Separators Default Metadata Files

Separators are a special form of collections which are used similar to index cards in a library, they help to “split up” collections by identifying categories (such as “Studio Collections” and “Holiday Collections”).

These are empty collections which do not contain any movies/shows themselves, but highlight that the collections which follow it are of a certain category.

Below is an example of a separator, which can be seen surrounded by a red square.

Important Note:

Plex does not support creating these empty collections natively through its UI, so they can behave strangely in some cases, primarily related to showing/hiding them in the main library view. As a workaround, you can use a placeholder_ template variable to specify a single movie/show to add to these collections so they have one thing in them and will then behave as expected. For example, placeholder_imdb_id: tt0068646 will place The Godfather inside the separator in a movie library.

Separator Files

These are all the files that contain a separator

Collection Name	Default File
Seasonal Collections	seasonal
Chart Collections	separator_chart
Universe Collections	universe
Streaming Collections	streaming
Network Collections	network
Genre Collections	genre
Studio Collections	studio
Country Collections	country
Audio Language Collections	audio_language
Subtitle Language Collections	subtitle_language
Decade Collections	decade
Year Collections	year
Ratings Collections	content_rating*
Resolution Collections	resolution*
Award Collections	separator_award
Actors Collections	actor
Directors Collections	director
Producers Collections	producer
Writers Collections	writer
Based On… Collections	based

Shared Separator Variables

Template Variables can be used to manipulate the file in various ways to slightly change how it works without having to make your own local copy.

Note that the template_variables: section only needs to be used if you do want to actually change how the defaults work. Any value not specified is its default value if it has one if not it’s just ignored.

Shared Variables are NOT available to separator collections in any default file.

Variable	Description & Values
use_separator	Description: Turn the Separator Collection off. Values: false to turn of the collection
sep_style	Description: Choose the Separator Style. Default: orig Values: amethyst, aqua, blue, forest, fuchsia, gold, gray, green, navy, ocean, olive, orchid, orig, pink, plum, purple, red, rust, salmon, sand, stb, or tan
sort_prefix	Description: Changes the prefix of the sort title. Default: ! Values: Any String
sort_title	Description: Changes the sort title of all collections. Default: <<sort_prefix>><<collection_section>>_!<<title>> Values: Any String
placeholder_tmdb_movie	Description: Add a placeholder Movie to the Separator. Only valid for Movie libraries. Values: TMDb Movie ID
placeholder_tvdb_show	Description: Add a placeholder Show to the Separator. Only valid for Show libraries. Values: TVDb Show ID
placeholder_imdb_id	Description: Add a placeholder Movie/Show to the Separator. Valid for Movie or Show libraries assuming the ID points to an item of the correct type. Values: IMDb ID
name_separator	Description: Changes the name of the specified key’s collection. Values: New Collection Name
summary_separator	Description: Changes the summary of the specified key’s collection. Values: New Collection Summary
collection_section	Description: Changes the sort order of the collection sections against other default collection sections. Values: Any number
collection_mode	Description: Controls the collection mode of all collections in a Defaults file. Values: default Library default hide Hide Collection hide_items Hide Items in this Collection show_items Show this Collection and its Items
url_poster_separator	Description: Changes the poster url of the specified key’s collection. Values: URL directly to the Image

Use Separators

Separators are enabled by default, but can be disabled/enabled per-file and per-library.

An example of disabling separators at the library-level can be seen here

libraries:
  Movies:
    template_variables:
      use_separator: false

And at the file-level

libraries:
  Movies:
    metadata_path:
      - pmm: studio
        template_variables:
          use_separator: false

Separator Styles

Multiple styles are available for Separators, to match Plex’s “categories” feature.

The available styles available are:

Style	Value
Original	orig
Amethyst	amethyst
Aqua	aqua
Blue	blue
Forest	green
Fuchsia	fuchsia
Gold	gold
Gray	gray
Green	green
Navy	navy
Ocean	ocean
Olive	olive
Orchid	orchid
Pink	pink
Plum	plum
Purple	purple
Red	red
Rust	rust
Salmon	salmon
Sand	sand
Brown	stb
Tan	tan

This image shows an example separator in each of the above styles

An example of changing the separator style at the library-level can be seen here

libraries:
  Movies:
    template_variables:
      sep_style: red

And at the file-level

libraries:
  Movies:
    metadata_path:
      - pmm: studio
        template_variables:
          sep_style: stb