FAQ: Some of my files aren't showing up in Roon

If music isn't showing up in Roon, first try to force a rescan of your folder from the Storage tab of Settings.

You may also want to check the list of the Skipped Files, which can be found in the Library section of Settings. If that doesn't work, the following describes some reasons why music in your watched folder might fail to import:

Unsupported Files

At this time, Roon supports mono, stereo, and multichannel content in the following formats: MP3, WAV, WAV64, AIFF, FLAC, Apple Lossless, OGG, and AAC at resolutions up to 32 bit 768kHz. Roon also supports DSD64, DSD128, DSD256, and DSD512 in the DSF and DFF formats.

Media that's not in one of the formats listed above will not import into Roon.

Files that lack an extension (meaning the file is called "`Song Title`" instead of "`Song Title.flac`" or "`Song Title.mp3`") will also be ignored by Roon's import process, and will not appear in the Skipped Files section.

Corrupt Files

It's possible that some audio files in your watched folders are corrupt. Corrupt files detected during your import will be skipped. It's a good idea to search your Watched Folder for unusually small files, usually less than 5kb, to see if corrupt media is affecting Roon's importing process.

Special Characters

Don't use "special" characters in the names of files and folders. These will cause problems with the import process. Avoid using:

< (less than), > (greater than), : (colon - sometimes works, but best avoided), " (double quote), / (forward slash), \ (backslash), | (vertical bar or pipe), ? (question mark), * (asterisk), $ (dollar sign), ` (backtick), and ~ (tilde)

Blacklisted Files and Folders

Roon's importing process is based on automatic folder scanning, so some system files or other temporary content are skipped to ensure cross-platform compatibility and stability. Most collections don't have any issues with this, but if you're missing files, you may want to check for content stored in folders that break our naming rules. Below are common places this will take place: 

The trash/recycle bin and internal system folders created by all operating systems in the top-level folder of all drives:

1. Any folder named $Recycle.Bin or Recycler which is in the same folder as a folder named System Volume Information
   
2. Any folder named System Volume Information
   
3. Any folder named any of .Trashes, .fseventsd or .Spotlight-V100 which is in the same folder as folders with the other two names
   
4. On Windows, the application data folder (this is typically C:\Users\name\AppData)
   
5. On Mac, the Library folder and any hidden folders in your user folder, meaning any folder named Library in your user folder, typically /Users/name
   
6. Any folder with a name starting with a period in your user folder, for example /Users/name/.Trash
   
7. On Linux, any hidden folders in your home folder. For example, /home/name/.local
   
8. The recycle and system folders created in shared folders by QNAP NAS devices:
   
9. Any folder with a name that starts with a @ or # symbol

 In Addition, Roon supports user-configurable Ignore Patterns for folder names. These can be changed by selecting the Edit option in Settings -> Storage -> "3 dots menu" for a watched folder.

These patterns are not case sensitive, but do use the directory separator specific to your operating system (/ on Mac/Linux, \ on Windows). By default, every watched folder is created with patterns to ignore the following:

1. Any folder named tmp
   
2. Any folder named temp
   
3. Any folder with a name starting with a period, for example /...and Justice For All/ or /.temp/
   
4. Any folder with a name ending with .pmbmf

Confirming The Import

If you're still having trouble finding a file in Roon, it's worth checking to see if the file was imported but misidentified, or added to the wrong album. You can confirm whether a file was imported by checking the Skipped Files list, or by looking up the file by path.

Still having trouble? Let us know! Send details about your setup over to Roon Support so we can investigate further.

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