diff --git a/.pre-commit-config.yaml b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
index 6a0dee2d..8fefd986 100644
--- a/.pre-commit-config.yaml
+++ b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 default_language_version:
-  python: python3.15
+  python: python3
 repos:
   - repo: https://github.com/pre-commit/pre-commit-hooks
     rev: v6.0.0
diff --git a/docs/changelog/+quoted-user-dir-backslashes.bugfix.rst b/docs/changelog/+quoted-user-dir-backslashes.bugfix.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c9613f5c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/changelog/+quoted-user-dir-backslashes.bugfix.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Preserve literal backslashes before ordinary characters in double-quoted ``user-dirs.dirs`` paths instead of removing
+them.
diff --git a/docs/platforms.rst b/docs/platforms.rst
index f09e831a..eeccfb61 100644
--- a/docs/platforms.rst
+++ b/docs/platforms.rst
@@ -285,11 +285,12 @@ See also: :ref:`api:User binary directory`
 
 See also: :ref:`api:User documents directory`
 
-On Unix, use percent signs as literal characters in ``user-dirs.dirs`` paths, for example ``$HOME/100% complete``. Lines
-follow ``xdg-user-dir`` rules: the last valid line for a directory wins, ``\"`` and other shell escapes inside the
-quotes resolve to the escaped character, and platformdirs skips values that are neither ``$HOME``-relative nor absolute.
-``XDG_DOCUMENTS_DIR`` in the environment takes precedence over the file and is skipped in the same way unless it is an
-absolute path.
+On Unix, use percent signs as literal characters in ``user-dirs.dirs`` paths, for example ``$HOME/100% complete``. The
+last valid line for a directory wins. Inside double quotes, a backslash is removed only before ``$``, a backtick, ``"``,
+or another backslash. Other backslashes, such as ``\q`` in a folder name, remain literal. The ``xdg-user-dir`` utility
+also removes a backslash before an ordinary character in a hand-written entry; use ``\\`` for the same result in both.
+Platformdirs skips values that are neither ``$HOME``-relative nor absolute. ``XDG_DOCUMENTS_DIR`` in the environment
+takes precedence over the file and is skipped in the same way unless it is an absolute path.
 
 .. tab-set::
 
diff --git a/src/platformdirs/unix.py b/src/platformdirs/unix.py
index 7130527f..fe343768 100644
--- a/src/platformdirs/unix.py
+++ b/src/platformdirs/unix.py
@@ -354,7 +354,7 @@ def _resolve_user_dirs_value(entry: re.Match[str]) -> str | None:
         return None
     if entry["quoted"] is not None:
         # xdg-user-dirs-update backslash-escapes $, `, " and \ inside the quotes.
-        value = re.sub(r"\\(.)", r"\1", value)
+        value = re.sub(r'\\([$`"\\])', r"\1", value)
     return prefix + value
 
 
diff --git a/tests/test_unix.py b/tests/test_unix.py
index 9c2d014d..a314759a 100644
--- a/tests/test_unix.py
+++ b/tests/test_unix.py
@@ -1282,6 +1282,29 @@ def test_user_dirs_preserves_percent_signs(folder: str, base: str, tmp_path: Pat
     assert Unix().user_documents_path == Path(tmp_path if base == "$HOME" else base) / folder
 
 
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    ("folder", "expected"),
+    [
+        pytest.param(r"a\q", r"a\q", id="ordinary-letter"),
+        pytest.param(r"a\ b", r"a\ b", id="space"),
+        pytest.param(r"a\-b", r"a\-b", id="hyphen"),
+        pytest.param(r"a\nb", r"a\nb", id="literal-backslash-n"),
+        pytest.param(r"a\'b", r"a\'b", id="single-quote"),
+        pytest.param(r"a\\b", r"a\b", id="escaped-backslash"),
+        pytest.param(r"a\$b", "a$b", id="escaped-dollar"),
+        pytest.param(r"a\`b", "a`b", id="escaped-backtick"),
+        pytest.param(r"a\"b", 'a"b', id="escaped-double-quote"),
+        pytest.param(r"a\q\\b\$c", r"a\q\b$c", id="mixed-escapes"),
+    ],
+)
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("base", ["$HOME", "/absolute"])
+def test_user_dirs_double_quoted_backslashes(
+    folder: str, expected: str, base: str, tmp_path: Path, user_dirs_file: Path
+) -> None:
+    user_dirs_file.write_text(f'XDG_DOCUMENTS_DIR="{base}/{folder}"\n', encoding="utf-8")
+    assert Unix().user_documents_path == Path(tmp_path if base == "$HOME" else base) / expected
+
+
 @pytest.mark.parametrize(
     ("content", "expected"),
     [