[WishItWas1984]

How do I make a hard drive of files from ripped DVDs have other listing options in skins? Right now I have them "unflagged" so they are just a list. In fact, my only skin option is "List".

I know that if I redo the setting and flag the external hard drive source as "Movies", then update the library, I will have more skin appearance options and art/info will be scraped.

However, I customized my poster art, fan art, and folder/movie names just how I like it. 

How do I have my cake and eat it to? I'd like to have all of the movie metadata, the more interesting menu views, but maintain MY art and naming structure.

Do I do this via an NFO in each movie and TV show's main folder? If so, is there a site to read up on that tells you exactly how to exclude my stuff from being scraped and replaced?

[Karellen]

As you have discovered, your media needs to be added to the library to open up all the different features.

For Kodi to read artwork in your local files, they need to be named correctly. Check the artwork pages. There is a page for each media type with an image that should make it easy to understand how to name all the files in your folder... Artwork (wiki)

As for you media files, they need to match the the names at the scraper site... https://www.themoviedb.org/
If they are a fairly close match then the scraper should be able to download the metadata, and use your local artwork.

Why don't you give us some examples of your "YOUR" naming structure so we can see how close/far off it is .

[WishItWas1984]

As you have discovered, your media needs to be added to the library to open up all the different features.

For Kodi to read artwork in your local files, they need to be named correctly. Check the artwork pages. There is a page for each media type with an image that should make it easy to understand how to name all the files in your folder... Artwork (wiki)

As for you media files, they need to match the the names at the scraper site... https://www.themoviedb.org/
If they are a fairly close match then the scraper should be able to download the metadata, and use your local artwork.

Why don't you give us some examples of your "YOUR" naming structure so we can see how close/far off it is .

I appreciate the reply. It's good to hear that as long as I just keep with the naming conventions laid out, the scraping will ignore my art files and not replace them.

Currently in each folder I have a poster.jpg and fanart.jpg. As for the files, say for movies, I have it formatted as such:

Folder: "The King of Kong - A Fistful of Quarters (2007)"
File: "The King of Kong - A Fistful of Quarters (2007) (1080p).mkv"

I only alter the filename by tagging the video quality like that at the end. So "(SD)", "(1080p)", or "(4K)".

[Karellen]

I only alter the filename by tagging the video quality like that at the end. So "(SD)", "(1080p)", or "(4K)".

Yep, that is fine. As long as you have the movie title (year) first, then you can append the video quality after the (year)

It is best that you keep the folder name clean. Just the title (year). Add your other tags to the video filename, then...
In your Set Content page (image) ensure you enable setting 5d
Enabling this setting also allows you to use the short filename for artwork - poster. jpg, fanart.jpg which is what you have done.
This applies to movies only and only to movies in their own folder, which is what you have done according to your example.

[WishItWas1984]

I only alter the filename by tagging the video quality like that at the end. So "(SD)", "(1080p)", or "(4K)".

Yep, that is fine. As long as you have the movie title (year) first, then you can append the video quality after the (year)

It is best that you keep the folder name clean. Just the title (year). Add your other tags to the video filename, then...
In your Set Content page (image) ensure you enable setting 5d
Enabling this setting also allows you to use the short filename for artwork - poster. jpg, fanart.jpg which is what you have done.
This applies to movies only and only to movies in their own folder, which is what you have done according to your example.

I forgot to reply. This helped immensely. Thanks for taking the time to help me out!