Where Does Pro Tools Keep Preferences and Backups?
Where Pro Tools keeps preferences on Windows and Mac, and how Session File Backups rescue a session.
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Pro Tools stores preferences outside your sessions: %APPDATA%\Avid\Pro Tools on Windows, ~/Library/Preferences/Avid/Pro Tools on Mac. Trashing that folder resets behavior without touching a single audio file, which is why support leads with it for assertion errors and graphics glitches.
Sessions defend themselves separately. Every session folder holds Session File Backups (periodic full copies), plus Audio Files, Fade Files and Bounced Files siblings. The .ptx points at them by reference, so moving a session means moving the folder, never the file alone.
Where Pro Tools stores this, by platform
%APPDATA%\Avid\Pro Tools
Quit Pro Tools, rename Pro Tools to Old Pro Tools, relaunch to regenerate. Sessions live wherever you created them; each carries its own Session File Backups folder for rollbacks.
~/Library/Preferences/Avid/Pro Tools
Same rename to reset procedure via Go > Go to Folder. Also trash Digidesign Databases folders at volume roots plus Volumes when troubleshooting media issues.
Frequently asked questions
Pro Tools behaves erratically. How do I trash preferences?
Quit Pro Tools, rename the Pro Tools preferences folder (to Old Pro Tools), and relaunch: it rebuilds factory defaults while sessions stay untouched. Restore piecemeal (Key Commands first) from the renamed folder if the reset fixes the issue.
How do I roll back a Pro Tools session?
Open the Session File Backups folder inside the session folder, sorted by date. Each is a full session file from an earlier save point. Open one directly to audition it; Save As to promote it. Set backup depth under Preferences > Operation.
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