The Blueprint Behind the Session
“Memory is the diary that we all carry about with us.”
— Oscar Wilde
A Pro Tools session can contain hundreds of decisions.
Tracks.
Edits.
Plugins.
Markers.
Audio files.
Crossfades.
Months later, you may remember how the song sounded…
But not how the session was built.
Pro Tools includes a small, easily overlooked feature that can turn much of that hidden information into a readable document:
Export Session Info as Text
It doesn’t export the music.
It exports the blueprint behind the music.
Quick Summary
👉 Export Session Info as Text creates a text-based report containing information about a Pro Tools session. Depending on the options selected, it can include session settings, audio-file locations, clip information, markers, plugins, track playlists, edit locations, timestamps, durations, and crossfades. It is useful for documentation, troubleshooting, archiving, session handoffs, cue sheets, edit verification, and spreadsheet analysis.
A normal Pro Tools session file stores the information Pro Tools needs to reconstruct your project.
But that information isn’t easy to inspect without opening the session.
Export Session Info as Text creates a separate report that can be:
- Read in a text editor
- Opened in a word processor
- Imported into a spreadsheet
- Sent to another engineer
- Stored beside the session archive
- Used by post-production software
The exported track information is tab-delimited, meaning each piece of data is separated into columns that can be organized in applications such as Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets.
The Pro Tools session contains the production.
The text export describes how the production is organized.
The report begins with basic session information.
This can include:
- Session name
- Sample rate
- Bit depth
- Timecode format
- Number of audio tracks
- Number of audio clips
- Number of audio files
You can then choose which additional categories to include.
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File List
The File List documents the audio files used by the session.
It can include the location of each file on the storage drive.
This is useful when you need to know:
- Where Pro Tools expects to find the audio
- Whether files are spread across multiple drives
- Which source files belong to the project
- Where an offline file was previously located
Think of it as the session’s inventory list.
Clips List
The Clips List documents the audio clips inside the session and identifies the source audio file connected to each clip.
This can help distinguish between:
- The original recorded file
- Shorter edited clips
- Duplicated clips
- Renamed regions
- Alternate takes
One recording may produce many clips.
The Clips List shows the relationship between them.
Markers
Pro Tools can include the session’s markers in the export.
Depending on how the session is organized, these might identify:
- Song sections
- Takes
- Edit notes
- Mix revisions
- Picture changes
- Dialogue scenes
- Producer comments
- Technical problems
This creates a simple way to turn a marker timeline into a written list.
Plug-In List
The export can include a list of plugins used in the session.
This can be extremely helpful before moving a project to:
- Another computer
- Another studio
- A remote mix engineer
- A replacement system
- A long-term archive
You can review the list before opening the session and identify which plugins may need to be installed or authorized.
However, this feature documents the plugins used.
It does not provide a complete text description of every plugin parameter or preset setting.
Track EDLs
EDL stands for Edit Decision List.
A Track EDL documents how audio clips are arranged on a track.
It can include:
- Track name
- Event number
- Clip name
- Start time
- End time
- Duration
- User timestamp
- Crossfade information
Pro Tools can export EDL information for all tracks or only the tracks you select.
An EDL is a written map of the edits.
It doesn’t contain the audio.
It describes where the audio belongs.
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This feature sounds technical.
But it solves several practical production problems.
When a project is complete, export a text report and place it inside the session folder.
For example:
That report can preserve:
- Session format
- Track structure
- Audio-file inventory
- Plugin requirements
- Markers
- Edit information
Months or years later, you have more than the .ptx file.
You have a readable summary of what is inside it.
A backup preserves the files.
Documentation preserves the context.
Imagine sending a session to another engineer.
They open it and discover:
- Missing plugins
- Offline audio
- Unfamiliar track names
- Files stored on another drive
- Markers they don’t understand
A text report gives them a chance to inspect the session before opening it.
You could send:
- The Pro Tools session
- The audio folder
- A bounced reference mix
- Production notes
- The exported session report
This makes the handoff easier to understand and troubleshoot.
Before taking a session to another studio, export the Plug-In List.
The receiving studio can compare it against the plugins installed on its system.
This may help answer:
- Do they have the same vocal tuner?
- Do they own the required virtual instruments?
- Will the channel strips open?
- Should certain tracks be committed first?
- Should plugin presets be saved separately?
The text export does not replace proper session preparation.
But it can warn you about problems before the session begins.
A session may reference audio that has been moved, renamed, disconnected, or stored on another drive.
The exported File List can include file paths, and Pro Tools separates online and offline files in its session report.
That makes the report useful for investigating:
- Missing production audio
- Disconnected sound-effects libraries
- Old recording drives
- Incorrect folder structures
- Incomplete session transfers
The report may show where Pro Tools expected the file to be, even when the file is no longer available there.
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Track EDLs can be used to verify clip positions and edits.
This can be valuable when checking:
- Dialogue edits
- Music edits
- Conforms
- Alternate versions
- Commercial cutdowns
- Broadcast deliverables
- Revised picture edits
Instead of visually scanning every track, you can compare the written event information.
For complex post-production workflows, an EDL can also be read by conforming software.
A text export is not a replacement for a complete backup.
It does not contain:
- Audio
- Automation data in a restorable session format
- Plugin settings
- Instrument sounds
- Complete mixer behavior
But the official Pro Tools guide notes that, in extreme circumstances, a detailed Track EDL can help recreate a session’s clip placement and edits.
Think of it like the architectural drawings for a building.
The drawings are not the building.
But they may help you rebuild it.
Post-production teams often need a written record of where music appears in a program.
