Is restrict by tags all or nothing?

[MBSki 1114]

I'd like to grant access to specific movies within my movie library, but ONLY restrict/grant access in the movie library. Other libraries, like my photos, I'd like to leave open with zero restrictions. It seems right now if I add the tag "shared" to 1 movie in my Movie library, and choose Allow Only Items with these tags, then even my Photos library gets locked down for that user. How do I leave my photos library open, but share only that 1 movie? I tried the share function, but it just sends a direct link, so getting back to that shared item is really difficult for the user I'm trying to share with. Any other options I'm missing?  

[MBSki 1114]

One other issue, it seems when I use the Allow Only Items with these tags option, the movie gets shared, but only 1 version of the movie is available to the user. Is this a known bug?

[Happy2Play 9783]

6 minutes ago, mbarylski said:

One other issue, it seems when I use the Allow Only Items with these tags option, the movie gets shared, but only 1 version of the movie is available to the user. Is this a known bug?

Known issue as only one item nfo is updated via the UI (several topics).  So you have to split apart and tag each item then regroup them or manually update each version nfo.

But to the first question there is no option to all specific tagged items for a library and everything else.

For your scenario I guess you would add a Shared folder to said Movie library and only give access to that folder along with all other libraries.  So a little bit of work moving items in and out of the shared folder.

[MBSki 1114]

Got it, thanks. Appreciate all the info. Current implementation isn't very user friendly. I assume there are feature requests for these already?

[Happy2Play 9783]

I really don't see how anything would work from a Allow/restrict tag and other library items with nothing.  But if you have an idea of a way you could put the request out there.

I guess controls would have to be library based instead of global.

 

 

 

[MBSki 1114]

Just now, Happy2Play said:

I guess controls would have to be library based instead of global.

Yes, exactly. I'll submit a request. The sharing mechanism in the app might need an overhaul anyways in order to get "watch together" working.

[xarggrax 11]

Did you submit a feature request on this?  I can't find it.  If I could set both grant and deny tagging in parental controls, it'd solve my issue completely.

[ebr 16193]

On 3/2/2021 at 9:33 PM, Happy2Play said:

I guess controls would have to be library based instead of global.

I'm not sure that is realistic.  Tags are stateless metadata.  They have no context of library or anything else.

And, from a user standpoint, the more complex (you might say "powerful") we make this, the harder it is for the average person to utilize which then lowers its value considerably.

[xarggrax 11]

Oh, I'm sorry, in my haste to find similar issues I misunderstood what this was asking for.  What I want is the ability to add both grant-restriction tags and deny-restriction tags.  Thanks for clearing that up for me.

[MBSki 1114]

@xarggrax Yes, that's part of it.

9 minutes ago, ebr said:

I'm not sure that is realistic.  Tags are stateless metadata.  They have no context of library or anything else.

And, from a user standpoint, the more complex (you might say "powerful") we make this, the harder it is for the average person to utilize which then lowers its value considerably.

Why is this not realistic? You mean it's just a lot of work?

[ebr 16193]

Just now, mbarylski said:

Why is this not realistic? You mean it's just a lot of work?

It isn't realistic because the data relationships simply don't work the way you are suggesting and also, as I mentioned, it would make the system so complex that the average person would probably get tied in knots trying to set it up properly.

[MBSki 1114]

1 minute ago, ebr said:

It isn't realistic because the data relationships simply don't work the way you are suggesting and also, as I mentioned, it would make the system so complex that the average person would probably get tied in knots trying to set it up properly.

Ok, no problem. Then I think the FR I submitted is more realistic as it takes a different approach. @xarggrax Here's the FR that I submitted: Overhaul Share Function in Emby - Feature Requests - Emby Community.

Edited May 5, 2021 by mbarylski

[Carlo 4561]

I too share ebr's worry that something like this would be complex to setup using libraries. I don't know this to be fact but from what I see in people's setups who use restricted tags it's mostly used in 2 ways.  People will only allow a half dozen movies or shows to be seen using a specific tag for a person. This is typical for use for a child or a friend who you might have discussed a movie or show and want to give them access only to these items but not the whole library.  Works great for this purpose.

The second and probably much more common (from what I've seen) is the use to filter out specific media with a tag.  This is used to hide specific content past other restrictions that may be in use. If you have a child who doesn't like clowns you could tag them so they never show on that child's account. You can use tags to hide channels from TV Guides. Basically an easy way to tag a piece of media and then remove this from any account with a filter on that tag. Again, tag filtering works great for this purpose.

But tags have always been global in nature. What you're describing with only use in specific libraries doesn't fit the current design. I know it's a FR so that's fine but there is another way depending on need to accomplish this NOW with the tools already built into Emby.

If you only want to grant access to specific items in one or two libraries while giving access to everything else you could do this with Folder Based Access Control which could be used on specific libraries.  Have you checked out doing it this way?

https://emby.media/support/articles/Folder-based-Access-Control.html

Edited November 6, 2025 by GrimReaper
KB article link updated