I’d like to consolidate my plug-ins so they’re not duplicated between versions.
Can I use a single file location for this and point the file paths in each Blender version to it?
thanks!
Sadly not.
Blender uses this separation so that if an add-on is compatible with one version of Blender, but not another, Blender will still function without crashing or errors. I totally get why what you are looking for would be great, it just doesn’t work super well with how add-ons are set up.
Being able to install different add-ons for 3.0 and 2.8, for example, isn’t just a convenience- it is a necessity, since 3.0 uses Python 3.0 and 2.8 uses Python 2.9.
A possible workaround:
To simplify upgrading you can use links to have each version read the same file contents. Links are also known as shortcuts or aliases. Create a folder for your addons and put your addons there, then create a shortcut in each config folder that you want the addon to be available. This may be easiest if you install the addon for the current version and then make links from that to any older versions you want to use the addon.
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