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Change movie naming convention, keep watched status? - jznine - 2019-08-13

I am finally redoing my file naming for movies from <moviename> (<year>).ext to folder based <moviename> (<year>)/<moviename> (<year>) <quality>.ext.

Will I lose watched status etc when re-importing these movies, or will it inherit based on the original entry? The change of file name is worrying me that Kodi will think it is a new version.

RE: Change movie naming convention, keep watched status? - Karellen - 2019-08-13

You will lose your watched status as Kodi will see these as completely new files.

Before you change anything, best thing to do is Export to Separate Files. Make your changes (also changing the name of the nfo files at the same time) and then scan them back into the library.

There is an extra step to import the Watched Status, so read the wiki page. Link is in My Signature below.

If you are redoing your entire library, consider starting fresh otherwise your existing setup will have lots of useless entries in the database and your thumbnails folder will double in size for no good reason.

RE: Change movie naming convention, keep watched status? - jznine - 2019-08-13

Good, thanks Karellen.

I thought the nfo would include the original file name so not work with just a rename, but it sounds fine. So in summary,
  1. export library to nfo
  2. batch rename files to new structure
  3. import library from nfo including watched status
  4. delete thumbnails folder and run clean database?
Otherwise I'll delete the source and just deal with having to reset watch status of movies. I'd be more worried about loosing status on my TV folder, but that is all organised properly a long time ago thankfully.

RE: Change movie naming convention, keep watched status? - Karellen - 2019-08-13

(2019-08-13, 05:45)jznine Wrote: I thought the nfo would include the original file name so not work with just a rename
No, it does not include the filename or the path. Kodi finds the movie file, then looks for the nfo file sitting next to it.

Items 1, 2 and 3 - Yes. Just make sure to add the advancedsettings.xml entry to import the watched Status. See Import-Export library (wiki)

Item 4, You can delete the thumbnail folder and if you have the correct links in the database or local artwork, the cache will be rebuilt. Clean Library is ok, but won't remove all the dead paths.

What I would do is Export. This will create the NFO Files for movies, tv shows and episodes. Assuming you are using Windows, rename your \Roaming\Kodi folder to \Roaming\Kodi-old. Restart Kodi and the new Roaming folder will be created. Then add your sources and scan back into the library using the nfo files. The Library should then rescan back exactly as it was at the time of the export. If it does not work out the way you want it, then you still have the original setup that you can move back. But that is up to you depending on how complex your setup is with add-ons, PVR's etc.
https://kodi.wiki/view/HOW-TO:Install_Kodi_for_Windows#Userdata

RE: Change movie naming convention, keep watched status? - jznine - 2019-08-15

Thanks. All seems to work on a test run, now just getting ready for the main run when I have some time, and will marked as solved if all goes well in the next few days. Libraries are on mysql, so did a manual backup first.