Please add a Description/Overview field to the metadata for FOLDERS

[RLanger7228 73]

I store a lot of information in PDF format, which I make available using the BOOK type of library in EMBY.  In my case, this includes things like news & other articles, tips & instructions, and an extensive recipe file.  They are well organized into folder & sub-folder trees, which makes the content titles easy to browse when you select the FOLDER option to display them.

The current Metadata options allow me to add images for these folders & edit the titles that appear under those images in the display.

When I edit the Metadata for individual items, I can add a description/overview to explain the item (screenshot 1).  When the item is selected, and displayed on its own screen, the description appears at the top, much the same as with a movie or other content you support.

However, when I edit the Metadata for a FOLDER, there is no overview field (screenshot 2). It would be helpful to be able to add a description/overview that would display at the top of the screen when a folder is selected, especially when the organization tree utilizes multiple layers of sub-folders.  When I explored the other library types browsing by folder, I discovered there is no description/overview field offered in ANY folder's Metadata.

It would be helpful if you could add an overview field for FOLDERS that would display at the top when the folder is selected.  Other users may find additional fields useful also (like year, etc), and any additional suggestions are welcomed in the comments.

 

Additionally, having a simple reader that could show a preview of the content without having to fully download the file (and open with another app) would also be helpful.  Ideally, you should be able to scroll through pages, even if only a part of each page is showing in the simple reader/preview screen.  A full reader would be fantastic & much appreciated!  Videos & Music are played by EMBY directly.  More support for Books would make it a stronger platform.

[Luke 42077]

Hi, the problem is we don't display this anywhere, so what value would this have?

[RLanger7228 73]

Granted, if there is currently no way to display the information, adding a field for it won't help.

Which means that I need to modify my request to add a feature that will display the information in the new description/overview field (and other added fields) when the contents of a folder are displayed on it's own screen..

       Individual items can have descriptions that are very helpful when looking at them while trying to decide which content to "consume", especially since EMBY currently requires Book library content to be downloaded first & opened in a separate app.  

       The value of adding this new feature to folders would be to allow these same sorts of descriptions for whole groups of items contained in that folder.  This would be helpful to people who organize & browse content by folders, which is especially helpful when there is A LOT of content.  Currently, the only way to identify content within a folder is the folder's title (and/or an image), which is limited.  Also, without more metadata fields, searches in Book library content are limited in scope.  Book library content can be much more than just recognized, published books.

       Internal TAGS within the Metadata (another field) would also be helpful to allow better searching, especially if you allowed complex, "AND/OR" type of searching, with parenthesis.

 

Also, as a side question:  I recently downloaded & installed EMBY version 4.9.1.90.  I tried to search the knowledge database for a version/new features list, but was unable to find one.  Can you please provide a link to where I might see one (to find out what new features were added compared to my last 4.8 version)?  Other software programs I have used provide a web page that lists the all versions & the new features/corrections for each version going back in time.  I don't know if you offer that sort of thing.  Failing that, would you happen to know what new features were added, by chance?  Thanx.

[ebr 16169]

While I can see the potential value of this in certain situations, in the context of all media and all Emby users, those situations would be extremely rare - which makes designing a display for this very tricky.  We can't reserve valuable screen real estate for something that is almost never there...

[RLanger7228 73]

On 11/12/2025 at 8:51 AM, ebr said:

We can't reserve valuable screen real estate for something that is almost never there...

I would like to make one last respectful rebuttal, along with suggestions that may help with its implementation.  This feature would be best utilized for content that is organized by folders/sub-folders and would benefit from descriptions at the various levels of organization.

Granted, it may not be as useful (or utilized much) for Video, which has a fairly robust organization system already baked in.  One could make a strong argument for it's usefulness in Music, where entire collections may be in separate folders.  However, It WOULD be exquisitely useful for Book Libraries, since this is the "venue" where other non-video/music content can be presented.  In my example, I have separate libraries for ARTICLES and RECIPES, in addition to the library I have for E-Books.  

The E-Books are easily organized by Author, Series, Titles, so may not benefit as much from the folder description feature I am requesting, though being able to add a description for a series folder would be nice.  The individual books themselves each already allow a description.

However, non-Ebook content (like PDFs) clearly benefit from folder, sub-folder organization, and being able to add a description of those folders at the various levels of organization WOULD be exceedingly helpful, especially since they lack online metadata resources to draw from, being "custom content".

1)  This folder description feature could be added to/implemented in/active only in specifically chosen library types (like Books & Music).  Videos/Music/Books already seem to have different display features unique to each type.

2)  In the screenshot attached, there is room for a short description to appear below the folder title that would not significantly or functionally truncate the displayed information below it.

3)  The space where the description would appear (below the folder title) need not necessarily be reserved.  If EMBY detects that there is information in the OVERVIEW field, it could display the first 1 - 3 lines of the description with a link to display the full description on a separate screen,  as it does for other media.  If a description is displayed, it would simply roll down the other content by distance required to show the displayed lines of description, just as it would if the title were long enough to require 2 lines of display.  If there were no data in the OVERVIEW field, then there would be no space to "reserve" and the display would simply appear as it does in the screenshot, with no description.

4)  Under TV Shows, you allow for a description of Seasons, which are effectively sub-folder descriptions (as an example of current implementation).

 

Even if my suggestions do address the screen real estate reservation issue to your satisfaction, it still would have to be utilized by enough users to justify the coding effort required to implement a new feature.  To me, it seems intuitively valuable, and should be simple enough to implement without taking up undue hours of coder's valuable time, but I am equally certain that you get many feature suggestions and must prioritize what you feel is most important.

 

[Luke 42077]

Is overview not in the the dot menu there?

[GrimReaper 4739]

5 hours ago, Luke said:

Is overview not in the the dot menu there?

It is, but it serves no purpose as folder metadata has no Overview field/section. 

On 11/12/2025 at 12:23 AM, RLanger7228 said:

 

 

[RLanger7228 73]

12 hours ago, Luke said:

Is overview not in the the dot menu there?

If you look at screenshot 2 in my first post in this thread, there is the metadata for an intermediate folder, which does NOT include an OVERVIEW field.

[RLanger7228 73]

6 hours ago, GrimReaper said:

t is, but it serves no purpose as folder metadata has no Overview field/section. 

This is the point of my suggestion:  to add that currently lacking functionality.   If there WAS an overview field in the metadata, a description COULD be presented at the top of the displayed folder with it's files/other folders, for content that benefits from multiple layers of folders & sub-folders, in this example, various articles rendered as PDFs, which ARE a "consumable" content in EMBY.

[RLanger7228 73]

ANOTHER SUGGESTION:

     If you DO consider incorporating a "native" e-book reader into EMBY (the possibility has been mentioned elsewhere) to save users from having to download the file first & open on on their own reader, consider configuring the reader as an optional plug-in.  I imagine that the various book formats would require their own reader, and trying to create a universal one for EMBY may be a bit of a challenge.  Having a reader plug-in for each of the major e-book types would simplify the programmers efforts (I imagine there are specific reader types in open source that could be modified to suit EMBY), and users could download only the specific readers they require for their content.  The only extra step on the programmers part would be a sub-routine to identify the file type being opened first, then to open the appropriate reader plug-in, or suggest which one the user should download, if they haven't already.