Where Does Altium Designer Store Preferences and Libraries?
Altium Designer keys preferences to install GUIDs in AppData, with shared libraries in Public Documents.
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Altium Designer stores user preferences in %APPDATA%\Altium\Altium Designer <GUID>, where the GUID identifies that exact install instance. DXP.rcs, tool layouts and last-session state all live there, with a Local twin for caches. Shared libraries, templates and examples install to C:\Users\Public\Documents\Altium\AD<Version>.
The GUID suffix confuses everyone exactly once. Parallel installs each get their own folder, so copying preferences means matching the right GUID on the new machine. Uninstalls deliberately leave these folders behind, which lets a reinstall inherit old preferences silently.
Where Altium Designer stores this, by platform
%APPDATA%\Altium\Altium Designer <GUID>
DXP.rcs preferences, tool layouts and Recovery autosaves under the install's GUID folder. Local twin holds caches; shared libraries and templates live in Public Documents. Match GUIDs when migrating.
Frequently asked questions
How do I migrate Altium preferences to a new PC?
Copy the matching Altium Designer {GUID} folders from Roaming and Local, plus any Documents copies. On the new machine, install the same version first so the GUID-keyed folders have a home to land in.
Altium crashed. Where are my autosaved files?
Check the Recovery path in preferences and look in the Roaming GUID folder. Autosave files land there on the configured interval, separate from your project location, and survive most crashes.
Notice an outdated path? Let us know.