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MetaTana

These docs are for MetaTana 2.0, coming soon

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Triage What Needs Your Attention

After a scan, most titles land with a match and clean metadata. Some need a decision from you, and a few have something to fix. Home shows both, and the Library's Needs attention menu lists the rest, so you can work through them without digging.

Step 1: Read Home

Open Home. The top says what came in, for example "23 new titles filed at 14:02", with one action per line, such as Fetch artwork for titles missing artwork. Watching names the folders MetaTana watches (the first two, then "and N more") with Add folder. On Free with your own TMDb key, Matching with your TMDb key has Your keys. When titles are still unscraped, one line shows the count and what to do next: Scrape (opens Inbox › Review) when titles wait on episode numbers, Check TMDb key when a key is saved but not working, or Add TMDb key and See Pro plans otherwise.

Beside it are two cards:

  • Inbox lists each kind of decision waiting (New, Pick, Review, Duplicate, Scrape session, Files to write, Rename) with a count and up to two of the titles waiting, for example "Northern Static, Ashes of Iron and 2 more", and one Review Inbox button. Each row opens its tab in the Inbox. N ignored at the top opens what you set aside. On Free, the Pick row adds AI Vision picks from frames with See Pro.
  • Problems lists things that need fixing, each with one action: Retry for a folder that went offline, Reconnect for a media server MetaTana can't reach (it tests the server and, when it answers, refreshes its library), Retry or Retry all for failed artwork or subtitle fetches, Retry when online metadata or AI Vision stops responding, Sign in again when your MetaTana sign-in expired, See plans when AI Vision is out of credits, or a link to the page that handles it. The card is hidden when nothing is wrong. The same problems show as amber or red dots next to Folders, Sync, and Activity in the sidebar.

Today shows the titles that came in today, with See all to open the Library.

Library totals are under Library › Browse by › Stats, unscraped titles are the Unscraped chip in the Library, and recent renames are in Activity › Show › Renames.

Step 2: Make the decisions in the Inbox

Select Review Inbox, or a row on the Inbox card. Each tab holds one kind of decision:

Tab What it means What to do
New New files with a match Approve, Ignore, or Rescrape… to pick another match
Pick New files with a weak match or none Use a listed match, Compare… (or Search… when nothing is listed), AI Scrape, or Ignore
Review Titles whose match MetaTana wasn't sure enough to keep Each row shows the poster, the file name, the suggested match with its year and provider, and why it needs you. Approve applies that suggestion and offers Undo. Dismiss clears the suggestion and says so when the title still needs review for another reason. Ignore takes the title out of review. A file with no episode number offers Fix episode…
Duplicates The same title found more than once Keep the suggested copy, Compare, or Keep both
Renames Files Autopilot wants to tidy in folders set to Ask first Review renames, then Rename N files, or Approve and Skip one at a time. Approving never changes the folder's setting
Files to write Folders where Autopilot is ready to write NFO and artwork files for the first time Allow, Review…, Not now, or Never for this folder
Scrape sessions Batch Scrape results waiting for review Open the session

See Pages: Inbox for every control.

Step 3: Fix what Needs attention lists

Open Library and select Needs attention. It counts each kind of problem MetaTana can help you fix:

Item What it means The fix in the list header
Missing artwork Titles without a poster or other artwork Fetch artwork for N
Duplicates Duplicate groups Review in Inbox
Failed fetches Artwork or subtitle fetches that failed Retry in Activity
Check matches Matches accepted with Fair confidence, worth a look Rescrape all N…, or open a title and select This is correct
NFO out of date Titles whose NFO no longer matches what MetaTana has, for example after you saved in the editor Rewrite files for N, or Ignore…
Scrape conflicts Fields where the provider value differs from yours Keep or replace values…
Broken provider links Titles whose provider ID no longer resolves Rescrape all N…

Show all at the bottom opens the full tools: Metadata tasks, Extras, and AI Insights.

Not everything needs action now The lists stay until the underlying problem changes. Work through them when you have time; nothing gets worse while they wait.

Step 4: Open a title when you need more detail

Select a poster to open the title's page. From there:

  1. Approve or dismiss a suggested matchWhen automatic identification found a likely match but wasn't confident enough to apply it, the page shows a Needs review card naming the suggestion and why it was held. Choose fields lists each field the suggestion would fill or change, so you can keep your current value for some. Approve match applies it; Dismiss clears it without changing your metadata. For a match that is only uncertain, This is correct confirms it.
  2. Rescrape or fix the match⋯ › Rescrape… or ⋯ › Wrong match… opens Rescrape with the current match and the reason MetaTana picked it. See Fix a wrong identity match.
  3. EditSelect Edit to fix a field by hand. Lock the field if your value should stick across future scrapes. See Edit metadata on a movie.

Set aside matches

If you select Skip on an item in a Scrape Session, its suggested match leaves the review count but is not thrown away. The title's page shows a Set aside card with the same Approve match and Dismiss actions, so you can come back to it later.

What success looks like

  • Home's Inbox card shows nothing waiting and the Problems card is gone
  • The sidebar shows no Inbox count and no dots next to Folders, Sync, or Activity
  • Needs attention in the Library shows fewer items than when you started
  • The Review count, Inbox › Review, and the Library review filter all describe the same titles, and a title Autopilot applies on a later scan leaves all of them

Going deeper