Continue Listening and Continue Series in Audiobookshelf: what they show and why a book is stuck there

Continue Listening shows the books you’ve started and haven’t finished, with the one you played most recently first. Continue Series shows the next book to start in a series you’ve already begun.

The server builds both shelves for each user from that user’s saved progress. So if a finished book is stuck on Continue Listening, first check whether the server has it saved as finished.

What does each shelf on the Audiobookshelf home page mean?

Shelf	What’s on it
Continue Listening	Books with progress that aren’t finished, most recently played first
Continue Reading	The same for ebooks that have no audio
Continue Series	The next book in a series you’ve started
Recently Added	Books added to the library most recently
Recent Series	Series added to the library in the last 60 days
Discover	A random pick of books you haven’t started, only the first book of a series you haven’t started
Listen Again	Books you’ve finished
Newest Authors	Authors added to the library in the last 60 days

How does Continue Series pick a book?

A series shows up on Continue Series when:

• you’ve finished at least one book in it,
• at least one book in it isn’t finished, and
• no book in it is in progress.

It offers the first unfinished book by sequence number. So while you’re halfway through book 3, that book is on Continue Listening and the series isn’t on Continue Series. Once you finish book 3, the series comes back on Continue Series, as long as it has another unfinished book. If you’ve also finished books 1 and 2, it offers book 4.

If it keeps offering an early book you skipped, turn on Skip earlier books in Continue Series in the library’s settings. Then it continues from the furthest book you’ve finished. A book in the wrong spot is often a sequence problem; see series in the wrong order.

Why is a finished book stuck in Continue Listening?

Usually the server doesn’t have the book as finished. Check these in order.

You stopped just short of the end. By default Audiobookshelf marks a book finished when there are less than 10 seconds left. If you stopped with 10 seconds or more left, for example during the closing credits, it’s still in progress. Mark it finished by hand: open the book’s three-dot menu and choose Mark as Finished. You can change the rule in the library’s settings, under Mark media item as finished when, to a time left or a percentage.

The book has two progress entries. As an admin, go to Settings > Users, open the user and look at Saved Media Progress. If the book is listed twice, check whether one entry is still unfinished. That entry can keep it on the shelf. People reported the duplicates after listening in a phone app. Since v2.26.0, the server removes duplicate progress entries each time it starts, so update and restart. Issue #3845 about double entries is still open, so restart again if one comes back.

Why isn’t Continue Listening updating?

If you’re on v2.24.0 or v2.25.x, books you listened to offline in a phone app, and synced later, stopped moving up Continue Listening. v2.26.0 fixed it. Update the server.

How do I hide a book from Continue Listening?

On the home page, open the book’s three-dot menu on the Continue Listening shelf and choose Remove from Continue Listening. Your place in the book stays the same; it just leaves the shelf. It comes back the next time you listen to it.

For a series, use Remove Series from Continue Series from a book’s menu on that shelf.

Do phone apps show the same shelves?

Apps start from the server’s shelves, but what you see can differ by app and device. SoundLeaf calls Continue Listening Continue, and puts up to three unfinished books you played most recently on that device first. Books you’ve hidden stay out. The library browsing guide lists each shelf in SoundLeaf, and progress sync covers how your place gets back to the server.