So when Plex added the collections options (with the poster art & descriptions etc) it was an awesome include. I went through and did some reorganizing of my personal videos collection, which included deleting some collections entirely. I tried to make sure they were always empty but I think on a few occasions there might have still been a video. I wasn’t sure what would happen to the files but the total media stayed at 1050. Last night I went and added ten vids to my personal videos library, which was at 1050, but only ended up at 1052. Then I noticed a trash can icon next a video that was still in the right location. So I checked to see how many files where in the directory on my hd and it was 1064. I double checked to make sure there were no small files that accidentally were placed there. So I think the videos that were still in collections I deleted are gone from the library, but still there. The one with the trash can is easily fixable, but I have no idea how I would ever figure out which twelve files are the missing ones. I’ve rescanned, analyzed, refreshed etc. Any ideas on how I might figure this out?
from https://support.plex.tv/articles/201273953-collections/
#Deleting a Collection
A. Enable “Allow Media Deletion” in your server’s library settings.
B. If you do not have collections displayed inline then switch to view by collections
C. Delete the collection by clicking on the…menu on the collection poster or preplay screen and choosing Delete.
This will not delete the items in the collection. It will remove the collection tag from the corresponding items. Also, like with other media items, only the admin of the server can delete a collection.
Hi, appreciate the help but I guess to simplify my question, I have a video with a trash icon on it that is exactly where it says it is and I have twelve extra media files in my folder not being picked up. I know the one file was part of a collection I deleted before emptying it, so that’s why I made that connection. I copied the file with the trash can icon to a new folder and it appeared as a new piece of media when I rescanned, so I’m sure that’s all I would need to do with the other files, but since they are not marked I have no idea how I would figure out which ones they are.
the trash icon is usually linked to files no longer visible to Plex (in combination with having configured your server not to automatically empty the trash after not finding it).
so your best shot will be to look for the exact path where Plex presumes to find the file (e.g. Edit > Info) and then to check if the drive e.g. has a new letter (if on Windows) or otherwise changed. If you’re on a Unix/Linux system, this could indicate a permission problem (file is still there but no longer accessible by Plex).
Thanks for the reply. I know how to see the file path and it’s there. I think there is just a bug somewhere. I’m sure they’ll figure it out.
The trashcan icon indicates the Plex scanner did not find the file during it’s last scan. If you are sure the file is there, update your library again so the scanner can find the file. The icon should go away as well as look for anything missing. If this does not work to find the things you think should be there, get the PMS logs and let me know what file it missed.
Yes, I know these things, I’ve using plex for quite some time. The file is there, it doesn’t even say “unavailable” as it usually does if a file is missing. Yesterday I created a copy in a new folder and it appeared as a new file when I scanned, but I deleted the new file. Today I tried it again and it didn’t show up. Had to make changes to the file in order for it to appear again, so my guess is that there is a glitch (at least in the other videos library) where it will not re-add a file that matches a previously deleted file. This is my guess.
Not that I’ve seen. Providing the logs is the best way to identify what is going on. Maybe it is combining the file with another one.
Is there a way just to get the list of filenames?
Same thing just happened again. I had 1059 videos, added 6, now I have 1058??? Directory contains 1077 files now
Edit: At least I know part of the reason, I have three files with different names showing up under one video
In Plex Web, filter by duplicates. This will list all movies that have more than 1 file associated with it.
Hi, thanks again for trying to help, but I’ve gone through the basic stuff, I’m not a newb. They aren’t showing as duplicates, they aren’t even the same files names. Filename-1, filename-2, and filename-3 are all merging under the same entry. They will not show up under duplicates nor do the indicate more than one file. There is no option to split them up either. When this happens filename-2 and filename-3 are labelled as trash which is prob why my total number of files is dropping. Problem is there is no indicator as to which files contain multiple entries other then to look at the file info.
If the files do not show as duplicates, and you can’t split them, then PMS is treating them as parts. i.e. a file that’s been split into multiple pieces, so it combines them as 1 entry so they can be played in sequence automatically. If you can provide the XML for one of these, I can verify. You can check yourself. If there are multiple “media” entries, then they are duplicates. If you see multiple “parts” entries, they are doing the above. This is typically caused by file naming. See https://support.plex.tv/articles/200264966-naming-multi-file-movies/ on how to name multi-part files, and don’t do it. To fix these, you need to rename the extra parts and then do the Plex Dance for those files.
Thanks, that actually explains it. I guess the reason some files are unaffected is because they don’t have identical audio and subtitle streams in the same order. Also I changed my other videos folder to plex video scanner instead of plex movie scanner so hopefully that will keep it from happening in the future 
Thanks, again
