Guides
Everything from plugging in a server to the last advanced setting, written for the person doing it rather than the person who built it. Search, or start at the top.
New here? Start with Install the server.
Getting started
Install the server, run through first-time setup, connect it to your account, and bring an existing collection across.
Install the server
What the server is, which machine to put it on, and how to install it on Windows, Linux, or Docker.
First-time setup
The setup wizard walks you through naming your server, connecting your account, and adding your first library. It takes about two minutes.
Connect your server to your account
What linking gives you, how the handoff works, what to do when it fails, and how to unlink without losing anything.
Your subscription
What is free forever, what the subscription covers, how the trial works, and how to change or cancel it.
Move over from Plex
Bring your libraries, everyone's watch history, resume points, ratings, playlists, collections, and custom posters across, without touching your Plex install or your files.
Your library
Add folders, get everything identified correctly, and organise it into collections that either you or the server keeps up to date.
Add your libraries
How to lay out folders so everything is identified correctly, how scanning works, and how to browse a big library once it is in.
Getting the details right
Fix a wrong match, edit any field by hand and have it stick, handle several cuts of one film, and set which country's age ratings you see.
Looking after a library
Rename a library, add or remove folders, move the whole thing to another drive without losing your history, and delete files safely.
Collections
Group titles into shelves, either just for you or for the whole household, and arrange the home screen so the rows you use are the ones you see.
Smart collections
Describe a shelf with rules instead of filling it by hand, and the server keeps it correct as your library grows.
People and access
Give everyone in the house their own profile, set limits for the children, and share the server with people who live somewhere else.
Profiles
Give everyone in the house their own history, their own Keep Watching, their own home screen, and their own look.
Parental controls
Cap a profile by age rating, lock the grown-up profiles with a PIN, approve a request from your phone, and put a PIN on the server settings themselves.
Sharing your server
Invite family and friends, see who has access, and take it away again, without anybody sharing a password.
Watching
Queues and playlists, watching together from different houses, live channels and recordings, and taking things offline.
Playlists and queues
Build a list for the evening, drop something into what is playing next, and pick a half-finished playlist back up on a different device.
Movie Night
Watch the same thing at the same time from different houses, with chat, reactions, voice that ducks the film, and a way to invite someone who does not have an account.
Downloads
Put films and episodes on a phone or tablet, watch them with the network off entirely, and have where you got to sync back when you reconnect.
Live TV and recording
Add the channels you already pay for, get a guide worth using, pause live TV, and record a programme or a whole series.
Running your server
The settings hub, backups and updates, and a full reference for every advanced option including what each one actually changes.
The settings hub
A tour of every section in the server settings, what lives where, and who is allowed in.
Backups and updates
Snapshots that run themselves, a restore that is one decision, and updates that roll themselves back if they go wrong.
Advanced settings reference
Every tuning knob in the server, what it actually changes, what it costs, and which symptom it fixes.
Hardware and transcoding
What the server needs for a 1080p or 4K library, how it uses your GPU, which chips handle which codecs, and how much network you need at home and away.
Plugins
Add a metadata source or extra detail to your server, see exactly what each plugin is allowed to do before you install it, and turn one off the moment you want to.
Reference
For anyone building on top of a server rather than using one.