Avid has recently emailed all their customers who have free Avid Cloud Storage Accounts, advising them that soon they plan to clear down older Pro Tools Projects from user’s free cloud storage accounts. In this article, we have all the details and advice on how to make sure you do not lose any of your Pro Tools Projects.

What Avid Have Said In Their Email

Here is the text from Avid’s ‘heads-up’ email announcement…

“Hello, This email is to inform you that in the near future Avid will be clearing older Pro Tools projects from free cloud storage accounts. (Please watch for a follow-up email with details on timing.) 

Following COVID-19, there has been an influx of users taking advantage of our cloud platform. We have learned that older projects place a burden on cloud performance. Fortunately, all Pro Tools | First users on version 2019.6 and later have the ability to save an unlimited number of projects locally to their computers. This is easy to do and explained in this video. If you are not on the latest version of Pro Tools | First, you can download and install it from your Avid Master Account or Avid Link. Alternatively, if you prefer to continue to store your projects in the cloud, you can purchase an Avid Premium Cloud Plan which enables unlimited cloud storage. 

We will continue to provide updates via email and will communicate dates when available. 

Many thanks, 

The Pro Tools Team”

Who Will It Affect?

This change, when implemented, will affect anyone with older Pro Tools Projects stored in a free Avid cloud storage account. if you have a paid-for Avid cloud storage account this will not affect you.

There is no definition of what ‘older’ means but we understand that Avid’s cloud storage system has a lot of Pro Tools Projects created by people trying out Pro Tools First and then abandoned.

When Will This Happen?

At this time, no timescale has been announced for this, Avid has released this ‘heads-up email to give Pro Tools First users advanced warning of the change so that you can take action in plenty of time to make sure you do not lose any of your Pro Tools Projects stored in your free cloud storage account. Avid will be providing future updates which will include the dates in due course.

What Can I Do To Protect My Pro Tools Projects?

Pro Tools First users should check that you are on version 2019.6 or later.

Until Pro Tools First 2019.6, Pro Tools First users could only have a maximum of 3 Pro Tools projects that had to be stored in the cloud. With this new Unlimited Projects feature, Pro Tools First users can create and save an unlimited number of Pro Tools projects locally on your computer. You can then choose which of the Pro Tools Projects, up to a maximum of 3, you have stored locally on your computer to sync to the cloud for any time, anywhere access and collaboration with other users. 

With Pro Tools First, these projects are not local in the same sense as a conventional Pro Tools session, you won’t find the same Folder structure that you get with Pro Tools sessions created by Pro Tools Standard or Pro Tools Ultimate. Instead, Pro Tools projects are stored locally on your computer in a ‘cache’, just like your web browser stores asses from recently visited pages so that they don’t have to be re-downloaded when you revisit that page again.

With Pro Tools First 2019.6, you are able to create an unlimited number of projects, and they will be stored in the Pro Tools First cache on your computer’s hard drive and then choose which 3 you want to sync to the cloud. This way you no longer need to delete your projects simply to make space for a new project because you have exceeded the old 3 Project limit. 

As you can see from this animation you can change which 3 projects are synced to the cloud as any point when you’re ready to work on them, by simply selecting the “Synchronized to Cloud” checkbox of any project to toggle session sync on or off. Of course, you don’t have to keep 3 projects in the cloud, it could be 2 or 1 or none.

Here is a quick-tip video from Avid explaining how to change a Pro Tools First Project from Cloud Storage to Local Storage.

Do It Now!

If you have any Pro Tools projects in the cloud using an Avid free cloud storage account, we recommend that you make these changes now so that you do not need to worry about losing your precious Pro Tools Projects that you haven’t used for a while. We recommend that to doubly save that you chose to store all your Pro Tools Projects locally, especially the ones you have not worked on for a while.

What If I Do Not Have Pro Tools First 2019.6?

We recommend that you go to your Avid Master Account, click on the ‘My Products and Subscriptions’ link in the ‘My Products’ section. Then in the Pro Tools First section, you will find download links to the latest version of Pro Tools First. Download and install the latest version. Then you will be able to follow the instructions above to protect your Pro Tools Projects.

What If I Want To Store My Projects In The Cloud?

If you would prefer to store your Pro Tools First Projects in the cloud and need more than 3 projects then we recommend you look at purchasing an Avid Premium Cloud Plan. There are 3 plans to choose from and the good news is that Avid has increased the amount of storage available with these plans at no additional cost.

• Artist 100 GB $4.99 USD/month or $49.99 per year

• Producer 500 GB $9.99 USD/month or $99.99 per year

• Studio 2 TB $29.99 USD/month or $299.99 per year

What Do We Think About This Announcement

It is good to see that Avid is giving plenty of warning before making this change. We can understand that where may well be hundreds, if not thousands, of Pro Tools Projects, cluttering their cloud storage system, created by people trying out Pro Tools First and then abandoning their projects because Pro Tools First hasn’t worked well for them. It makes sense to implement this policy so that the people regularly using Avid’s cloud storage and collaboration get a smoother, more reliable experience, especially as a result to the increased use of cloud storage during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The good news is that no one will need to lose any of their Pro Tools Projects because of this policy change by Avid. There appear to be giving all users plenty of time to transfer their Pro Tools Projects from cloud storage to local storage especially with this first ‘head-up’ email.

Want To Know More About Pro Tools First?

If you would like to know more about Pro Tools First then check out our dedicated Pro Tools First pages where you will find loads of articles and tutorials all relevant to Pro Tools First users.