A Track EDL can provide information such as:
- Clip name
- Start time
- End time
- Duration
- Source timestamp
This data can be imported into a spreadsheet and used as the starting point for a music cue sheet. Pro Tools users also use text exports to trace music clips and their timing within post-production sessions.
The report may still require cleanup.
But it eliminates much of the manual transcription.
Markers are often used as an internal communication system.
For example:
- Verse 1
- Replace vocal
- Guitar noise
- Client revision
- Picture cut
- Check lip sync
- Mix note completed
Exporting markers creates a written record that can be:
- Shared with a team
- Pasted into a production document
- Added to a revision report
- Converted into tasks
- Stored with project notes
This is especially valuable when a marker-heavy session needs to be understood by someone who does not have Pro Tools.
Because Track EDL data is tab-delimited, it can be organized into spreadsheet columns.
You could sort or analyze information by:
- Track
- Clip
- Start time
- Duration
- Source file
- Timestamp
This can help with:
- Asset tracking
- Edit analysis
- Session auditing
- Music usage reports
- Dialogue inventories
- Production statistics
A complicated timeline becomes structured data.
Traditional recording sessions used paper track sheets.
They documented things like:
- Track numbers
- Instruments
- Takes
- Recording notes
- Equipment
- Comments
Pro Tools can store track comments inside the session, while a session text export provides a way to preserve and print useful session information outside the DAW.
It isn’t identical to an old studio track sheet.
But it serves the same general purpose:
Remembering what happened after everyone leaves the room.
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In Pro Tools:
- Open the session.
- Choose File > Export > Session Info as Text.
- Select the information you want to include.
- Choose whether to export all tracks or selected tracks.
- Select the appropriate timing and crossfade options.
- Choose the text-file format.
- Click OK.
- Name and save the file.
Pro Tools adds the .txt extension when the report is saved.
The best settings depend on why you’re exporting.
For Session Archiving
Include:
- File List
- Clips List
- Markers
- Plug-In List
- Track EDLs
This creates the most complete written record.
For a Studio Handoff
Include:
- File List
- Plug-In List
- Markers
- Selected Track EDLs when needed
This helps the next engineer prepare their system.
For Missing Audio
Include:
These reveal the relationship between source files, clips, and expected file locations.
For Post-Production
Include:
- Markers
- Track EDLs
- User timestamps
- Subframes when required
- Appropriate crossfade handling
Use timecode as the time format when working against picture. Pro Tools also allows musical projects to use Bars|Beats instead.
For Music Cue Sheets
Include:
- Relevant music tracks only
- Track EDLs
- User timestamps when available
- Timecode
Exporting only the necessary tracks makes the report much easier to process.
Pro Tools lets you select the timing format used for the exported EDL.
Timecode
Best for:
- Film
- Television
- Video
- Advertising
- Post-production
Bars|Beats
Best for:
- Song arrangement
- Music editing
- Tempo-based production
- Loop placement
The same edit can be described in different languages.
Timecode describes where it occurs in the program.
Bars and beats describe where it occurs in the music.
When exporting Track EDLs, Pro Tools can handle crossfades in several ways.
You can:
- Show the crossfades
- Hide them
- Combine the connected clips
When clips are combined, Pro Tools calculates their locations around the centre of the crossfade.
The best option depends on the destination.
Choose visible crossfades when auditing detailed edits.
Combine clips when you need a simpler event list.
A User Timestamp can identify:
- A location assigned by the user
- The clip’s original recorded position
- A source location carried into the session
Including it can be valuable when tracing a clip back to its original source.
This is especially useful in post-production, where the clip’s current location and original source location may be completely different.
Export Session Info as Text is powerful.
But it is not a universal conversion format.
It does not export a working recreation of:
- The audio itself
- Plugin parameter settings
- Virtual-instrument presets
- Every mixer setting
- MIDI-track EDLs
- The complete Pro Tools session
Avid’s documentation specifically notes that MIDI Track EDLs are not exported.
For a proper archive or handoff, you may also need:
- Save Copy In
- Consolidated audio
- Committed or frozen tracks
- Plugin presets
- Screenshots of important settings
- Reference mixes
- Written production notes
The report documents the session.
It does not replace the session.
A strong archive might contain:
This may feel excessive when the project is fresh.
Five years later…
It feels brilliant.
What does Export Session Info as Text do in Pro Tools?
It creates a text report containing selected information about the open session, including audio files, clips, markers, plugins, playlists, timestamps, and edits.
Where is Export Session Info as Text?
Open the File menu, choose Export, and select Session Info as Text.
Does it export the audio?
No. It exports written information about the session, not the audio files themselves.
Can it show which plugins are used?
Yes. Select Include Plug-In List in the export window.
Does it export plugin settings?
No. It can identify plugins, but it does not create a complete text record of their parameter settings.
Can it help locate missing audio files?
Yes. The File List can show audio-file locations, including paths associated with offline media.
Can I export only selected tracks?
Yes. When exporting Track EDLs, Pro Tools can export all tracks or selected tracks only.
Can Pro Tools export markers as text?
Yes. Enable Include Markers in the export window.
Can it be opened in a spreadsheet?
Yes. The EDL data is tab-delimited and can be organized into columns in a spreadsheet application.
Does it include MIDI edits?
No. Pro Tools does not include MIDI Track EDLs in this export.
A Pro Tools session is more than audio.
It is a record of thousands of decisions.
Where every clip begins.
Which take was selected.
Which plugins were used.
Where the files were stored.
How the entire production was assembled.
Export Session Info as Text turns those invisible decisions into something you can read, search, organize, and preserve.
It won’t replace your session.
It will help you understand it.
The session contains the work.
The text export preserves the map.
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