How to Set Up Plex for Your Family

Plex is a great way to allow a household to share media across multiple devices. However, for techies, it can quickly turn into a series of support requests. The good news is that you can set up Plex to run smoothly without constant intervention.

Set up profiles and libraries (including parental controls and PINs)

Applying some due diligence at this stage is a pain when first setting up Plex Media Server – and this is a basic setup. With a larger household, the importance of this stage will be much greater.

Sharing a profile between users is a disaster. From mismatched “Continue Watching” queues to kids accidentally viewing age-inappropriate content, it’s clear we need a more structured approach – starting with organizing media folders and then setting up user profiles.

Organize media folders

This process can take some time. However, it’s time well spent. The key here is to apply a little forethought to the structure you choose. Your goal is a logical library, with content categorized so that restrictions can be easily applied. For example, use broad categories like Family Movies, Kids TV, Adult TV, and General Movies. You don’t need to go overboard at this stage, but starting with such a structure will make managing your media much easier in the future.

Once your media content is organized into a suitable structure, you can add/manage folders in Plex.

1. Click the wrench icon in the upper right corner of the Plex home screen to enter settings.
2. On the sidebar on the left side of the screen. Scroll down to Manage and select Libraries .
3. Select Add Library and choose the type of library you want to create (Movies, TV shows, etc.)
4. Give the library a suitable name, for example: Family Movies.
5. Finally, add the appropriate media files to the library. Use the Browse For Media Folder option to do this.

This step needs to be repeated as required until all media files are added to Plex Media Server.

Create unique user profiles

The next step to streamline Plex (and support input) is to set up user profiles for each member of your household. Doing so allows you to set restrictions and grant access to the server library.

In the Plex Media settings screen, select the Plex Home option and follow the instructions below.

1. Set a PIN : If you have not set an Admin PIN, you will be given the option to set a PIN. This is important to prevent curious children from accessing unwanted content. A PIN should also be set for each "adult" account.
2. Create an account : Click Create Managed Account and choose a suitable name. You can also use the drop-down menu to set a restricted profile. The options are Younger Kid, Older Kid, Teen, and None.
3. Grant Access : The next step is to set which libraries the new profile has access to. Select the appropriate posts and click Continue .
4. Add account : Make sure the Allow Downloads and Allow access to Live TV restrictions are unchecked.

This is another process that can be repeated as needed. At this stage, the benefits of having a streamlined library become apparent. A streamlined library structure makes setting up content restrictions a breeze.

Keep it simple

Sometimes, being your family’s in-house tech support person can be a burden. Spending your evenings answering question after question isn’t conducive to family harmony. To minimize the need for constant support, keep your Plex setup as simple as possible.

Here's how to do this:

• Enable automatic sign-in : There are two steps to doing this. First, from the main Plex Server, navigate to Settings > Plex Web and select General . Make sure the Automatically Sign In box is checked. Now, you need to go to each device and log in as the user who will use that device the most and set the same permissions under that user.
• Disable unnecessary services : Since the Plex server is only used for local media, disable features like Live TV, DVR, and streaming services. You can do this from within the Settings menu . From here, you can use Online Media Sources to disable features like Live TV. Check the Streaming Services option and make sure they are all turned off.
• Turn off trailers : Turn off trailers to clean up the interface. Do this by navigating to the Extras option in the Plex settings screen and unchecking all trailer options.
• Individual devices : Adjusting settings on each device can help alleviate a lot of the hassle of support. This will vary by device. For example, on an Android phone, turn off all notifications ( Settings > Notifications ) and clear out clutter from the sidebar. You can do this by tapping the Edit option from the sidebar and unpinning categories as needed.

The goal is to ensure less distraction, less clutter, and less opportunity for clumsy family members to cause chaos.

Once Plex is set up like this, support requests should be much less frequent. However, computers and apps are fickle. Devices log out more often than you’d like, and the network will occasionally accidentally shut down devices. However, these issues are generally relatively minor and can be fixed quickly.

Check back every once in a while to refresh the metadata or update your library folders if you’ve added new content. Hopefully everything went smoothly. And most importantly, you now have the opportunity to view your media without having to answer daily questions about where things are or why something is missing.