Missing Plugins In Pro Tools / How To Rescan

What makes Pro Tools unique in terms of plugin management is that plugins are scanned upon every DAW launch. Due to this, we recommend that Pro Tools is closed when installing new plugins or plugin updates. The following bullet points will address most customer reports in regards to "missing plugins" in Pro Tools. 

Plugin Installations

• Generally this goes without saying, but typically when plugins do not show in Pro Tools, it's because they are not installed on your system, or they require an update. We post all the latest plugin versions here. If the plugins were installed while Pro Tools was open, you may need to restart your system and then re-launch Pro Tools. 

Organize Plug-In Menus By Category & Manufacturer

• If you are missing plugins in Pro Tools, please ensure you arrange your plugin list by category and manufacturer as shown below ↓

This option can be found within Pro Tools "Preferences". Once the option is selected, you can view plugins manufacturer as shown below ↓

Stereo Tracks

• Plugins such as VerbSuite Classics and VBC (Legacy Version) can only be viewed on a Stereo track. 
• VerbSuite Classics is configured to only work in stereo. Therefore, it will not show in your plugins menu when searching on a mono track. More information can be found here: VerbSuite Mono VS Stereo

Native (ARM) vs Rosetta Mode

If you have a Mac computer with an Apple Silicon processor, you're likely running Pro Tools natively on your machine. Native support for Apple Silicon was released in Pro Tools version 2023.3. This means if you have plugins installed on your machine that do not have Universal Binaries, they will be missing from your plugins list. The best option is to update all plugins. Slate Digital plugins can be updated using Slate Digital Connect. Another option is to open Pro Tools in Rosetta mode. Please see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymw8Hfer9aI 

Trash Pro Tools Prefs (Mac)

• In some rare situations, you may need to trash "Pro Tools Prefs" and the file "InstalledAAXPlugIns". Pro Tools 12 and higher users can navigate to the following path in order to delete these items: /Users/<your_username>/Library/Preferences/Avid/Pro Tools

• You will need to hold down the "Option" key in the Finder "Go" menu in order to access the Users Library as shown in the image below ↓

• We suggest viewing the following Sweetwater article for other Pro Tools versions (11 and below): https://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/articles/how-do-i-trash-my-pro-tools-preferences/

Trash Pro Tools Prefs (Win)

• If issues persist, you may need to trash "Pro Tools Prefs" and the file "InstalledAAXPlugIns". Pro Tools 12 users can navigate to the following path in order to delete these items: C\:Users\<your_username>\AppData\Roaming\Avid\Pro Tools

• You will need to Show Hidden Folders in File Explorer options in order to access the hidden library as shown in the images below ↓

• We suggest viewing the following Sweetwater article for other Pro Tools versions (11 and below): https://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/articles/how-do-i-trash-my-pro-tools-preferences/

Additional Troubleshooting

If you are having trouble finding some of the plugins in your DAW, keep in mind the All Access Pass contains some third-party plugins under different manufacturer names. Please view the following article for clarification: Can't Find Plugins In DAW

Please make sure your version of Pro Tools is supported: Support Digital Audio Workstations

View System Requirements here: System Requirements

License Troubles?

If you're seeing a License Error, please try the following:

Open the iLok License Manager and make sure it is up-to-date. Next, right-click on your iLok dongle, listed in the left column, and choose Synchronize.

Wait for the operation to complete, and then launch your DAW.