Using meta data for movies and photos

[TheWishfulOne 1]

Hi

 

I've got a few basic questions regarding meta data. I'm new to emby so feel free to point me to user guides or anything else that will help me.

 

Firstly - movies - can I search using any meta data and find relevant movies? I noticed that there is a pre-canned button for 'genres' in movies but what if I want to search for something else eg - all movies with a certain actor?

 

Secondly - photos -

• I have tags on my photos in a mac folder. Some of these have imported to emby; some have not. I tried refresh meta data but this did not update the tags. Should the tags match?
• I have smart folders on the mac. These are not shown in emby at all. Is this correct behaviour?
• how do I add tags to photos in emby? Do I need to select each photo separately, 'edit meta data' and add tags?
• when tagging a photo, is there a pre-populated drop down list with tags already being used in emby?
• how do I view my photos with different meta data combinations? I see that there is a filter option but I would like to save different combinations so that I don't have to re-filter each time.

Thanks

 

@@cayars

[Carlo 4330]

Yes you can search by movie name or actor name.  "Tom Hanks" will give me all the movies he's been in that I have on my system, "Ron Howard" will give me movies/shows he's been as well as produced as well.

 

For photos can we go over an actual example for #1 & #2 to start with?  I'm not a MAC guy so some additional info would be useful.

[TheWishfulOne 1]

Tried searching movies again. I made a mistake; I wasn't clicking on their picture after searching for the actor as I was expecting a list of movies to be shown. I guess I had a bit of a fade!

 

Re photos:

 

With a mac you can tag any file in the Windows Explorer equivalent app. You just right mouse click on a file, select tags and then pick the tag/s you want to apply (see https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/files-folders-tags-macos/).

 

An example: I tag every file with a specific year eg - 2020, 2019, 2018 etc; I then add 'party' as a tag to some of the files only. This would mean that I would have a mixture of file tags: some would have 'year' only while others would have 'year' and 'party'.

 

This method allows me to store all my files in a single folder in the mac eg - folder = 'photos'. I then use smart folders to view the same files in different ways (a smart folder is just a saved search with any criteria to filter the files). For example:

1. folder name = '2019 photos' and the saved search is: filter tag 'year' = 2019
2. folder name = '2019 parties' and saved search is: filter tag 1 'year' = 2019 AND tag 2 = 'party'

It's kind of a nifty way to view the same information in multiple ways without having to use folder nesting.

 

Now the problems, I'm having (using the example I described):

 

My 'photos' folder has 6 photos - sorted in alphabetical order. Photos 1, 2 and 4 have a 'year' tag and the 'party' tag. The others only have a 'year' tag.

 

#1: tags not importing

I can see my 'photos' folder and the 6 photos in emby but only photo 1 has a tag and it's only got its first tag ie - 'year'.

 

#2 smart folders

Neither of my smart folders '2019 photos' or '2019 parties' show in emby.

 

Does this example help?

[TheWishfulOne 1]

Can anyone explain how to add tags to media that doesn't involve opening each item separately, surfing down the page to 'tags' and then adding a tag?

 

Can I set up a pick list of tags and then choose from it, so I can add tags that already exist (rather than having to remember my tags and possibly misspelling them)?

 

I have checked the 'meta data manager' but can't understand how this helps with managing meta data as it seems to just give a list of my media.

 

What am I missing?

[Carlo 4330]

Nope, that's the way to do it.  But keep in mind you can set tags for TV show seasons, shows or episodes as groups.  You can also do multiple movies at the same time by selecting multiple movies.

[TheWishfulOne 1]

How do you do either of these:

 

1. But keep in mind you can set tags for TV show seasons, shows or episodes as groups.

 

2. You can also do multiple movies at the same time by selecting multiple movies.

 

I went to meta data manager, selected multiple movies, added a tag but it only saved to the last file. And I have no idea about the 'groups'.

[Carlo 4330]

For movies just hover over the movie then check the top left and you'll see 1 item selected.  Then repeat for additional movies.  At the top of the screen will be a bar that tells you how many items have been selected and on the right will be the 3 dot menu.  Use that 3 dot menu to edit the meta data.

 

For TV shows you can edit the meta data at the show, season or episode level.  But if you want tags for each episode, just do the same thing you did for multiple movies bove by selecting multiple TV Shows.

 

This is not done in the manager" but in the normal view of movies/shows like you're going to watch them (but with admin privs).

 

Carlo