Creating Smart Collections, Tags, and Filters in Plex

Guides
1

Your Plex library probably has more content than you can scroll through easily…that’s where smart collections and filters come in.

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What Are Smart Collections?
A Smart Collection is a dynamic group of media that updates automatically based on rules you set. Think “All 4K Movies” or “Unwatched TV Shows Added in the Last 30 Days.”

How to Create One:

  • Go to a library (like Movies), click the three dots, and choose Manage Collections
  • Click Add Collection, give it a name, and check “Smart Collection”
  • Set your rules (e.g., Resolution is 4K, or Genre is Comedy)

Using Tags and Manual Collections:

  • Tags help organize content by themes (e.g., “Halloween Picks”)
  • To manually add media to a collection, edit the item and add the collection name in the Tags tab

Filtering and Sorting Tips:

  • Use filters to find media by genre, resolution, release date, or unwatched status
  • Sort by “Recently Added” or “Release Date” for easy browsing

Smart collections turn your giant media library into curated playlists you’ll actually use.

2

Have you found a way for the smart collection to dynamically update per user in the Plex Home?

Say Home Admin creates a smart collection (unwatched + IMDB top 250) and pins it to Friends Home, the smart collection would only match the unwatched filter from the Admin’s account and wouldn’t dynamically update per-user.

Haven’t found a way around this..