Quick hack for checking if your Mac installed plugins are the latest versions

[Dood]

 

I've been a bit overwhelmed of late and, whilst trying to bring a little bit of regulation back to my life I thought I'd ask what you're all using to manage your installed plug-ins, of which I have over 1600 apparently! Brands use different installation methods and, whilst I am appreciative of those who have automated install managers, many (including open source) that I find very useful do not. 

 

Whilst pondering, I went on a bit of a web search and found this brilliant application  called PlugInfo by ThinkerSnacks, that not only lists my installed plugins and their versions but also, unlike Logic's own plugin manager allows for some basic exporting of the data.

Although it does a great job of listing plugins and their paths, it can't tell you if the installed items are the current versions. So, I wrote a basic A.I prompt to do the work for me (Nyerrrrrgh!! A.I!! It will take our jobs!!) to use in conjuction with PluginInfo to hopefully make my life a bit easier.

 

TLDR: To create a colour-coded spreadsheet that lists the plugin Name, Publisher, Version, Type, Architecture, Date, Size and Path marking which are up to date, out of date, discontinued or of an unknown status requiring a manual search.

 

Cooking instructions:

* Install PluginInfo

* Go to the PluginInfo window, CTRL-A to Select All and then either Right-Click and "Copy Full Details" or Edit > Copy Full Details

* Then Paste the output in to an excel spreadsheet document (you can use Numbers or your spreadsheet app of choice) and export as a .xlx

* Save the file with any name, maybe "Installed Plugins" and the current date for safe keeping.

* Go to ChatGPT and Paste the following prompt, upload the new text file at the same time and hit go..

 

I have a spreadsheet file containing a list of all audio plugins installed on my Mac, including their names, versions, formats (AU, VST, VST3, AAX), manufacturers, and installation paths.

Please create a colour-coded Excel spreadsheet with the following structure:

Columns for: Name, Publisher, Version, Type, Architectures, Dated, Size and Path to match the existing upload, add a Status column.

Formatting and rules:

Each plugin entry should be on a new row.

The "Status" column should indicate whether the plugin is:

✅ Up to Date (background color: green #00FF00)

🟧 Out of Date (background color: orange #FFA500)

🟥 Discontinued or No Longer Available (background color: red #FF0000)

🟪 Unknown Status (background color: dark purple #6C3483)

Use known latest plugin versions and availability to determine the status.

If a plugin isn’t in your known reference list, mark it as Unknown Status (🟪, dark purple #6C3483).

Each status should use the corresponding emoji and background color in the "Status" column.

Output the result as a downloadable .xlsx spreadsheet.

 

I've tried this out on ChatGPT and I got a fairly good colour-coded document back, though I've since updated the prompt and will need to double-check it. I asked Perplexity and I'm still waiting for an answer, Claude.ai doesn't like the file type for upload, so your results may vary - if I actually fancy putting more time in to it, I'll write a details prompt in a file rather than copying this one. Fun times!