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MetaTana

These docs are for MetaTana 2.0, coming soon

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Set Up An Arrivals Folder

Watch an incoming folder so MetaTana identifies new media, sorts it into your library folders, and asks you before it moves anything. Use this for an incoming folder, a drop folder, or the folder your disc-ripping tool writes to.

Step 1: Add the folder as an incoming folder

On the Folders page, select Add folder. Choose the folder, pick Incoming folder instead of Library folder, then select Scan folder. The folder now feeds Arrivals: its new files wait in the Inbox instead of going straight into your library.

If you have no destinations yet, MetaTana sets them up inside your library folders. Otherwise Arrivals asks you to Choose where sorted files go, with a link to Destinations on the Folders page.

To set the details yourself, open Advanced › More folder options in the Add folder dialog for the full form, or open Edit folder on the folder afterwards. The settings that matter:

  • Path: the watched folder. On Docker this is the container path.
  • Folder role (under More options in Edit folder): Incoming, Drop folder, or Disc copies. Any role other than Library sends new files through Arrivals first.
  • Watch for changes: on for local disks. For network shares, where change notices are unreliable, turn it off and use Scan on a schedule instead.

Step 2: Open Arrivals

Arrivals lives in the Inbox. Rows waiting for you are under New and Pick, and Show all on the New or Pick group opens the full Arrivals list in place. You can also press ⌘K (Ctrl+K on Windows and Linux) and pick Arrivals.

Inbox with the full Arrivals list open: incoming files with their match, destination, and Approve and Ignore buttons.
Inbox › Arrivals: incoming files waiting for you

The top of the list shows which folders file into which destinations, with Approve All (N), Approve all Good (N), and Process Arrivals, which checks the incoming folders now. Files already in the folder show up as soon as the first scan finishes.

Step 3: Choose what happens after a title is filed

Each approved arrival is moved to its destination and gets its NFO and artwork. The follow-up steps are switches under Settings › General › After a title is filed: Refresh media servers, Subtitle search (Pro), Flag disc copies for follow-up, and Webhooks (Set up until you add a webhook). Waiting in Inbox in the same group says how many steps will run for the titles waiting, for example "3 will run · 1 won't run".

Preview before approving Expand an Arrivals row to see its match, the other candidates, and where the file will go. Read it before you select Approve.

Step 4: Approve in the Inbox

For each row:

  • Approve: files the title. MetaTana moves it to its destination and writes its NFO and artwork.
  • Approve all Good (N) at the top approves every row with a Good match; Fair, Weak, and unmatched rows stay for you.
  • Ignore: skips this row. It moves to Ignored, where you can restore it.
  • Search: when the match is wrong or missing, search by title or enter a TMDb or IMDb ID, then pick the right one.

Nothing changes on disk until you approve. File moves can be undone in Activity.

Disc folders

A complete Blu-ray (BDMV) or DVD (VIDEO_TS) folder files as one unit, including to a destination on another drive. MetaTana copies the whole folder into a hidden staging folder beside the destination, checks every file, moves it into place, and then removes the source files that still match. If MetaTana stops partway, it finishes or discards the copy on the next start; anything it can't confirm goes back to the Inbox with nothing deleted. A disc folder that also holds your own files or other media is not moved.

Step 5: Verify

Drop a test file into the folder. After the next scan it appears in the Inbox with its match and destination, and waits there until you approve it. Use Approve all Good to file every Good match at once. Activity lists each filed title, and Show › Renames in Activity has the moves you can undo.

Going deeper