I just had to reinstall Cubase because there was an issue with the installation of the 8.0.20 update. I managed to back up all of my personal settings (using the info in the knowledge base), at least that was until I noticed my plugins were in a completely different menu order. A look at the plugin manager shows that the folder I created was gone and I had to re-do the whole thing. So what file/folder do you need to copy to have a backup of the plugin manager? afaik, the knowledge base does not mention how to save plugin manager settings…
Yes, exactly the same problem & question from me too, both for CP8 & N7. Can find no way to restore custom plugin settings.
Hello,
the custom collections are saved in the PluginManager.xml file located in the Preferences.
Please, back up this file to restore your collections.
Kind regards,
Awesome, thanks. Makes me wonder how I overlooked this. I would advise to update the list here to add the pluginmanager file: https://www.steinberg.net/en/support/knowledgebase_new/show_details/kb_show/cubase-and-nuendo-program-preferences-files-in-detail/
Indeed, that needs an update, it is valid up to Cubase 7.5 only, the Preferences’ structure has been slightly re-designed in Pro 8. Thank you.
I am now reinstalling my system and I don’t see plugin manager listed as something to back up (cfr. the link mentioned earlier in this thread). So people may still forget to do this.
Seriously, if you have to re-do a large plugin manager list with custom folder structure, that is at least an hour of work! So come on, my dear Steinberg support people, update that list.
Or even better: why don’t you implement an export function from within Cubase, where you basically have the list of important preference/config files in the mentioned link and you tick boxes for what you want to export. Then
Cubase of course would ask you in which folder you want to park the files. It is so annoying having to run separate searches to get to all the files that need to be backup’ed one by one
That would be just Perfect!!! 
Even better, it would be great to have a standalone plugin manager that could support Cubase and WaveLab, plus other DAWs. See the description for the proposal here: