Option to restrict Users to specific Collections

[user84 49]

Being able to specify Collections or even Genres that are allowed/not allowed for specific users would be helpful in the "Parental Control" setting. Only having maximum allowed parental rating isn't as helpful.

Edited May 3, 2024 by Blam84

[darkassassin07 687]

You can whitelist/blacklist items from users by adding tags to those items, then allowing access to only items with the tag(s) or only items without the tag(s).

Dashboard > Users > [username] > Parental Control

[user84 49]

3 minutes ago, darkassassin07 said:

You can whitelist/blacklist items from users by adding tags to those items, then allowing access to only items with the tag(s) or only items without the tag(s).

Dashboard > Users > [username] > Parental Control

Not a bad suggestion, but unfortunately, I would have to tag every individual item inside of a collection to do this, since tagging the collection doesn't trickle from parent to child.

[darkassassin07 687]

Edit in mass via the bulk metadata editor?

 

Could be easier, but it's something.

[ebr 16430]

17 hours ago, Blam84 said:

Only having maximum allowed parental rating isn't as helpful.

Hi.  Why?  When also there are custom ratings you can give items.  The parental rating is designed for exactly what you are trying to do - restrict based on content.

[user84 49]

28 minutes ago, ebr said:

Hi.  Why?  When also there are custom ratings you can give items.  The parental rating is designed for exactly what you are trying to do - restrict based on content.

PG for a Disney cartoon and PG for Monty Python and the Holy Grail are two very different things. The parental rating system is far from flawless. Emby makes it hard to adjust metadata for items in bulk. Collections and Playlists are my easiest options, hence my suggestion.

[ebr 16430]

10 minutes ago, Blam84 said:

The parental rating system is far from flawless.

Agreed, which is why we have the Custom Rating field.

If your real issue is easier bulk metadata editing, then that is a different issue.

[user84 49]

4 minutes ago, ebr said:

Agreed, which is why we have the Custom Rating field.

If your real issue is easier bulk metadata editing, then that is a different issue.

Let me tweak my response. I think being able to give users specific access to collections or playlists would be helpful to me. If the Devs or others disagree, please disregard.

Edited May 4, 2024 by Blam84
Clarification

[ebr 16430]

28 minutes ago, Blam84 said:

I think being able to give users specific access to collections or playlists would be helpful to me

Hi.  The issue there is that would be ambiguous.  An item can belong to multiple collections and playlists so there is no way to derive access control from that structure.  An item could be in one collection that is blocked and another that is allowed.

So, I'm just trying to provide a way to get to what you really want within the system.

Thanks.

[user84 49]

2 hours ago, ebr said:

Hi.  The issue there is that would be ambiguous.  An item can belong to multiple collections and playlists so there is no way to derive access control from that structure.  An item could be in one collection that is blocked and another that is allowed.

So, I'm just trying to provide a way to get to what you really want within the system.

Thanks.

Fair enough. Knowing what I now know about custom parental guidance ratings helps. I am one who favors granular control, so being able to restrict people from viewing certain content in an easy way is what I'm after. It seems that tagging those items might be my best option. So in that case, what is the easiest way to tag media in Emby in bulk?

[ebr 16430]

For now, you can check out the Bulky plug-in.

[scottjscobie 1]

sorry for jumping on this old thread.  

This is my collection list, that I share with users.  I want to put tags on 'Watchlist' and 'Favourites' to hide them from users,  but not hiding the actual content

[Luke 42526]

On 5/27/2025 at 1:55 AM, scottjscobie said:

sorry for jumping on this old thread.  

This is my collection list, that I share with users.  I want to put tags on 'Watchlist' and 'Favourites' to hide them from users,  but not hiding the actual content

Hi @scottjscobiethere is currently no way to do this with collections.

[te5s3rakt 6]

On 13/06/2025 at 13:17, Luke said:

Hi @scottjscobiethere is currently no way to do this with collections.

We desperately need tags on collections supported. Not for cascading permissions, but simply for the collection itself.

Personally, it's not the content I want hidden, it's the collections themselves. I want to share my server with friends and family, and they don't need to my more private or risqué collections (think "Great sex scenes", or "Get her in the mood" lol).

It'd be such a simple, no brainer feature to code up in this context as well.

Cascading permissions are fine and all, but I agree, bit of a mind field. But respecting "if I put X tag on anything it will be hidden" is really a must have for a consistent experience within the emby ecosystem.

[Luke 42526]

On 5/15/2026 at 10:00 PM, te5s3rakt said:

We desperately need tags on collections supported. Not for cascading permissions, but simply for the collection itself.

Personally, it's not the content I want hidden, it's the collections themselves. I want to share my server with friends and family, and they don't need to my more private or risqué collections (think "Great sex scenes", or "Get her in the mood" lol).

It'd be such a simple, no brainer feature to code up in this context as well.

Cascading permissions are fine and all, but I agree, bit of a mind field. But respecting "if I put X tag on anything it will be hidden" is really a must have for a consistent experience within the emby ecosystem.

If that's how you (and others) are using collections, then perhaps we need to consider reinventing them to be more like playlists where they are personal to each user.

[te5s3rakt 6]

On 01/06/2026 at 05:05, Luke said:

If that's how you (and others) are using collections, then perhaps we need to consider reinventing them to be more like playlists where they are personal to each user.

I'd approach this with a hybrid model instead.

collections can be server wide, but with a flag to make it private, then a list specify users. two fields in the database required.

`private = true/false`

`collection_users = [List]` -- i.e. `["user1","user2","user3"]`

these can be replicated and pushed down to the local .nfo's as well for permanent storage outside the DB, similar to how <locked> works.

making them exactly like playlists (only personnel to each users), hurts the uniqueness of collections, being that that are curated by the server owner.

above recommendation lets collections continue to be server admin managed, but allow for user targeting.