Watch Folder View Tab

 

Root level

 

The Root level of the "Watch Folder View" shows any Watch Folders that have been set up.  Watch Folders are areas of your local or remote file system that you wish to monitor for new/modified files and whose files will be synchronised with iTunes.  Watch Folders are described in more detail by following this link.

 

Double-click to drill-down

 

Double-clicking a Watch Folder will show the folders and files within the Watch Folder.  This is explained further in the following section.

 

Right-click a Watch Folder or media file for more options

 

Right-clicking a Watch Folder presents the following context-menu:

 

 

The only valid options for a Watch Folder are "Trigger scan" and "Reindex..".  These are described below:

 

Trigger Scan - will force iHomeServer to check the Watch Folder for any new/changed media.  iHomeServer will only scan a folder for changes once every 5 minutes, therefore if you have added media within this time and want it indexed immediately, you should manually trigger a scan with this menu.  Similarly, if you have configured the Watch Folder to not automatically scan (the 'Manual' option in the Scan Mode drop down, then this will trigger the manual scan.

 

Reindex... - iHomeServer keeps an internal database of all files that have been processed within your configured Watch Folders.  The database contains information including the filename, created date, last modified date and size.  iHomeServer uses this database to tag which files it has already added to iTunes and which files it has not.  It also uses the date and size information to detect when a file has changed within a Watch Folder.  The 'Reindex...' menu clears out any record of the files within the Watch Folder and then triggers a rescan.  This means that iHomeServer will attempt to re-add all the files back into iTunes.  If iTunes already has a file with the same exact filename then it will simply refresh the metadata that it contains about the file.  This menu can be useful if you have changed properties within Watch Folders using the Edit a Watch Folder window and wish those properties to be reapplied to existing files.  It is also useful if you have manually removed files from your iTunes library, eg by running iTunes interactively and deleting tracks - these tracks will not automatically re-added by iHomeServer as its internal database thinks they have already been indexed.  Reindexing will force these tracks to be re-added.  Note that you can re-index at any level of the Watch Folder hierarchy; therefore if you wish to refresh a single file, double-click to drill-down into the folder hierarchy until you find the file, right-click that file and then 'Reindex..' which will just reindex the selected file.

 

If you right-click a track within a Watch Folder, the following options are available:

 

 

Play - will play the selected track (if it has already been indexed) in iTunes

Play Here - will start to stream the media locally to the computer running the iHomeServer Management Console (note this is supported for non-DRM protected media only)

Reindex - will force iHomeServer to re-add the selected files to iTunes; this will force iTunes to update any metadata in the file

Delete - will delete the selected track(s) file physically from your file system (nb: this does not just remove the file from iTunes)

Rename - will rename the track's file on your file system

Add to Playlist... - allows you to add the selected track(s) to an existing Playlist.

Get Info - will display metadata about the selected track(s) and allow you to set metadata in a batch-mode on all selected items simultaneously.  You can also perform internet based metadata searches.

Auto-Tag - will automatically perform metadata tagging for the selected tracks.  Please see the section on Auto-Tagging

for further information.

Check track with Quick Time... - this option only appears on tracks that have not been successfully imported into iTunes; clicking this menu will tell iHomeServer to attempt to use QuickTime to check the integrity of the failed file.  iHomeServer will then display any error description provided by QuickTime.

Set Video Type - this option provides a quick way to mark a set of video files as either Movies or Television Episodes within the iTunes interface.

 

 

 

The Current Watch Folder text box shows the currently selected Watch Folder or subfolder within the Watch Folder.  [Root] is the top level of the hierarchy and will show only Watch Folders.  The 'up arrow' can be used to navigate up a level of the hierarchy. 

The 'Refresh' button on the right hand side is used to refresh iHomeServer status including the files and subfolders within a Watch Folder.

 

The left hand side of the main toolbar is used to add, remove and edit Watch Folders. 

 

Add Folder

- Clicking 'Add Folder' allows a new watch folder to be added to iHomeServer. 

 

Add DVD

- The 'Add DVD' button will only be enabled if you have installed Handbrake on your server.  Clicking 'Add DVD' will ask you to select a DVD drive and then will automatically create a Watch Folder for that DVD drive that has default Handbrake settings set.  The DVD drive will then be monitored by iHomeServer so that when a DVD is inserted, Handbrake will automatically rip the DVD to MP4 format, tag the movie and then add it to your iTunes library.

 

Remove

- Clicking 'Remove' will remove the Watch Folder (note that this will not remove any content from your iTunes library)

 

Edit

- Clicking 'Edit' will allow you to edit the properties/settings of the selected Watch Folder.