--- title: "Watch Folder" description: "Point the panel at a folder on your server and every new movie or episode you drop there is imported by itself, with TMDB details, categories and bouquets." --- You download new movies and episodes every day, maybe with Sonarr or Radarr, and adding each one by hand is a chore. A **Watch Folder** is a folder on one of your servers that the panel checks on a schedule. Every new video file is matched on TMDB, added as a movie or as an episode of the right series, and placed in your categories and bouquets. You only drop the files. ## Before you start - At least one server registered in the panel. The folder must be on that server. - An admin account with the **Import Movies** permission. - Categories of the right type (movie or series) and at least one bouquet. - The folder must exist on the server and be readable. > [!NOTE] > **Watch Folders** is in the **Movies** menu. If you do not see it, check your permissions or [update the engine](/docs/update-the-engine). ## Create a watch folder 1. Open **Movies** > **Watch Folders** and click **Add Watch Folder**. 2. Under **What kind of content?**, choose: - **Movies** (Single video files): each file is one movie. - **TV Shows** (Episodes by show / season): files are grouped into shows, seasons and episodes. Each folder holds one kind of content. Create separate watch folders for movies and for TV shows. 3. In **Server**, pick the server where the folder lives. 4. In **Folder to monitor**, type the absolute path (for example `/home/media/movies`), or click **Browse** to pick it. Subfolders are scanned too. The panel checks the path and shows "Path is reachable on the server." when it is correct. 5. In **How are categories chosen?**, choose **Fixed** or **By genre (TMDB)**. See "Categories by genre" below. 6. In **How are files published?**, choose: - **Encode**: each file goes through the encoding queue and is converted to mp4. Works with any file, uses CPU. - **Symlink (no re-encode)**: the file is published as it is, right away, with no CPU. Use it when your files already play well on your clients' devices. It only affects new imports. 7. In **Add to categories**, choose one or more categories. 8. In **Add to bouquets**, choose one or more bouquets. Your clients see the content through these bouquets. 9. Leave **Enabled** on. When it is off, the folder is saved but not scanned. 10. Click **Save folder**. > [!TIP] > Test with a few files first. Put 3 files in the folder, click **Scan now** and check that they land in the right categories and bouquets. Then add the rest. ## Categories by genre With **By genre (TMDB)**, each title goes to the category named after its TMDB genre (Action, Comedy, Drama and so on). One folder is enough for your whole catalog. - A title with several genres goes into every one of those categories that exists in your panel. - The categories you choose in the field below (now called **Fallback categories**) are used only for titles whose genre has no matching category. - Names are matched without caring about upper case, accents or `&`. "Sci-Fi & Fantasy" and "sci fi and fantasy" are the same. - Movie and TV genre names are matched to each other. For example, "Sci-Fi & Fantasy" matches "Science Fiction", and "Action & Adventure" matches "Action" and "Adventure". - Genres arrive in English, so the categories must have English names: "Action", not "Acción". If your categories are in another language, use **Fixed**, or point the fallback to a general category. Bouquets do not change with the genre. If a group of clients should only see some genres, split them by bouquet, with one watch folder per bouquet. ## How to name your files Good names give better TMDB matches. - **Movies**: `Movie Name (Year).ext`, for example `Night Harbor (2019).mkv`. The year helps tell remakes apart. Release-style names such as `Night.Harbor.2019.1080p.WEB-DL.x264.mkv` also work. - **TV shows**: one folder per show and per season, for example `Glass Orchard/Season 01/Glass Orchard - S01E01 - Pilot.mkv`. This is the Plex layout. Sonarr layouts and flat folders also work, but the Plex layout is the most reliable. - **Shows with the same name** (a remake, or a British and an American version): add the country or the year to the show folder, for example `Glass Orchard (US)` or `Glass Orchard (2010)`. Without them, the panel compares the episode titles in your file names with each show on TMDB and picks the one that matches. If the files have no episode titles, it picks the most popular show. ## What happens after you save The panel checks the folder about every 15 minutes. A folder that has not changed is checked less often, up to once an hour, and goes back to the shorter interval as soon as new files appear. Click **Scan now** on the folder card to scan within the next minute. Each folder card shows: - The status: **Waiting first scan**, **Scanning…**, **Up to date**, **Error**, **Disabled** or **Stalled**. - **Last scan** and **Next scan**. - "Importing X of N" while an import is running. - **Imported**: files imported. - **To review**: files the panel could not identify. See "Review unmatched files" below. - **Missing**: files that were imported but are no longer on the disk. Things the panel handles for you: - **Renamed or moved files**: the title is updated to point to the new location. It is not imported twice. - **Quality upgrades from Sonarr or Radarr**: when a file is replaced by a better one, the same movie or episode now uses the new file, without a duplicate. - **A file for a movie you already have**: when a movie with the same name is already in your catalog, the panel keeps the existing movie and does not create a copy. If the existing movie is a different film with the same title, the new one is created with the year in its name. - **Deleted files**: the title stays in your catalog, so a disconnected disk does not wipe your library. Remove the titles you no longer want from **Movies** or **Series** > **Episodes**. Deleting a watch folder (**Delete** on its card) stops the scans. You have a few seconds to click **Undo**. The titles it already imported stay in your catalog. ## Review unmatched files When the panel cannot identify a file (no TMDB match, a name it cannot read, or an error), it does not create a wrong title. It puts the file in a review list. Click **Review unmatched** at the top of the page, or the **To review** counter of a folder. The **Review Unmatched Files** page shows each file with its path, what the panel searched for ("Tried:") and the reason. Use the tabs to filter: **All**, **No TMDB match**, **Parse error**, **Error**, **Importing** and **Ignored**. The search box finds files by name, path or folder across the whole list. The list shows up to 200 files per page. Actions for each file: - **Pick TMDB**: search TMDB for the right title and import the file with full details. In a TV show folder, you search for a show and the file is imported as an episode. The file name must include the season and episode (for example `S02E04`). - **Import as-is**: create the title from the file name, without TMDB details. You can edit it later. - **Retry**: try the file again on the next scan. Useful after you rename a file. - **Ignore**: keep the file out of the panel for good. It stays on the disk but is not imported and does not come back to the list. You can bring it back from the **Ignored** tab with **Restore**. - **Remove** (trash icon): take the file off the list. If the file is still on the disk, the next scan finds it again. To stop that, use **Ignore**, or rename or delete the file on the server. To act on many files, tick their boxes (or **Select all visible**) and use **Import as-is**, **Ignore** or **Remove**. The selection applies to the current page only. Bulk imports run in the background: you can keep working or close the page, and the list updates when they finish. When the page says **Nothing to review**, every file was matched. ## Common problems - **The path check fails**: the folder does not exist on that server, or the engine cannot read it. Check the path and the folder permissions on the server. You can still save, and the panel tries again on every scan. - **"Choose at least one category" or "Choose at least one bouquet"**: both fields need at least one value. - **Files go to review with No TMDB match**: the name is unclear or the title is not on TMDB. Use **Pick TMDB**, or **Import as-is** if TMDB does not have it. - **Files go to review with Parse error**: the panel cannot read the name or the folder layout. Rename the file following the naming tips above, then click **Retry**. - **"S02E04 is already in" a series**: that series already has this episode. If the old file was replaced or removed, click **Retry** and the panel moves the episode to the new file. If both files are on the disk, delete the copy you do not want (**Open episodes** takes you there), then click **Retry**. - **"A VOD with this name already exists."**: another title uses this name. Rename the file or remove the existing title, then click **Retry**. - **Imported titles do not show in the apps**: check **Add to bouquets** and that the bouquet is assigned to your clients. - **Imported stays the same for hours**: maybe there are no new files. If you did add files, check **To review**: they may all be waiting there. - **The card says Stalled or Error**: check that the server is online. You can click **Scan now** to try again. ## Related - [Import Movies and Series in Bulk](/docs/mass-import-movies-series) - [Import a Movie](/docs/import-a-movie) - [Import a Series](/docs/import-a-series) - [Catalog Tools](/docs/catalog-tools) - [Categories and Ordering](/docs/categories-and-ordering) - [Packages and Bouquets](/docs/packages-and-bouquets) - [New Arrivals](/docs/new-arrivals) - [Telegram and Discord Notifications](/docs/telegram-notifications)