Kodi Setup – Essential Settings Changes & Best Addons to Install

If you are new to Kodi then you will find a little bit difficult to start using it and customizing it according to your needs. Kodi is an Open Source media player software and it does not provide ant Content. You need to provide your own Media (Videos, Images & Music) or you can install Addons which provide content. In this guide, We will help you on how to add your own Videos, Movies and how to properly organize them. In this Kodi Setup guide, we will also help you with 3rd Party Addons that provide content. Here is our guide on How to install Kodi on smart TV.

Before starting the guide I hope you have downloaded Kodi and installed it on your device.

This Kodi Setup Guide will be in 3 Major Parts.

1. Add and Organize your own Media Content
2. Using Third Party Addons to stream content.
3. Small Features of Kodi that you should use.

Kodi Setup Steps For Adding And Organizing Your Media.

After installing Kodi you will be greeted with a Blank Dashboard where you can add all your Media content.

Also read: Kodi Roku Guide.

Cleaning The HomeScreen

On the Left Sidebar, you will get Options like Movies, TV Shows, Music, Music Video etc. Now, most of us won’t be using all of this options. Mostly you will never use TV, Radio and Videos Section. So by removing them,  you can clean some space.

So, Scroll to the option you want to remove and choose the option “Remove This Main Menu Item”.

It is not necessary but makes your Kodi Home screen cleaner.

Read:  Amazon Fire Stick Kodi Guide.

Kodi Setup to Adding Your Media Files To Kodi.

This is one of the most important steps. This will decide how Good your Movies, TV Shows Library looks on your Kodi Home Screen.  Here are some simple tips to get great results.

1. Creating Separate Folders for Movies, TV Shows and Music is mandatory.
2. Create separate folders for Movies, TV Shows. Now one thing you need to is just Put the Video file in that folder. Dont put subtitles or any other kind of file in that folder. Just Video or music files.
3. You dont need to organize everything manually so just Put all the files in one folder and dont organizing them in separate Subfolders leave them. Kodi will do the hard work for us. These folders can also be set up on Network Drives or NAS system. Kodi can read network drives.
4. Once you have created that folder Launch Kodi again and click on “Enter File Section” option. And then click on “Add Videos” option.
5. Click on Browse button and navigate to your Media Folder.
   
6. After Selecting Media Source Click on OK button.
7. Now the new screen will Pop Up. This is an important option for Organizing the content. Click on “What Directory contains” and Choose Movies if you are adding movies. Leave all the options as it is and click on OK button.
8. Click Yes for next option. Now it will start loading information related to the Movies like thumbnail etc.
   
9. Now scanning will take some time depending on how many movies you have and how fast your internet connection is. Wait for it to complete.

Correct Wrong Movie Information.

Now Most of your movies should be visible on your Home Screen. But if some movies/Videos are missing then you need to follow this step.

1. Go to Videos section on the Left Sidebar. Now, Under Media Sources click on your Movies.
2. Here you will be able to see all your Movies. If any file is showing “No Information Available” in left sidebar then select the option that file (Right click if you have a mouse) and then click on Scan Library.
   
3. If it gets the movie info correctly then choose it or use the Manual option to search.

You can use above steps if some file is showing wrong movie info. Use the manual search and select correct movie details.

This whole section of Adding your Media file is same for Movies, TV Shows, Music videos with a slight change.