Displayed at the top of the left-hand side bar in Pro Tools, the tracks list is particularly useful when navigating larger sessions but there are a few basic operations that can be carried out more conveniently in the tracks list than anywhere else.

Unlike some DAWs, in Pro Tools the contents of the Mix and Edit windows mirror each other. The contents of the tracks list reflect the contents of the Mix and Edit windows and so offers a convenient overview of the contents of the two main windows in ProTools. Here are four must-have uses for the Tracks List.

Show/Hide Tracks

The tracks list shows every track in a session and by clicking the dot next to each track in the list tracks they can be conveniently hidden. To unhide them just click to restore the dot. Showing and hiding tracks can also be achieved by right clicking in the track header in either the Mix or Edit window but beyond the convenience of showing and hiding from this compact sidebar, the added usefulness of being able to see the presence of hidden tracks adds a functionality not present in either of the two main windows.

Multiple tracks can be shown and hidden simultaneously and a useful trick to know is that you can click and drag the mouse vertically to hide or show tracks in a single operation in much the same way as dragging a finger along the row of buttons on a console.

Scroll Into View

An incredibly useful technique to know is that of clicking on a track in the tracks list whilst holding Control and Shift on a Mac or Start and Shift on a PC. Doing this scrolls either the Edit or Mix window to the track you have clicked on. This is a very fast way to navigate sessions which are bigger than your screen. Because the tracks list displays all the tracks in a session it’s extremely fast and works well with large sessions.

Select Tracks

If you click on a track name in the tracks list the corresponding track in the Edit and Mix window is selected. You can achieve the same thing by clicking on the track header in the Mix or Edit window but, if you need a birds-eye view of your session, selecting from the tracks list is a very convenient place to do this from. You can select multiple tracks using the standard Pro Tools modifiers like Option or Shift

A second technique to be aware of is that of ‘rubberbanding’ multiple tracks with a marquee tool which becomes available if you move the mouse over to the left of the tracks list. The cursor becomes a cross to indicate the marquee function is available.

Folder Track Toggle

Folder Tracks are immensely useful for organising sessions and the ability to show or hide the member tracks of a Folder Track with a single click is one of the most effective ways of managing a large session. The folder structure is displayed in the tracks list and disclosure triangles next to folder tracks can be clicked on to toggle the contents and show or hide the member tracks. The tracks list offers a top-down structural view of foldering used in a session and the addition of some modifier keys adds to this functionality significantly.

For example using Option or Alt when clicking the disclosure triangle toggles all of the folders in a session simultaneously, using Option and Shift toggles selected folders and if you use folder tracks which contain other folder tracks otherwise known as nested folder tracks you can use Option and Command which would be Alt and Control on a PC to toggle a folder track and any folder track contained within that folder track.

The tracks list is the ideal place to quickly perform these operations in Pro Tools because unlike the Mix or Edit window, its contents don't change.