Plug-ins you deleted are still listed

Symptom: you removed plug-ins from disk — old versions, or the duplicate AU / VST / VST3 copies of the same effect — but VFxM still lists them.

First, update to 1.2.2

If you are on 1.2.1 or earlier and you have already cleared REAPER’s cache without the ghosts going away, the cause was ours and updating fixes it. See Ghosts that clearing REAPER’s cache could never remove below.

VFxM has no plug-in list of its own to delete

This is the part worth knowing, because it makes the fix obvious.

VFxM does not maintain its own database of your plug-ins. Every time it loads, and every time you press Reload / Scan Plugins, it re-reads REAPER’s own plug-in cache files and shows exactly what it finds there.

So there is nothing inside VFxM to purge. If a deleted plug-in still appears, it is still in REAPER’s cache, and that is where it has to be cleared.

Clearing them properly

Tip

Do these in order. Step 2 on its own will just re-read the same stale cache.

1. In REAPER: Preferences → Plug-ins → VST → Clear cache/re-scan. REAPER rebuilds its list from what is actually on disk now. If you also use AU or CLAP, clear those too from their own panels.
2. In VFxM: Plugin Manager → Database & Scanning → Reload / Scan Plugins.

The plug-in count beside that button tells you what it found, so you can see the number drop.

Ghosts that clearing REAPER’s cache could never remove

Fixed in 1.2.2. REAPER keeps a separate plug-in cache for each processor architecture, and only rewrites the one it is currently running as. On an Apple Silicon Mac that is the arm64 file; the Intel file is left exactly as it was the last time that machine ran an Intel build, however long ago.

VFxM used to read every one of those files and merge them. So a live list was blended with whatever was true months earlier, and plug-ins uninstalled long ago kept appearing. Worse, the steps above could not shift them: REAPER’s own Clear cache/re-scan rebuilds only the file REAPER maintains, so the stale one was never touched and the ghosts came straight back.

From 1.2.2, VFxM reads the same cache REAPER does. The other files are kept only as a fallback for an unusual install, not merged in as extra sources.

Note

Nothing needs clearing or rescanning after updating — the ghosts simply are not read any more. If plug-ins you genuinely deleted are still listed after updating to 1.2.2, they are in REAPER’s own cache and the steps above are the right fix.

Thinning out duplicates without deleting anything

If the goal is a tidier list rather than reclaiming disk space, you do not have to delete plug-in files at all.

• Unlist what you do not want to see: select it in the Browser and press U, or click the List / Unlist button under the plugin list. Unlisted plug-ins stay installed and keep working in REAPER — they simply stop appearing in your VFxM list. The Listed / Unlisted / All buttons at the top of the Browser switch between the two sets, so nothing is ever lost.
• Hide whole formats you never load: Plugin Manager → Database & Scanning → Plugin Type Visibility has per-format toggles, so you can drop every VST2 copy from view and keep the VST3. Show all types, under the toggles, clears every one of them in a click when you want the whole library back.
• Deduplicate whole formats at once rather than toggling them: see Deduplicate Plugin Formats.

This is usually the better answer for AU/VST/VST3 triplicates, because the duplicates are the same effect and deleting the files can break projects that already reference a particular format.

Favourites pointing at something you removed

A favourite whose plug-in is gone is shown as missing rather than quietly disappearing, so you can see what it was and decide. Remove it from the favourites tab in the usual way, or reinstall the plug-in if it went by accident.

Thumbnails, notes, ratings and category colours for a removed plug-in are kept too. They cost nothing while unused, and they come straight back if you ever reinstall it.