To import movies from movie files navigate to the Maintenance page and click on the "Import Movie" utility. This utility scans your media location for media files and allows you to import the movie information in the background.

Before using the import utility, first define your media locations and extensions in application settings (see Configuring Media File Locations). After media locations are entered return to the import utility and click the [Retrieve Files from M.L.] button. This will load all media files found in your media locations. Optionally you can exclude sample files (e.g. sample.avi) from you media files by checking the [Exclude sample files] option.

Next remove all files that were previously imported by clicking on [Check for Used] to flag those files and then clicking on [Remove Errors] to discard those rows.

Next, extract the identifying information from the file path by clicking on the [Extract Identifying Info]. If the system cannot extract enough information for import it will flag those files with an error message. You can either discard those rows by clicking on [Remove Errors] or enter the required information yourself. Title or IMDB tt code is required for importing. All other fields are optional but will help if provided.

When the list is ready for import, click [Queue Movies] to add them to the import queue. (Note: you may also create your list of movies outside of the application and paste it into the text area for import. Please make sure the data follows the row format.)

The queue shows the list of files ready for import. The system processing each file sequentially. If the system encounters a movie that does not have enough data for import, it first tries to extract the required information from the file path before erroring the row. After a movie is succesfully imported it is removed from the queue. If a movie fails to import, it is left on the queue and is shown in red font. Hovering over the row will show the error in a tooltip. Failed rows can be deleted from the queue or unqueued and moved back to the import list for correction. Import can be paused and resumed.

Person info and images are imported separately from their movie data. After a movie is imported, persons not previously imported will be added to the queue as a separate row and processed sequentially just like any other movie import. The row format for a person import is "P::<name of person>|<imdb nm code>".

Persons not previously import or those with stale data (i.e. last import more than one year ago) can be easily added to the queue for import by using the "Add Persons" drop down list at the bottom of the "Import" tab.

The queue is updated in real-time so you may leave it up and watch as your movies are imported one-by-one;)

To attach your movie file to the Blu-Ray location instead of the default DVD location have a value in the "Is Blu-Ray" field. It does not matter what value it is as long as it is not blank.

The "Import Movies" utility is not visible on iPad or iPhone devices mainly because the browser does not support the list box used by the queue tab.