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MetaTana

These docs are for MetaTana 2.0, coming soon

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Metadata And Scraping

MetaTana treats metadata as a cycle, not a one-time scrape: values come in from several places, you review what would change, MetaTana saves what you accept, then writes files only when you ask. Scraping refreshes a title from providers, and the editor is where you check and fix a title by hand.

For click-by-click walkthroughs see Edit metadata on a movie, Rescrape and review the changes, Lock fields, and Work through metadata tasks for many titles at once.

Where values come from

Metadata enters MetaTana from:

  • file names and folder context
  • existing NFO files
  • existing artwork and subtitle files
  • provider searches and lookups
  • hosted Skyhook results (Pro)
  • AI Vision suggestions (Pro)
  • your own edits
  • media server and Trakt sync

Each source has a different weight. A value you typed always wins over a provider's on Rescrape, and a lock also stops a field from being filled or cleared. Existing local metadata can matter more than a later provider guess. Each provider-backed field records where its value came from; see Providers.

Scrape and Rescrape

Start with Scrape or Rescrape on the title's page or from the Library bulk menu. Scrape when:

  • the first scan found the right title but its metadata is thin
  • the title has wrong or missing provider IDs
  • artwork is incomplete
  • an anime, show, or movie needs more fields filled
  • NFO and artwork files need refreshing from the accepted metadata

Use the most specific search input you have:

  • title and year for movies
  • show title plus season and episode for episodes
  • provider IDs when you already know them
  • a provider link (TMDb, IMDb, or Trakt) pasted into the search

For difficult files, Ask AI Vision (Pro) can suggest the title from sampled frames, then provider metadata fills in the rest. See Use AI Vision.

Review the changes

The list of changes is the important part. Before applying, Choose fields in the Rescrape and Pick dialogs shows each changed field with its current and new value, so you can accept, keep, or edit it. Check:

  • media type, title, original title, sort title, and year
  • provider IDs
  • season and episode numbers, and episode order
  • people and roles
  • artwork
  • runtime, status, and ratings
  • overview and tagline
  • tags, genres, studios, countries, and languages
  • file changes it would make, such as a rename or NFO write

Do not apply a scrape only because the first title looks plausible. Provider IDs and episode structure matter.

Files in a TV or anime folder keep their show and season even when the file name has only an episode title, such as Season 1/Chapter 1.mkv. They wait in the Inbox until you set the episode number. Specials and OVA/OAD files keep season 0. A confirmed show with clear season and episode numbers does not wait only because the file name looked unusual; file warnings still wait for you.

A wrong provider ID spoils every later refresh If the scrape pinned the wrong provider ID, every later refresh pulls from the wrong record. Fix and lock the IDs before any bulk refresh or rename. See Wrong identity match.

Apply

Apply saves the accepted metadata to the library database and updates Library browsing and search, so every page and filter agrees with it. Depending on what you select, it can also queue NFO writes, artwork fetches, or renames. The match dialog uses the NFO format set as Flavour in Settings › Files › NFO files.

Locked fields stay protected while you review a scrape, and values you typed yourself are kept: your value wins over the provider's. Library Quick edit updates the title right away, and locks the values it writes only when you tick Lock after editing (off by default).

Queued NFO writes for a title, a show's tvshow.nfo, or a season.nfo use the metadata as it is when they run, not as it was when they were queued. A background retry of an older scrape still keeps locked values and locked empty fields. Collection repairs work the same way: when MetaTana rewrites the NFO files of the movies in a collection, each movie's locks are applied first, so a locked or cleared field doesn't come back from the provider.

Queued file changes show in Activity. If the result says file changes were queued, wait for them to finish and check the outcome in Activity before assuming the disk changed.

Anime title and order

For bulk changes to anime title language or episode order, select the shows in Library and choose Anime settings… from the bulk menu first. The Anime Title And Order Policy dialog shows what will change, which shows are selected and which are blocked, and which renames and NFO rewrites follow, before it saves anything.

