How To Clear Watched History On Kodi

Create Video Libraries

1. The Basics

2. Source Folder

3. Movie Setup

4a. TV Show Setup

4b. Seasons Setup

4c. Episodes Setup

5. Music Videos Setup

6. Add Source & Scrape

7. Scraping Problems

Video library

Updating or removing videos

1 Introduction

This page details the available methods to add, modify and remove videos from your existing video library. These instructions also apply to Music Videos

This page assumes you have an existing Movie, TV Show and/or Music Video library. If you do not have an existing video library, you will need to create one by following the Create Video Library guide.

If you use File View or File Manager, this page does not apply.

2 Locating Missing Titles

The Event Log will record any files missed when an Update Library is performed. If the log is currently empty, or lists no missing movies, TV Shows or episodes, then perform an Update Library and check the Event Log again.

See: Event_Log

3 Add To Library

The following methods are available to scan folders and locate new titles to add to the Library. They can be performed on the entire library, a particular Source, or an individual title.

If you use NFO Files , new titles will be added to the library.

If you have changed the information inside a NFO File for an existing title in the library, this section will not update the library with those changes. You will need to perform one of the Refresh Library methods detailed in Section 4 below.

3.1 Update Library- Automatic

Image 1

By enabling the setting 'Update library on startup' the library will be scanned for new content each time Kodi is started.

If you do not add new titles to your library very often, you should disable this setting and use one of the other methods when new titles are added.

See: Settings/Media/Library

3.2 Update Library- Manual

EstuarySideBarMenu small.gif

Perform a manual Update Library from the Left Sideblade Menu by selecting Update Library

See: Basic_controls

3.3 Update Library- via Add-ons

Add-on:XBMC Library Auto Update can be used to schedule automatic updates to the library.

3.4 Scan By Source

Image 1- From the Context Menu select Scan for new content

When Kodi performs an Update Library it scans each Source, and each file and folder in the Source, searching for new items. For larger libraries this can be quite a lengthy and unnecessary process.

It is possible to reduce the duration of this process by scanning a single source only.

Navigate to Videos>Files
Highlight the Source to be scanned for new videos
Call up the Context Menu (see image)
Select Scan for new content (see image)

Kodi will scan the selected Source for new content.

3.5 Add Individual Titles

To scan a single title into the library, follow these steps.

Navigate to Videos/Files
Select the Source that contains the title to be scraped into the library
Locate and highlight the title to be added
Either:
1. Call up the Information page for the video by pressing i on your remote or keyboard. This will commence the scrape for this single title, or
2. Using the Context Menu , select Scan item to library

To add new Episodes to an existing TV Show...

Follow the same steps as above
Select Scan for new content instead

4 Refresh Library

The Refresh options are used to modify existing library entries. You would use these options when...

The NFO File has been modified and you would like that change to show in the Library
The information at the site of the Information Provider has changed, and you would like the new metadata or artwork in the library

These methods will not work in the following situations as they are seen as new titles.

The path to the entry has changed. eg you moved a movie from D:\ drive to F:\ drive
The name of the video file or folder has changed.
The file format has been changed. eg you converted the Bluray folder to a *.mkv file

Use one of the Add To Library options above.

4.1 Refresh Source

Use this procedure if there are multiple changes to be added to the library for existing library titles.

Can also be used to scrape bulk new Artwork

Image 1- Select This directory contains
Image 2- Select appropriate content

Navigate to and enter Files
Highlight the source to be refreshed
Call up the Context Menu
Select Change content
Change the Content Setting by adjusting This directory contains to None
Select OK
Kodi will ask Do you want to remove all items within this path from your library?. Select Yes
Perform a Clean Library from Settings>Media>Library
From step 1 change the content setting back to its previous setting using Set Content in the context menu
Kodi will ask Do you want to refresh information for all items within this path? Answer Yes
Kodi will scan the Source and scrape the videos with the new information.

It is also possible to Refresh the Source by changing the Scraper in use. For example, you may want to change the Information Provider from TheMovieDB to, say, IMDB.

Navigate to and enter Files
Highlight the source to be refreshed
Call up the Context Menu
Select Change content
Select Choose information provider
Select the required scraper add-on
Select OK
Kodi will ask Do you want to refresh information for all items within this path? .
- Select Yes if you want to refresh all entries in the library
- Select No if you do not want to refresh all entries. All new titles added from this point on will use the new scraper

Be aware that many users have misused this option and overwritten their library when that was not their intent. If you are changing the scraper to enable you to scrape one title, then this is the wrong method. You should...

