You can easily set up VideoDrive to automatically import any video on your Mac. This is convenient if you copy or download videos on a regular basis, or if you do not have easy access to your Mac. This can for instance be the case if your Mac functions as a multimedia server, without a monitor.

Step 1: Creating a Hot Folder

Determine in which folder your video files arrive. Any video arriving in this folder will be queued and imported by VideoDrive. For this to work, turn the folder in a Hot Folder. Simply go to the “Queue” tab of VideoDrive preferences and click “Create Hot Folders” and point to that folder.

Make sure that the option “Make new Hot Folders silent” is turned off. This option would queue the videos without ever launching VideoDrive (thus not automating the process).

Step 2: Setting up the Import Queue

As soon as a video file is added to the Hot Folder it will be added to the import queue. This is indicated on bottom of the main screen of VideoDrive and by the red badge on the VideoDrive dock icon. By default, the videos will remain there until you click ‘Import Videos’. In this scenario however, we want to automate this step. Again, go to the “Queue” tab of VideoDrive preferences and select the second queue option. Fill out any number of minutes: we recommend at least 120 minutes, but it can also be much longer. The light next to the import queue on the main window will turn green, indicating the queue is processed automatically.

Check the option “Automatically requeue videos that failed to import”. If a video file is incomplete because it is still being downloaded, the import process will fail. Without this option, the videos would not be requeued and never be imported.

Finally, make sure to check “Never ask confirmation to save metadata of queued videos”. This will ensure the confirmation window with online metadata results never pops up.

Step 3: Choosing the right Import method

Make sure you have set the import method of your choice. You can use any of the nine available import methods in combination with Hot Folders. However, keep in mind that some import methods create new files: import methods 3 and 4 create new container files and import methods 5 until 8 create converted files. Make sure these files are not created in the Hot Folder, as this would import the videos a second time! Choose the iTunes media folder or any other file or folder of your choice in the “File location” tab of VideoDrive Preferences.

Step 4: Track your new iTunes videos

If new videos arrive frequently, you might have a hard time finding them back in iTunes. Playlists are a great way to solve this. VideoDrive can automatically add your videos to a dedicated playlist. You can find this feature on the “General” tab of VideoDrive preferences. Additionally, you can create “Smart playlists” in iTunes that automatically update with new movies or TV Show episodes. Simply create a variation of the default “Recently Added” smart playlist in iTunes.

If you’re not sure which metadata was assigned to your imported videos, check the VideoDrive Console window or the VideoDrive.log file (by opening the MacOSX utility Console in the Applications/Utilities subfolder).

You’re done!

That’s it! Your VideoDrive is now fully configured to work without any intervention. Keep in mind that:

1. ‣It can take a while for the import queue to update if VideoDrive is busy.
   

2. ‣Corrupt videos will stay in the import queue as VideoDrive cannot make the distinction between incomplete and corrupt videos. You can empty the queue manually by clicking the empty button next to the queue.
   

3. ‣If VideoDrive quits or your machine reboots, it is not necessary to launch VideoDrive. The first time a new videos is added to the Hot Folder, VideoDrive will be launched again.
   

4. ‣Any errors are logged in the VideoDrive.log in the MacOSX Console, located in the Applications/Utilities subfolder.