For anime identity, title, and season mapping problems, open the matching list in Metadata tasks, such as Anime Identity Mismatch, Anime Title Review, or Season Mapping Repair, before running a refresh or rewriting NFO files. Anime Identity Mismatch opens the show's editor with the Anime Identity Review panel on Details: pick the trusted MyAnimeList, AniList, or Kitsu ID there, then Save. MetaTana saves it as your own provider ID edit, updates the show and its matched files, and clears old MyAnimeList alias evidence that would otherwise keep the conflict open.

The editor

Open the editor with Edit on a title's page (Edit show on a show). It has tabs for Details, Artwork, Subtitles & trailer (Trailer on a show), People, Translations, and Files. An episode has Details, Still, Subtitles, and Files; a season has Details, Artwork, and Files. Between them you can edit:

  • title, sort title, original title, and English title
  • overview, outline, tagline, and notes
  • year, release dates, runtime, status, and ratings
  • provider IDs
  • genres, studios, countries, languages, and tags
  • people and roles
  • artwork
  • episode and season fields
  • technical facts (resolution, audio, HDR) and notes on the file

Which fields show depends on the media type and what MetaTana already knows about the title. To change which season and episode a file is, rather than an episode's details, use Renumber season… in a season's ⋯ menu on the show's page; see Manage a TV show.

Provider IDs

Provider IDs anchor a title's identity. A wrong ID makes every later refresh wrong, so check them before bulk refreshes, NFO writes, and rename batches. Common IDs include TMDB, IMDb, TVDB, Trakt, AniList, MyAnimeList, Kitsu, TVmaze, and Skyhook IDs. A scrape can point an ID back at a wrong value if a provider's search decides differently, so after correcting an ID, lock it. See Lock fields.

Translations

Translations can translate text fields such as the title and overview with hosted AI (Pro), which spends AI credits. Pick the language from the Target language list, then select Translate. MetaTana asks Translate to language? and says it uses 1 AI credit before anything runs. Text already translated to that language is free. If the title's folder is read-only, MetaTana says so before any credit is spent.

People and credits

People data can come from provider credits, local NFO files, your own edits, and import and export. MetaTana stores the credits themselves separately from the copies it writes for media servers and NFO files, so those copies can be rebuilt from clean data. Duplicate people are merged in Settings › Maintenance › People.

Refreshing many titles

Metadata tasks (in Library › Needs attention › Show all) turn missing fields, stale NFO files, and media server mismatches into lists you can review. Use the saved lists to narrow the problem, see what blocks each row, and preview the repair before applying it. A refresh from a list keeps the fields you edited or locked and values that came from local files: new provider values become suggestions, and a replacement is written only after you choose it. Anime lists keep identity and episode-order conflicts separate, so you can correct trusted IDs or ordering before rewriting NFO files.

Artwork repair tells these apart, and the preview shows which applies:

  • filling an empty slot
  • replacing the current selection
  • repairing an invalid local image
  • improving a lower-resolution image
  • keeping or locking the current image

A locked artwork value is kept until you unlock it; bulk repair never replaces it. An improvement is offered only when MetaTana has measured both images and the new one is larger.

Writing files

File writes are queued: movie NFO, tvshow.nfo, season and episode NFO, poster and fanart, logos, banners, clearart, discart, landscape, keyart, actor images, subtitle and trailer files, and renames and moves. Activity shows what was attempted and whether it succeeded, with Undo for file changes that can be undone. See NFO and artwork.

Check a fix

To check a change, look further than whether a file exists:

  1. Save a small change firstCheck that saving works before making a bigger edit on top.
  2. Run the action that went wrong beforeScrape, refresh, apply, or repair: whatever produced the wrong result.
  3. Reopen the titleGo to another page and come back. The title's page should show the new value.
  4. Check the API if you use itThe Library list and title endpoints should return the same value.
  5. Open the files on diskWhen the action wrote files, the NFO and artwork should agree with the title's page, not only exist. Use Rewrite NFO on the title's page when the NFO is older than your edit.