Create a new Source folder which is set to use the new scraper. This ensures that you are not at risk of overwriting your library the next time you have a title that requires a particular scraper
If you do not want to create a new Source, then follow the above steps but navigate to the actual video and Set Content on that video folder, not the Source folder.

4.2 Individual Refresh

Image 1- Select Refresh from the bottom right corner

Refreshing/updating an individual title can be performed from either File View or Library View.

Navigate to the title to be updated/refreshed.
Press I on the remote control or keyboard to call up the Information Page (see image)
Select Refresh

This will update the library data with the new information.

5 Remove From Library

To remove existing titles from your library, use one of the following solutions.

5.1 Remove Source

Image 1- Enter Videos>Files
Image 2- Select Remove source
Image 3- Clean Library dialogue. See Step 7

To remove a source, follow these steps:

Navigate to Videos and enter Files as illustrated in Image 1
Highlight the source to be removed
Call up the Context Menu (Image 2)
Select Remove source (Image 2)
A confirmation prompt will display- Are you sure? Yes / No
- Select Yes to remove the source
- Select No to cancel the procedure
If you selected Yes you will then be asked Do you want to remove all items within this path from your library?
- Yes- Will remove the video titles in the Source from the library. (Use this option)
- No- Will keep the library listing of all video titles that are in that source. The source will be removed from File View, but not Library View and all titles will remain.
  - Note: If you answered No but would now like to remove the items from the library...
    1. Re-add the Source in the same manner you first added the source. See: Adding Video Sources
    2. Answer No when asked Do you want to add the media from this source to your library
    3. Now repeat these instructions from Step 1 ensuring in Step 6 you select Yes to the question Do you want to remove all items within this path from your library?
To finalise the removal process (See Image 3)
- Navigate to Clean Library in the settings menu
- Perform a Clean Library.
- You will be advised there is an Unavailable Source (the one you just removed) and asked What would you like to do with media items from <the source you removed>'
  - Keep- Movies will still remain visible in the library
  - Remove- All database entries will be removed (use this option)

5.2 Remove Individual Titles

Image 1- Call up the Context Menu
Image 2- Select Remove from library

To remove a single title...

Navigate to the title to be removed from the library
Call up the Context Menu (Image 1)
Select Manage
Select the last option Remove from library (Image 2)
When asked Would you really like to remove <title> from library? answer Yes

If you would also like the file deleted from your hard drive, ensure the setting Allow file renaming and deletion is enabled.

Be aware that the deletion setting will only delete the video file. Any artwork, nfo files, trailers, extras, movie folder etc, will not be deleted from the hard disk.

6 Exclude

It is possible to exclude a particular video type (eg. mkv) or a folder from the Video Scraping process.

6.1 Exclude Video Types

With the use of the advancedsettings.xml file, you can limit the types of video files displayed. The process can also be used to include additional file types.

A list of additional file-extensions to allow (add) or exclude (remove) in the My Video windows.

Default extensions for VIDEOS:

.m4v .3g2 .3gp .nsv .tp .ts .ty .strm .pls .rm .rmvb .mpd .m3u .m3u8 .ifo .mov .qt .divx .xvid .bivx .vob .nrg .img .iso .udf .pva .wmv .asf .asx .ogm .m2v .avi .bin .dat .mpg .mpeg .mp4 .mkv .mk3d .avc .vp3 .svq3 .nuv .viv .dv .fli .flv .001 .wpl .xspf .zip .vdr .dvr-ms .xsp .mts .m2t .m2ts .evo .ogv .sdp .avs .rec .url .pxml .vc1 .h264 .rcv .rss .mpls .mpl .webm .bdmv .bdm .wtv .trp .f4v

Examples:

<videoextensions>   <add>.ex1|.ex2</add>   <remove>.ex3|.ex4</remove> </videoextensions>

6.2 Exclude Folder

It is possible to exclude certain folders, and the contents of those folders, from the scanning and scraping process as follows:

Using the file browser of your operating system locate the folder to be excluded
Inside the folder to be excluded, place an empty text file and name it as follows:
- Windows systems- .nomedia.
  - Create an empty text file.
  - Rename the text file to the above name with the leading and trailing period.
  - Windows will notify you that changing the file extension will make the file unuseable. Accept this.
  - When Windows saves the name change, it will remove the last period and the new name will be .nomedia
- All other systems- .nomedia
Kodi will read the filename and ignore the folder and its contents

Return to top