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MetaTana

These docs are for MetaTana 2.0, coming soon

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Migrate From tinyMediaManager

Bring over tinyMediaManager (tMM) folders and the settings MetaTana understands, without rebuilding from scratch. The importer shows a preview before it changes anything.

Additive, never destructive Applying adds MetaTana folders the same way Add folder does and saves the settings MetaTana understands. Your existing tMM install and data are never changed. You can run it, undo it, and run it again.

Step 1: Find your tMM data

The importer accepts:

  • A tMM data folder (the most complete: it contains tmm.json, movies.json, tvShows.json)
  • A tMM install folder (importer finds the data folder)
  • A backup ZIP that tMM exports
  • Selected JSON files individually

The data folder's location depends on your tMM install; check Settings › System › Data folder in tMM.

Step 2: Open the importer

Three entry points:

  • I use tinyMediaManager on Home's Add your first folder card, on the Add folder screen, and in first-run setup. It opens the importer in place.
  • Advanced › Import existing setup on the same Home card, on a new install with no folders
  • Settings › Maintenance › Backups › Import a tinyMediaManager setup › Import… (any time), which opens Import from tinyMediaManager

Drop the folder, paste the path, or pick the backup ZIP. The preview builds without writing.

Step 3: Review the preview

The preview shows the folders (with duplicate and offline flags), Settings parity (which settings are imported, skipped, missing, or unsupported), Credentials (plain-text keys you can confirm; encrypted ones are skipped), and what you'll need to reconnect. It reads the scan, NFO, provider, artwork, ratings, language, region, and naming settings, from current tinyMediaManager v5 settings and older names alike.

Keep your NFOs and artwork

The preview has an Existing library panel with the promise No renames, no NFO rewrites. It counts NFOs with IDs (for example "1,840 of 2,000 NFO files"), Items with artwork, and Video files in the folders being imported, and has a Trust my NFOs and artwork switch that starts on. With it on, each imported folder trusts what tMM wrote:

  • Titles with an NFO that has provider IDs are identified from the NFO and not matched again.
  • Providers only fill fields that are empty, and only missing artwork is fetched. Your ratings and other values are kept.
  • Autopilot leaves these titles alone, so nothing is renamed and no NFO is rewritten unless you ask.

A library where every NFO has provider IDs and no empty fields then scans without any metadata provider calls. Turn the switch off if you want provider data to replace what your NFOs say. You can change it later per folder with Trust existing NFOs and artwork in this folder in the folder's Edit folder drawer on Folders. See NFO and artwork.

Step 4: Apply

Select Apply Import. Folders are added as if you had added them yourself, the settings MetaTana understands are saved, and existing NFO and artwork files are read by the scan. The report, with secrets left out, stays under Import history in the Import from tinyMediaManager drawer, where you can review or undo it.

Scanning is your choice, so an existing library is never scanned by surprise. Start scan after import scans the new folders straight away. During first-run setup, the scan starts only after sign-in, metadata, and file handling are set.

First-scan report

After the first scan of a trusted folder, Home shows an Existing library report for that folder:

  • Identified from NFO: how many titles were identified from their NFO
  • Watched state read: how many titles got watched state from their NFO
  • Still missing data: titles and artwork still missing, or Nothing
  • Metadata API calls: provider calls made since that scan started

If you haven't set the switch yourself, the report asks once: Keep my NFOs and artwork or Prefer provider data. Prefer provider data applies to later scans and scrapes; rescrape titles in Library to refresh them now. Either answer closes the report.

If a tMM folder isn't mounted on the new machine, you can still import it while Allow missing paths is on (the default): it shows as offline in the report. Each offline folder has Relink, which opens Relink imported source: point it at the folder where it is mounted now, without changing the original imported path, with Start scan after relink if you want it scanned straight away.

Step 6: Reconnect credentials

Provider keys are never imported without asking. Plain-text keys need you to confirm them; tMM's encrypted secrets, Trakt sessions, proxy passwords, remote-control keys, and other secrets are skipped. After apply, the report shows reconnect actions:

  • Plain-text keys MetaTana supports: confirm them in Settings › Providers › Your keys
  • Trakt: see Add Trakt
  • Encrypted tMM secrets: not supported, so enter the original values again

Step 7: Undo if something's wrong

Open the Import from tinyMediaManager drawer, find the import under Import history, and undo it. That removes the imported folders and puts back the settings the import changed, skipping anything you changed since. Provider keys aren't saved before the import, so they're not restored.

Watched state carries over through NFO files tMM writes Kodi-style playback fields into movie and episode NFOs. When an NFO identifies the file, the first scan reads <playcount>, <lastplayed>, and the <resume> position into MetaTana's watched state and resume position. Show and season NFOs are not used for this, and an item you already marked unwatched in MetaTana changes only when the NFO's last played date is newer. Scanning does not push that state to your media server. To send it on, or to pull watched state from a server when your NFOs don't have it, see Connect a media server.

Going deeper