The watched/unwatched, view progress, and ratings are stored in an install-independent fashion that makes them easy to move between installations or servers.
In order to do so, you’ll need to use SQLite commands. These are built in to macOS, but you may need to install support for other operating systems.
Related Page: SQLite
Preparation
Before you do anything, make sure that the Plex Media Server is not actively running on either the source or destination install.
Database Location
The main Plex Media Server database is com.plexapp.plugins.library.db, which is found at /Plug-in Support/Databases/ inside the normal server data directory. See our Where is the Plex Media Server data directory located? for details on where to find the Plex Media Server data directory.
Related Page: Where is the Plex Media Server data directory located?
Database Commands
The following example commands are run from the command-line when inside the directory noted above.
Source Install
On your source Plex Media Server installation, export from the old database:
echo ".dump metadata_item_settings" | sqlite3 com.plexapp.plugins.library.db | grep -v TABLE | grep -v INDEX > settings.sqlDestination Install
Copy the settings.sql file you created to the new installation. On that new installation, add the data to the new database:
cat settings.sql | sqlite3 com.plexapp.plugins.library.db