Import-export library

See also: NFO files

XBMC offers the capability to import and export data manually into/from the Media Library, as well as importing media info automatically from .nfo files.

Import / Export options

The Import / Export options can be found in Relevant Music / Videos Settings.

Video Library:

Export Video Library

Exports the Library database to either one, or multiple XML files. When you initiate an export, XBMC will ask if you want to export to separate or a single file.

1. When exporting to a single file XBMC will bring up a browser dialog where you select where you want it exported. XBMC will then create a subdirectory with the resulting xml file plus all thumbnails and fanart, watched status will be exported to the xml file.
2. If you choose to export to separate files you will also be asked if you want to export thumbnails and fanart as well.

The resulting XML .nfo file and associated image files will then be exported to the location of the corresponding video files.

Tip: For more info see NFO files

Import Video Library

Imports an XML file into the Library database. If the entry does not exist it is appended.

If it exists:

1. It removes all current info for that entry from the database.
2. Inserts the info for that entry from the XML file.

Note: If you wish to import a movie, TV show, music video or episode into the library, use the corresponding format in the exported xml file and enclose it with the <videodb></videodb> tags. Examples can be seen below, as .nfo files.

Music Library:

Export Music Library

Exports the Library database to either one, or multiple XML files. When you initiate an export, XBMC will ask if you want to export to separate or a single file.

If you choose to export to separate files you will also be asked if you want to export thumbnails and fanart as well.

The resulting XML .nfo files and associated image files will then be exported to the location of the corresponding music files.

Import Music / Video Library

Imports a XML file into the Library database. If the entry does not exist it is skipped.

If it exists:

1. It removes all current info for that entry from the database.
2. Inserts the info for that entry from the XML file.

Note: To import an exported music library you must scrape your music source prior to importing the library. The music library import will populate the extended meta-data such as artist or album info which is not contained in the music tags.

Video and music .nfo Files

Main page: NFO files

Nfo files can be used to provide data for a video file in XBMC or influence the search behaviour of scrapers. In particular they are helpful if the information fetched from a web site does not match the video file, or data for that particular file does not exist.

By default at the time of scanning, if the media folder contains a correctly named *.nfo file, then XBMC will load the *.nfo file and attempt to either, in the case of it containing XML data get the meta-data directly from the .nfo file or will parse it for a direct URL to the scraper info page. This allows XBMC to skip its normal lookup and/or search procedures; this is useful if a file's information is not available on any of the scraper sites or if the file-matching criteria fail for the particular file.

Tip: See Creating NFO files

Importing library information from "My Movies" media management software

My Movies (www.mymovies.name) is an online database for profiling DVD-Video movies. My Movies saves an XML file and a poster cover image which with this patch will get scanned by XBMC in the same way as XBMC's own XML formatted NFO files are scanned/scraped.

XBMC has the ability to get the import movie library information from "My Movies" via the mymovies.xml files that it generates, these mymovies.xml are checked after the movie.nfo file.

Additional information

Additional information on how to add format-tags for text and labels (Eg. Bold, Italic) can be found under Label Formatting

Watched status

Too keep your watched status when importing the library, add this to your advancedsettings.xml file in the userdata folder:

<advancedsettings>
     <videolibrary>
          <importwatchedstate>true</importwatchedstate>
     </videolibrary>
</advancedsettings>