My presets are gone

[Digitalsound84]

I once had a lot of presets in Adobe Audition.  Like for example when I go to the graphic equalizer filter I used to have tons of filter presets that I made.  Now they are all gone.  They were there days ago.  I don't know what happened to them.  Does anyone know how to fix this, if at all?

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

First, a question. If you open, let's say, the Graphic Equaliser, are the original Audition presets still there?

[Digitalsound84]

Yes, the originals that came with Adobe Audition are still there. The presets I made are gone. I don't know what happened to them. I don't recall doing anything that would make them disappear. I saw on my Adobe Audition 2022 they are still there, but for 2023 they are gone.

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

This is what I suspected - that the originals would be there. What this means is that for some reason that we haven't established, Audition has restored a 'vanilla' set of presets. It will do this if anything is damaged or altered in your Preferences folder. The other way it can happen (and this has caused a few accidents) is if you start Audition with the Shift key held down. That will automatically wipe everything. If you can locate the appropriate files in the 2022 Preferences folder, you can copy them and replace the vanilla files - that's the only way you will get anything back. Make sure that Audition is not running at the time, and make backups of everything. Delete the appropriate vanilla file in 2023 and replace it with the copy from 2022. Anything you fail to replace will once again be replaced by a vanilla copy.

I'll be the first to admit that the whole thing is a bit of a pain; there really ought to be a better way of backing up your favourites and presets so that they can be restored without having to go through all this rigmarole, and potential loss, but there it is - at present there isn't.

[Digitalsound84]

I don't recall ever pressing the shift button.  Even if I did, isn't there a way to prevent this from ever happening?  I wasn't able to find the preferences folder.  I did save the 'application settings' from the 2022 version and then tried to upload it to the 2023 version.  It said that it loaded them, but then I saw that the preferences were still the same as if nothing happened.

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

All computer files are, essentially, vulnerable, and there is no ultimate way to prevent damage to them. If you are concerned about the contents of any file, you should back it up - twice. This is normal practice, and certainly what I do with recorded audio. The Audition Preferences folder is, by default, hidden (so that you don't 'accidentally' delete it), and that is almost certainly why you can't find it. As I described previously, you cannot do a simple 'upload' to replace preferences; you have to go about this in more or less a surgical way if you are going to succeed.

This may all seem a bit harsh, but it is the reality of living in a digital age, where things are not tangible. One of the safer things you can do is to store the files you are most concerned about on some form of physical media. But even if you do that, you have to rely upon the continued existence of the machinery that will let you access it. There are several tape-based file storgage systems that it is now hard to find players for, and ultimately this is going to happen to all formats; nothing is absolutely safe. And unfortunately this is how you have to think, when it comes to backing up even for relatively trivial files. If you are doing this seriously, for a living, then you need to have both an understanding of storage and backup issues, and a long-term strategy for dealing with them.

[Digitalsound84]

I do have the presets for my 2022 version of Adobe Audition.  Do you know how I can load the 2022 presets to my 2023 version of Adobe Audition.

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

The answer to that is in my first reply.

[Digitalsound84]

You mention about "Delete the appropriate vanilla file in 2023 and replace it with the copy from 2022. Anything you fail to replace will once again be replaced by a vanilla copy."  What are the vanilla files?  Do you know where I can find them?

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

If you just delete the existing preference files, then they are automatically replaced by what are referred to as the 'vanilla' files. You don't have to find them - they'll find you! Audition generates them automatically. It's these files that you add to when you save a preset - which is why, if you want to save the presets, you have to back up the whole file.

[Digitalsound84]

Do you know what folder these files are located in?  Do you have a screenshot of them?  I can't seem to find them.

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

You cannot have direct access to them; they are created when required from what amounts to encoded cabinet files - deliberately not accessible to the end user.

[Digitalsound84]

I see.  Do you work for Adobe by any chance?  If so, is there a way to bring this issue up with Adobe?  I can't run any of my custom made presets on Adobe Audition 2023, but the ones for 2022 are still there.  

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

This is a U2U forum, and if any Adobe employees show up on it, it says that they are employees, very clearly. So no, I don't work directly for Adobe. If you follow the instructions above, you can import your presets, and this works fine. As far as contacting the developers is concerned, then no, we can't do that from here. And anyway, they are already aware that the whole situation regarding the storage and movement of presets is unsatisfactory; they really don't need any more input about this. Apart from any other considerations, responding cuts into their development time, and anyway I believe that they are actively discouraged from participating in U2U activities. On top of that, what they can actually change is also limited by Adobe corporate.

The solution that would be good, and solve most of these problems, would be a return to the system that worked fine before Audition became multi-platform. You could just pick up the preferences folder from one version, and drop it over the icon for the new version and they would be automatically integrated. Unless this has returned without any fanfare (I suspect not), then I suspect that it's the differences between Mac and PC OS's that preclude this from happening.