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MetaTana

These docs are for MetaTana 2.0, coming soon

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Work Through The Metadata Tasks Queue

Library › Needs attention lists every title that needs metadata, artwork, or sidecar work, and lets you fix many of them in one pass. Use it when editing titles one at a time stops scaling.

Step 1: Open Needs attention

In Library, open the Needs attention menu. It counts each kind of problem: Missing artwork, Duplicates, Failed fetches, Check matches, NFO out of date, Scrape conflicts, and Broken provider links. Pick one to filter the Library to exactly those titles; the fix for that group sits above the results, for example Fetch artwork for N for missing artwork.

For the full task lists, select Show all in the same menu. The Metadata tasks tool opens in place, next to Extras and AI Insights (Pro). You can also press ⌘K (Ctrl+K on Windows and Linux), type "metadata tasks", and pick Needs attention.

Library › Needs attention › Show all with the Metadata tasks tool open: Metadata health with Missing core fields, Stale sidecars, Out-of-date files and Ignored, then By type and Suggested fixes.
Library › Needs attention › Show all › Metadata tasks

Step 2: Read the task lists

Three sections do the work:

Metadata health Four lists: Missing core fields, Stale sidecars, Out-of-date files, and Ignored. Each row opens its own list.
By type Counts split by movie, show, season, and episode, with a Critical, Needs review, and Follow-up breakdown. It shows where the work is.
Suggested fixes Bulk actions grouped by what they fix. The most common is artwork: fetch or import one kind of artwork for every flagged title.

Step 3: Open a list

Select Open queue on Missing core fields, or Review out-of-date files on Stale sidecars. The tasks are grouped as Critical, Needs review, and Follow-up. Lists you set up yourself are under Queues.

Preview before you apply Bulk file actions show a preview first: what would change, and on which titles. Read it before you apply.

Step 4: Act on a task

Each task has the actions that fit it:

  1. Open in editorOpens the title's page with the editor on the tab for that issue.
  2. Refresh metadataFetches metadata again from the linked provider. Your edits and locked fields are kept.
  3. Rewrite NFOWrites the NFO again from the title's current metadata. It touches only the NFO, never the media file.
  4. Fetch artwork or Replace artworkFetches missing artwork, or replaces what is there.
  5. Fetch season artwork and Refresh episode stillFor shows, fetch the season or episode images.

In Stale sidecars, Repair shown rewrites every file in the current list, and Ignore on a row hides it until something changes. Show ignored on Ignored brings hidden rows back so you can restore them.

Step 5: Watch the counts drop

After a batch finishes, the counts in Needs attention and in the health rows go down. Activity lists each change, and file changes can be undone there.

What success looks like

  • Needs attention shows smaller counts than when you started
  • By type moves from Critical to Needs review to Follow-up, then clears
  • Activity shows the changes with no failed rows

Going deeper