Restore Variable Width Profiles from Time Machine backup

[Agla]

Hello,

When changing Illustrator version I forgot to keep preferences and have now lost my custom stroke width profiles. The version of Illustrator they are on will be on a Time Machine backup. Is it possible to find the relevant file and re-insert it to retrieve the profiles, or will I have to make them all over again?

I'm on MacOS Mojave and the profiles are on v25.2.3.

Thanks for any help!

[Ton Frederiks]

Try to find in your backup the Illustrator application folder > Support Files > Resources > your language > VariableWidthProfiles

[Agla]

Thanks, it seems it must have been longer ago than I thought when I last used the variable widths as all the backups I have of that file only contain the default 6 widths.

Therefore, it seems I don't actually have a backup of the necessary file, but thank you for the solution, which I will keep in mind for future reference.

[Ton Frederiks · Accepted solution]

I think I pointed to the wrong location.

The one you need is hidden in the preferences:

Username > Library > Preferences > Adobe Illustrator yourversionnumberwiththewidthprofiles Settings > VariableWidthProfiles

And the current one in the preferences needs to be replaced with the older one.

Maybe there are preferences left in you current system and you don't need time machine.

[Agla]

I went to the preference location in my backup and found that file is the one I needed. Thank you for your help!

[Ton Frederiks]

Good to hear that helped. Often the files in the application support files folder are not the ones that are really used by the application, there should only be a single source.