Fix incorrect recently added items in Plex

fix-incorrect-recently-added-items-in-plex.md

Fix incorrect recently added items in Plex

Sometimes Plex saves a addedAt date in the future, in which case the item will always be stuck in the first position.

With this method you don't have to edit the database directly or shut down the server. You can fix it directly in the browser.

Fix the wrong date value

1. Open your browser's developer tools
2. Navigate to the console tab
3. Adjust the following command and paste it into the console

var plexHost = "https://plex.domain.com"
var plexToken = "XXXXXXXXXXX"

var sectionId = "1"
var itemId = "12345"
// 1 for movie, 4 for episode
var typeId = "4"
// unix timestamp
var addedAtValue = "1672527600"

fetch(
  `${plexHost}/library/sections/${sectionId}/all?type=${typeId}&id=${itemId}&addedAt.value=${addedAtValue}&X-Plex-Token=${plexToken}`,
  {"method": "PUT"}
)

Get Plex token / Get item metadata

Unix timestamp conversion

@rjsears Did you manage to find the itemID? My command is running fine in console, but no changes are being reflected in my library, so I'm thinking I'm using the wrong value.

@paulkoan I'm having the same issue as @cweakland - which part of the URL (when viewing XML) shows the item ID?

I gave up on this and do this instead, here are my notes:

SSH into the Plex server:

service plexmediaserver stop

See all movies by ID, the newly added ones will be on the bottom:

/usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex\ SQLite "/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Plug-in Support/Databases/com.plexapp.plugins.library.db" "select id,title from metadata_items where library_section_id = 1 and metadata_type = 1"

Example:

62051|Looney Tunes Mouse Chronicles: The Chuck Jones Collection
62184|Star Wars: The Force Awakens
62234|Once Upon a Deadpool
62245|The Hobbit
62287|Oliver and Company
62333|Inside the Labyrinth

Update a title, be sure to set the time correctly: https://www.epochconverter.com/

Manual time set:
/usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex\ SQLite "/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Plug-in Support/Databases/com.plexapp.plugins.library.db" \
"UPDATE metadata_items SET added_at='1700065734' WHERE id = 59384"

Have added_at match originally_available_at:
/usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex\ SQLite "/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Plug-in Support/Databases/com.plexapp.plugins.library.db" \
"UPDATE metadata_items SET added_at = originally_available_at WHERE id = 62184"


See all TV shows by ID, the newly added ones will be on the bottom:

/usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex\ SQLite "/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Plug-in Support/Databases/com.plexapp.plugins.library.db" "select id,title from metadata_items where metadata_type = 4"

/usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex\ SQLite "/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Plug-in Support/Databases/com.plexapp.plugins.library.db" \
"UPDATE metadata_items SET added_at = originally_available_at WHERE id = 62447"

Thanks for the quick reply, @cweakland. I was able to get the original instructions to work - I had the item ID correct but had forgotten to change the section ID! Once I did that, everything worked as expected.