can be used in Linux (Groups: admin, manager, user, guest, etc) to assign permissions. The use of groups is a very common practice. So even if not all PMS managers want to use groups, it would be really nice for the ones who can take full advantage of the feature.
For instance.
-You have 1000 users (using an excessive number of users to explain my point)
-You have 4 libraries: A,B,C,D
-You have 3 Groups
And the here are the following groups
Group #: ;
Group 1: ABCD ; Close Family(150 members)
Group 2: ABC ; Close Friends(350 members)
Group 3: AB ; Acquaintances(500 members)
Currently the way Plex is set up, the one who manages the PMS would need to change libraries for all 1000 users.
With groups, however, you would just need to put people into their corresponding groups. From there, grant the group access to whichever libraries it would need and it would grant/deny access to the respective libraries.
Later on if a new library is added, changes would only need to be made to the 3 GROUPS INSTEAD OF 1000 USERS.
Hopefully this explains my side well enough and shows why GROUPS NEED TO EXIST! 
3 Likes
This is the exact point I was trying to illustrate in my feature request for group support. https://forums.plex.tv/t/request-sharing-different-sets-of-librarys-through-custom-groups/234726
I can’t believe there isn’t more activity on this thread or even that the developers haven’t started implementing such a basic access control feature!
Plex libraries are sorely missing some method of changing user access in bulk. Currently, if I want to add a new library or remove access to a library, I have to go through every user one-by-one to add or remove their access.
Whether this would be best accomplished through the addition of user groups, or access roles, or just a new interface, please provide an efficient way to manage library access for groups of users.
1 Like
I absolutely agree. I would have thought this would have been a lot more popular of a feature request. Maybe people just don’t yet realize they need this feature? I’m glad that this request hasn’t been closed though. I currently have over 20 users (when I posted this, I had closer to 10-15 users). It’s such a huge pain to the point that I ran 2 Plex servers; my main server, and a personal one just for myself and close family. I’ve since removed my 2nd PMS after formatting my desktop (which was acting as my personal/2nd server). I’m still hopeful something can be put into place.
Sidenote, if you google “Plex Media Server user groups”, this thread is the only one I could find that talked about this feature.
following because this is something that is needed and should be simple to implement.
Please make this happen!!
This would be amazing!
coming here after searching for this because I am currently going through by hand re-adding every person to my server. There really needs to be some form of bulk user management.
check this out if you still have a need
It would be great if we could create a user template and group so that the admin can create a template and apply it to any user they create so that we don’t have to set individual settings for each user. or, the ability to create a group which, when users are added to, automatically get the template. would be great if it could follow them around to the different devices so that we don’t have to set up each device for each user individually…
for instance, at my family’s home, there are 5 rokus; 1 per bedroom and one in the main tv room. with 8 people/profiles i have to go to each tv and select each profile and set it up for them… would be great if i could’ve set them up on one and it copied down to each roku…
it would be REALLY great if we (the owner and administrator of our plex servers) could create a default user template so that when we create a user, each new profile is exactly the same, rather than having to go to configure the interface of each user individually after creation. (I’m sure i’m not the only person who has a bunch of family members who use our plex server(s). ).
