what determines if a folder shows in metadata publisher?

[dropshadow 12]

 

What determines if a folder shows up in Metadata Publisher?

 

For example, I have folders in a MOVIES folder like:

> Movies > Zombieland (2009) - which shows up as a folder in Metadata Publisher with a movie file inside

 

But then, I have a newly created MOVIES-4K folder like:

>Movies4K > A Star Is Born (2018) - and even though the physical path is ...Movies4K > A Star Is Born (2018) > A Star is Born.mkv, - it only shows the movie file instead of the folder 

 

Why is that? What determines whether a folder is displayed in Metadata Publisher?

 

[Happy2Play 9780]

I thought this was a all or none change, but it was awhile ago.  As the layout changed in v4 to show the structure, then was changed in 4.1 to show collapsed. 

 

But the <CollapseVideoFolders> setting in the system.xml applies.  As all new installs are set to true.  @@Luke would have to comment more on this though.

[Luke 42077]

 

 

But the  setting in the system.xml applies.  As all new installs are set to true.  @Luke would have to comment more on this though.

That's correct.

[Happy2Play 9780]

That's correct.

So one can have mixed results as displayed above?  I thought it was one or the other.

[dropshadow 12]

I tried changing <CollapseVideoFolders> to true/false, yes with restarts, but it did not do anything, Metadata Publisher still shows folders in one library, but movies in the other. I'm thinking that my 4k folder that I just created this weekend picked up some new config, but all my other folders, did not. My other folders are REALLY old, LEGACY like a decade+ old, Media Browser 2.x old. I still have legacy artifacts like background.jpg, folder.jpg files and meta files in the old .xml format around in a lot of my folders.

 

It's a testament to the user friendliness and great dev around the application that I don't have to fiddle with it that much, and so I guess I don't know about all these changes that are happening because they have pretty much been seamless to me even as I have continually upgraded, but my thinking is that somehow my old folders are stuck with the old config. Should I try to re-create all my libraries again? Will that help? What puzzles me is that when I changed the <CollapseVideoFolders> setting, my newly recent Movies4K folder did not change its behavior. I would have expected a switch from file to folder, with true to false. Is there maybe another setting somewhere?

 

And this all started because I accidentally clicked on the FOLDERS view from within the app, and I realized that folders had to be sorted the same as movie files, otherwise, my folder view was not in the same order as my movie view...if that makes sense. So I was going through and applying folder sorts like Fast Furious 1, Fast Furious 2, etc., then noticed that there were only movie files/icons in my 4k library. What is the point of the folder view in the app (I'm using Roku Emby) if there is a CollapseVideoFolders=true for Metadata Publisher?

Edited December 1, 2019 by dropshadow

[Happy2Play 9780]

Did you perform a library scan after changed the setting?

 

Folder view will not flatten your folder structure like the movies tab does.  So if you have any nested folder structure you will see it via Folder view.

[dropshadow 12]

hello - so i am back to this after 6 years!

recently i upgraded my server and did a backup/restore, no big issues. however, i noticed that this embedded folder is back. i don't know how i resolved it last time. i checked the <CollapseVideoFolders> flag, it was false since i did an emby fresh install, but even after changing it, scanning folders, rebooting server, the issue is still present.

i keep a TEMP folder where i put stuff that i am not sure about whether to permanently add to my collection. the library is setup as MIXED CONTENT. i keep the library in FOLDER view because i like to see everything together and don't want to navigate to SHOWS and MOVIES views in order to see everything in TEMP. i have TV shows in there and movies. when i select a movie, i have to go through an extra layer before i get to the details page. is there any way to stop this behavior?

 

 

[Luke 42077]

On 11/8/2025 at 3:08 PM, dropshadow said:

hello - so i am back to this after 6 years!

recently i upgraded my server and did a backup/restore, no big issues. however, i noticed that this embedded folder is back. i don't know how i resolved it last time. i checked the <CollapseVideoFolders> flag, it was false since i did an emby fresh install, but even after changing it, scanning folders, rebooting server, the issue is still present.

i keep a TEMP folder where i put stuff that i am not sure about whether to permanently add to my collection. the library is setup as MIXED CONTENT. i keep the library in FOLDER view because i like to see everything together and don't want to navigate to SHOWS and MOVIES views in order to see everything in TEMP. i have TV shows in there and movies. when i select a movie, i have to go through an extra layer before i get to the details page. is there any way to stop this behavior?

 

 

Hi, there is an option in your emby user display settings to auto enter single item folders. Please try that.