Pro Tools Workspaces and Catalogs

Published 2024-11-05.
Time to read: 3 minutes.

This page is part of the av_studio collection.

Also see these related articles about Pro Tools:

Managing Audio Files and Session Using Workspaces

Pro Tools workspace browsers are useful for searching through audio files. They can be used to browse your own audio samples as well as sound effects libraries.

Pro Tools keeps track of all the audio files it knows about in a database. There is only one database for all sessions and sound effects libraries.

The workspace database resides in C:\Users\Public\Pro Tools\Workspace.wksp. The database is not typically compatible between versions of Pro Tools, so it needs to be regenerated when Pro Tools is updated.

You can view the database in a workspace window. Several workspace windows can coexist, so you can simultaneously manage audio files across several directories.

See the Pro Tools Reference Guide, page 20 and pages 400-404 for more information about workspace browsers.

Opening a Workspace Browser

ALT-; shows a new workspace browser at the root of your computer's drive volumes. If a workspace browser already exists, the hotkey brings it to the forefront, otherwise it pushes the workspace browser behind the edit window. If two workspace browsers already exist, the hotkey toggles between bringing each of the browsers to the forefront.

Instead of using the above hotkey to create a new workspace browser, it is often more convenient to select an audio clip and open a new workspace browser at the directory containing the clip. To do this:

Open the Clip List window.
Right-click on a clip.
Select Reveal in Workspace.

Workspace browsers display the following folders:

Sound Libraries.
Volumes – Top-level view of all drives in your computer.
Session.
Track Presets – Factory presets.
Catalogs – a way to organize and manage media files and sessions.
User – Your desktop directory, documents directory and home directory.

Column Headers

Workspace browsers display dozens of columns of information about clips. Those columns can and should be reordered so the displayed information is useful. Using the New Workspace Browser in Pro Tools 11 describes how to customize workspace views. The following image shows a few of the available columns.

You can choose the column headers to be visible by right-clicking one of the existing column headers, then enabling the desired headers and disabling the others.

You can save up to 5 column configurations as workspace presets. For example, to save the current configuration as workspace preset #1, CTRL-click on preset 1.

Recall a workspace preset by simply clicking on the preset number.

Working With Workspace Browsers

You can drag and drop a audio file from a workspace browser to a track, where it will be shown as an audio clip. You can also drag and drop to your desktop or a File Manager folder.

To save the results of a search as a catalog:

Select all items in the Items List by choosing Edit / Select All, or press CTRL-A.
Right-click any selected item and choose Create Catalog

User Catalogs

Catalogs are similar to having a Favorites folder, and serve as a way to collect and organize frequently used items regardless of where they are stored. A Catalog is analogous to a folder full of aliases or shortcuts. Placing a file in a Catalog does not create a copy of the file, and does not change where the file is stored. Rather, it stores a reference (or alias) to the file so that it can be found and manipulated without having to search for its physical location.

– Pro Tools Reference Guide pp 450-453

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