Greyed out audio files? try this…

If, on opening a Pro Tools session it can’t find audio files:

1. an alert window  opens to help you:

missing files

copy what I’ve done here ie. tick the boxes on the lower left part of this alert window

NB: The missing files aren’t in the Audio Files folder of the Pro Tools project you’re trying to launch, so if you ignore the alert window above, you’ll see greyed out tracks

edit screen with greyed out missing files
In the example above, I’ve simply removed audio files Fcr and Ecr from the audio files folder and ignored the alert message – so they remain unfound and greyed out.

3. to watch the process in action, ie. monitor Pro Tools looking for the files, after you’ve followed my advice in step 1, use the ‘Task Manager’ from the ‘Window’ menu:

task managerIdeally, you should try and find the missing audio files and drag them into the appropriate Audio Files folder, follow step 1 above and save the session immediately.

Click on you Macintosh HD icon in the top of the left hand column (Sidebar) and search for each missing file.  Drag each one to the ‘right’ Audio File folder when you find it.

searching for filesIf you can’t see a Sidebar, go the Finder (in the dock), click on it, click and hold on Finder in the menu to see the pull down menu, choose Preferences and click on the Sidebar tab

Sidebar prefs…this will generate a Sidebar, which should make general navigation a lot easier.

If you still have no luck, the files may exist on another computer or memory stick, in which case you’ll need to search for them separately.

About Gareth Stuart 59 Articles
studio owning tonmeister/pro tools engineer/musician/producer, p/t university lecturer, dad/husband, ironman (triathlete) & keen skier

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