[huttdes]

I guess this depends on how you have it set up.

Me, I have always used MCM (Media Center Master) to create nfo files for any movies i add to my files. In kodi my library are set for local info and it reads the nfo for new files found. I have to tell it scan for new content by calling up the info on one of the library's. 

Either I'm not getting what you're saying or you're not understanding what I want to do.
My Kodi library uses local info only for everything.... but I've recently made changes to nfo's for 'existing' movies.
You would think that simply updating the library would make all these changes in Kodi but if the nfo already exists it wont update it even with a more current timestamp on the file. 

Yes, I understood you, and yes it is not automatically updated, you have to tell it to scan for new content.
This is not the same as the sync that happens at startup.
Go to system, media and select the library and right click, select scan for new content.
It will sync your library's, then it will scan the local files so you will have to give it time and keep checking after the sync is done. 

So I did just what you said.
I took a random movie. Edited the plot, tagline, and outline.
System>Media>Library ... right clicked on the movie directory and scanned for new content.
It did its thing... No changes in the movie info... Gave it some time and even did a reboot...

[Karellen]

For an existing movie in the library, you need to use Refresh to reload changes to an NFO file... https://kodi.wiki/view/Updating_or_remov...sh_Library

[huttdes]

For an existing movie in the library, you need to use Refresh to reload changes to an NFO file... https://kodi.wiki/view/Updating_or_remov...sh_Library

Ok, but if using the 4.1 Refresh Source method 1... isn't this just essentially deleting the entire source folder and then rescanning 'everything' as opposed to just looking for changes? If I'm removing all items from library (step 7) isn't this just the same as deleting the source?
I have two movie folders... one with 772 titles and one with 283. Let's say I make changes to 30 of them... rescanning 772 titles just seems excessive.

I'll have to do what I have to do but it would be nice it Kodi could simply scan for updated files.

[Karellen]

Ok, but if using the 4.1 Refresh Source method 1... isn't this just essentially deleting the entire source folder and then rescanning 'everything' as opposed to just looking for changes?

Yes.

I have two movie folders... one with 772 titles and one with 283. Let's say I make changes to 30 of them... rescanning 772 titles just seems excessive.

Not really. It is all coming from nfo files so there is no load on online servers especially if you are using local artwork also.

Kodi does not monitor nfo files. There is no facility for it, there is no database field to track nfo dates. There is nothing. If you are scanning a movie, it looks for a nfo file, if it can't find one then it scrapes online. If it does find one, it scans the nfo file into the database. Once in the database it does not care where that information came from. It is in the library, so it does not check anything anymore.

[huttdes]

Ok, but if using the 4.1 Refresh Source method 1... isn't this just essentially deleting the entire source folder and then rescanning 'everything' as opposed to just looking for changes?

Yes.

I have two movie folders... one with 772 titles and one with 283. Let's say I make changes to 30 of them... rescanning 772 titles just seems excessive.

Not really. It is all coming from nfo files so there is no load on online servers especially if you are using local artwork also.

Kodi does not monitor nfo files. There is no facility for it, there is no database field to track nfo dates. There is nothing. If you are scanning a movie, it looks for a nfo file, if it can't find one then it scrapes online. If it does find one, it scans the nfo file into the database. Once in the database it does not care where that information came from. It is in the library, so it does not check anything anymore. 

Gotcha. Just wanted to make sure I was doing things the most efficient way.
I know Kodi builds a database but I think its weird that it can't be made to monitor local artwork and nfo's... I would image more people store all the medadata locally... but I could be mistaken.

[Karellen]

I would image more people store all the medadata locally

Possibly, but we would never know as we have never taken a survey. I personally use my nfo's purely as a backup tool (which has come in handy quite a few times with itchy finger problems on the keyboard)

I suppose it all depends what you are trying to accomplish. Maybe there are other ways of editing library information? You could use Chorus2 web interface which allows you to edit most information, or for those with a greater understanding they can make simple edits in the DB (I stress, not recommended)

Give some examples of what information you are updating in the nfo file.

[huttdes]

Give some examples of what information you are updating in the nfo file. 

Quite a bit from the NFO to the artwork.
Updating and/or replacing all the extra thumbs/artwork folders since the automatic scrapers bring lots of duplicates and crappy art.
So I had to go through all of these one movie at a time.
Also updated all my actor art since some of the stuff scraped back in the day was terrible quality.

Specifically in the NFO things like ratings, source, adding tags, making genres uniform and accurate, and anything that may have been missing.

[poeBaer]

This thread is slightly old, but my Google searches led me here. I'd like to do something similar. To answer the most recent question on what I'm doing with my NFOs:

I use my NFOs mostly as a fallback for scraping, or when I reset my device/database. Every movie I have has an movie.nfo that links to the IMDB page. It's just easy to create a quick NFO as I drop a movie into its folder. About 70% of them are just links. The rest are a mix of correcting a regional/pre-release movie name (eg. "The Education of Fredrick Fitzell" -> "Flashback"), giving it a proper edition title (eg. "Director's Cut", "International Cut", etc), creating a Movie Set or linking to a show, or other minor tweaks

The reason I found this thread is because I was looking for a way to update old NFOs of movies that became part of a series. Eg. "The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard" just came out, I'd like to put that with an NFO for a set called "The Hitman's... Series", and update the first movie's NFO, "The Hitman's Bodyguard" to also be a part of the set

Sure, it's no pain to refresh that single title within Kodi, but when you want to do more than NFO update (it's not always just a Movie Set change, that was just an example), it starts to become a chore to update them individually. Then it becomes faster to just rename movie files (I throw parenthesis around the year or some minor change) when you edit the NFO, so Kodi thinks it's something new to add to the database, and then clean the database afterwards to remove the dupe/old entry, which is kind of a silly workaround

Is there maybe another workaround? Can Kodi scan folders that have recently been update? Since when you update an NFO, it updates the folder's modified date

Note: I use multiple devices with a couple different Kodi versions, so I don't share a database between them all

[Karellen]

@poeBaer

No, there is no option to rescan nfo files when they are changed. Once a movie is in the library, nfo files are ignored and never checked again, which is why you need to use the Refresh option.

But... check out the Metadata addon here... https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=349035
It can be used to update nfo files when changes are made to the library. So you can create the movie set within Kodi then the changes are automatically added to your nfo files. I know, it is the opposite of what you want, but maybe you can find a use for it.

And of course you have the Export to Separate files option in Kodi that will create nfo files for you with the information from your library. But again, not really what you are looking for.

[scott967]

At least if you go to files node and sort by date you don't have to hunt down the updated nfos.  Agree it can be a chore, for me it's with music videos as I find I need to fix metadata from time to time. 

scott s.
.

[monkeylove]

Only thing about doing it directly in Kodi is that it's no where near as convenient as using something like Media Companion 3 or the like.
I pretty much knew the answer before posting this but was just hoping something may have changed.
It wont be the first time I've redone my library but hopefully it will be the last.

It does baffle me that this is not a feature in Kodi though. Just based on something as simple as a date stamp it should be able to scan your NFO's and update simple enough.

I currently face the same issue: I tagged many videos as part of watch lists, but the tags don't show up in Kodi (I scrape local info) even with updates. It'd be interesting to see an Update Library option that adds new entries and, using the file date of the NFO, refresh updated entries.

For now, my understanding is that I'll have to set content to none, let the library be cleaned, and then set content back to local info and scrape everything again.