How to Properly Manage and Store Audiobooks in Plex / PlexAmp

Content

Unlike songs, audiobooks are long, linear content that must remember playback position to provide a smooth listening experience. Audiobooks require a different approach than regular music files.Plex, combined with clients like PlexAmp, can handle audiobooks very well — if configured correctly on your server.This guide explains the best practices to store, organize, and configure your audiobooks in Plex.

Step by Step guide to manage AudioBooks in Plex and PlexAmp

Create a Dedicated Audiobook Folder on Your NAS

The first and most important step is organization.

On your NAS (or server), create a dedicated folder exclusively for audiobooks. Do not mix them with your music.

For example:

/media/audiobooks/

All audiobook files should be stored inside this directory, ideally structured by author and book:

Audiobooks/
 ├── George Orwell/
 │    └── 1984/
 │         ├── 01.mp3
 │         ├── 02.mp3
 ├── Frank Herbert/
 │    └── Dune/

Why this matters:
Audiobooks must never be mixed with your regular music collection. Plex treats music and audiobooks differently, and mixing them can cause metadata issues, playback problems, and loss of progress tracking.

Create a Dedicated Audiobook Library in Plex

Once your audiobook folder is ready, open Plex Media Server and create a new library:

Go to Settings → Libraries
Click Add Library
Select Music as the library type
Name the library clearly (e.g. Audiobooks)
Point the library to your audiobook folder on the NAS (in our example /media/audiobooks/)

Important (I repeat to make sure it is clear !):
Do not add audiobooks to your existing music library. Audiobooks must always live in their own dedicated library.

Configure Advanced Library Options (Critical Step)

After creating the audiobook library, you must adjust its advanced settings:

Open your Audiobook library
Click Edit Library
Go to Advanced Settings
Enable the option: “Store track progress”

This option is absolutely essential to continue playing your audio books from the left off.

Why “Store Track Progress” Is So Important

Audiobooks are long-form content. Without progress tracking, Plex will always restart playback from the beginning.

Use the Plex Built-in Store Track Progress Feature

By enabling Store track progress, Plex will:

Remember where you stopped listening
Resume playback exactly where you left off
Sync progress across devices
Work perfectly with PlexAmp

This single option transforms Plex from a simple music player into a true audiobook platform.

Using Audiobooks with PlexAmp

PlexAmp works particularly well with Plex audiobooks when the library is correctly configured:

Automatic resume playback
Reliable chapter navigation
Persistent listening progress
Ideal for long listening sessions

As long as your audiobooks are stored in a dedicated library with progress tracking enabled, PlexAmp will behave exactly as expected.

Best Practices Summary

Create a dedicated audiobook folder on your NAS
Never mix audiobooks with music
Create a separate Plex library for audiobooks
Enable “Store track progress” in advanced settings
Use PlexAmp for seamless audiobook playback

Conclusion

Plex can be an excellent audiobook manager, but only if it is configured properly. The key principles are separation and progress tracking.

By following these best practices, Plex and PlexAmp become a powerful, reliable, and user-friendly audiobook solution across all your devices.