Renaming TV show folders

[vftvmv]

Hi, this happens every time I try to rename a parent folder for a TV Show:




System information: https://pastebin.com/Zkz0ac72

File paths as text: https://pastebin.com/CSWUNbaK

I am using Ctrl+Shift to drag the folder into FileBot. This works fine to rename movie folders into Plex format (e.g. Titanic.1997.1080p.BluRay.x265-RARBG -> Titanic (1997)) but for TV shows, it picks an episode from within to match it to, as pictured above.

Thanks in advance.

[kim]

So this MOVIE ?
https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/103768-sweet-tooth

remember to select "Movie Mode" under Fetch Data

[vftvmv]

So this MOVIE ?
https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/103768-sweet-tooth

remember to select "Movie Mode" under Fetch Data

Hi, thanks for the quick reply!

I'm afraid I don't understand what you're saying, exactly. The renaming works fine for movies in my experience, just not the parent folder for TV shows. I've taken a screen recording to more accurately describe what I'm talking about:

https://streamable.com/xnwi09

This particular piece of media is a TV show (the one you linked to) and so I try to use "Episode Mode" to match it. Using "Movie Mode" produces - unsurprisingly - movies, which isn't what my media is.

[kim]

My bad not a movie...

Do not "Ctrl+Shift to drag" just drag and drop the folder

Look at the type (folder vs e.g. mkv) under New Names

EDIT:
to "rename a parent folder"
you do this in the Format

Plex Naming Schemes
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=4116

[rednoah]

You can only rename Movie / Episode folders, just like you can only rename Movie / Episode files. You cannot rename Series folders or Season folders.

Note that FileBot cannot process or identify folders that are conceptually anything other than "Movie" or "Episode". You therefore cannot LINK-DROP a "Series" folder because FileBot can only interpret it as "Movie" or "Episode". Please read Rename Folders for details.



However, you can re-organize the episode files inside that folder, and FileBot will create and delete folders as necessary to give you the file paths defined by your custom format. Please read FAQ #1 for details.

e.g. organize your files into new file and folder structure with a format such as this:

Code: Select all

E:/Media/{plex}

How do you want your files to be organized? What are the "Episode" file paths you want? (because if you mean to rename the Series folder, then you really mean to change file path of the Episode files inside that folder)

[vftvmv]

Thanks rednoah, makes sense regarding the Link-dropping since it's neither a Movie or Episode.

As far as how my files are organized, here is my format for all of my TV media:

Drive: \ TV \ Series (Series release year) \ Season \ Episode (in plex[3] naming format)
e.g. E:\TV\30 Rock (2006)\S01\30 Rock - S01E01 - Pilot.mkv



FileBot works like a charm for the seasons and episodes, just could never wrap my head around why it wouldn't work for the Series folders. Your explanation about that makes perfect sense. I'll just keep manually renaming them, it's not that much work

[rednoah]

'll just keep manually renaming them, it's not that much work

No! Don't do that!


How attached are you to your specific folder names? "TV", "30 Rock (2006)", "S01", etc


Why not just organize all your files with the {plex} format and leave it at that?


Here's what I'd do:
1. Drop your E:/TV folder into FileBot
2. Edit Format and set it to E:/{plex}
3. Done. All your Episode files are now nicely organized into a nice and clean E:/TV Shows/Alias/Season 01/Alias - S01E01 - Truth Be Told.mkv folder structure. E:/TV is left behind, and deleted automatically if there are no files inside any longer.


If you're attached to a folder named "TV" or season folders named "S01" or explicitly want "30 Rock (2006)" name (year) series folders then you'd modify your custom format to generate the specific file and folder structure you want. We can help you with that, if you tell us what you want exactly. You certainly don't wanna rename folders manually.

[vftvmv]

I'm tempted to follow your 3 steps as it seems simpler than what I"m doing now and would future-proof my current media assuming Plex doesn't drastically change its naming structure.

I'm not super tied to "TV", "S01", or "Name (year)"; for some reason I've just done that for years for no reason other than pure habit.

My only concern is that renaming my entire TV library to {plex} will mess with my current library on Plex (there's a few tweaks I've made manually here and there within Plex such as adding custom artwork or editing Sort Titles). What can I do to keep this from happening?

edit: Regarding my last paragraph, that's more of a Plex question than a FileBot question so I've looked into it on the Plex website and I think I'll manage. Gonna try overhauling my TV library now!

[kim]

Here you go:

Code: Select all

{'E:/TV/'+plex[1]}{'/S'+s.pad(2)}{'/'+plex[3]}

sample:

E:/TV/30 Rock/S01/30 Rock - S01E01 - Pilot

Code: Select all

{'E:/TV/'+ny}{'/S'+s.pad(2)}{'/'+plex.name}

or

Code: Select all

{'E:/TV/'+ny}{'/S'+s.pad(2)}{'/'+plex[3]}

sample:

E:/TV/30 Rock (2006)/S01/30 Rock - S01E01 - Pilot

[rednoah]

My only concern is that renaming my entire TV library to {plex} will mess with my current library on Plex (there's a few tweaks I've made manually here and there within Plex such as adding custom artwork or editing Sort Titles). What can I do to keep this from happening?

Easy. Copy your entire library. Keep both new and old library. Build the new thing without changing the old thing.



1. Drop your files into FileBot
2. Match files against Episode Mode: TheMovieDB (newer versions of Plex use TheMovieDB by default; and Plex may drop support for TheTVDB in the future)
3. Set your format to E:/Media/{plex.id} (use a dedicated root folder for Plex; don't use your drive as root folder; add numeric IDs to file path to make Plex identify things better and faster)
4. Set Action to Hardlink because we want to keep a file system entry in both the old location and new location (i.e. you can have the same file twice or many times at different file paths without using additional disk space)
5. Add E:/Media/TV Shows as new Library in Plex. You now have the old files and old library, and the new files and new library, side-by-side. You can remove the side you don't like at a later point in time.

[vftvmv]

Perfect, thank you! & thanks to Kim as well for providing the customized naming structures for me (although I won't be needing them now).

This has been very enlightening for me, thanks for answering my questions so thoroughly


now just gotta wait 16 hours lol

[rednoah]

now just gotta wait 16 hours lol

You did not set Action: Hardlink.

4. Set Action to Hardlink because we want to keep a file system entry in both the old location and new location (i.e. you can have the same file twice or many times at different file paths without using additional disk space)

Copy is slow because it copies the physical bytes on disk. Hardlink is infinitely faster because it does not.

[vftvmv]

Oh, I had interpreted your initial "Copy your entire library" as Step 0 before 1,2,3,4, and 5... Whoops. Glad I checked back here instead of waiting the 16 hours. Will try Hardlink now.

[rednoah]

No worries. Just drop in the original files, and the "copy of your entire library" is then generated by FileBot according to your custom format as you press the Rename button.

[vftvmv]

This is awesome!

I can do the same thing with my movies, right? They're currently in E:\MOVIES, I can just repeat the same process as above to copy the library to the new "Media" folder alongside "TV Shows"?