Where Does Sublime Text Keep Packages?
Sublime Text's Packages, Installed Packages and User folder on Windows, macOS and Linux, plus the menu item that opens the right one.
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Sublime Text keeps the files you can edit in one data directory, and the folder that matters inside it is Packages. Your own settings, keymaps and snippets sit in Packages\User as plain files that updates never overwrite. Everything shipped with the editor lives elsewhere and gets replaced on upgrade.
Package Control installs into a different folder. Anything it installs lands in Installed Packages as a single .sublime-package file, which is a zip with a new extension, while packages you unpack or write yourself stay as folders under Packages. Rather than typing any of this, use Preferences > Browse Packages: it opens the folder the running build actually uses, on every OS.
Where Sublime Text stores this, by platform
%APPDATA%\Sublime Text\Packages\User
Installed Packages sits one level up at %APPDATA%\Sublime Text\Installed Packages, and that is where Package Control drops its .sublime-package files. The portable build keeps the same structure in a Data folder next to sublime_text.exe instead of AppData. Upgrades from version 3 often leave a Sublime Text 3 folder behind, full of old settings nobody has cleaned up.
~/Library/Application Support/Sublime Text/Packages/User
Installed Packages is the sibling folder at ~/Library/Application Support/Sublime Text/Installed Packages. Finder hides the Library folder by default, so Preferences > Browse Packages is the practical way in. Older version 3 installs used a folder named Sublime Text 3 here, which an upgrade leaves untouched.
~/.config/sublime-text/Packages/User
Installed Packages is one level up at ~/.config/sublime-text/Installed Packages. Version 3 installs used ~/.config/sublime-text-3, so that folder can still exist after an upgrade with your old settings in it. If this path looks empty, open Preferences > Browse Packages and go with whatever it shows.
Frequently asked questions
where does sublime text store my settings
In Packages/User, mainly as Preferences.sublime-settings, with your keymaps beside it as .sublime-keymap files. Preferences > Settings opens the default file on the left and your User copy on the right, and only edits in the right pane survive an upgrade.
what is the difference between packages and installed packages
Packages holds unpacked folders, including your User package. Installed Packages holds the .sublime-package zip files that Package Control installs, one file per plugin. Both get loaded, and a freshly installed plugin normally shows up in Installed Packages rather than Packages.
where does package control install packages
Straight into Installed Packages as a .sublime-package file, one level above Packages. Packages/User/Package Control.sublime-settings keeps the installed_packages list, which is how Package Control rebuilds your plugin set when you copy that folder to a new machine.
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