Folders in After Effects timeline

My heart just sank seeing that this is 3 years old and still opening for voting. What are Adobe doing?????

Hello Adobe After Effects Team,

I would like to request a new organizational feature for the Timeline panel: a native layer folder/tree structure.

In large After Effects projects, especially character animation, motion graphics, and VFX compositions, managing hundreds of layers becomes difficult. Currently, users often rely on pre-compositions, Null objects, naming systems, or external scripts to organize layers. However, these methods either change the layer structure, affect the workflow, or add unnecessary complexity.

The requested feature is a purely organizational layer grouping system inside the Timeline:

* Create virtual folders/groups directly inside the Timeline panel.
* Allow users to drag layers into these groups.
* Allow groups to be expanded or collapsed like folders in a file manager or tree structure.
* Support unlimited nested groups.

Important requirements:

* Groups should only affect the visual organization of the Timeline.
* They should not create pre-compositions.
* They should not create Null layers.
* They should not change layer indexes.
* They should not affect expressions, parenting, rendering, or existing project behavior.

This feature would make complex projects much easier to manage while keeping the original layer structure completely intact.

A simple visual folder system inside the Timeline would significantly improve the workflow for character animators, motion designers, and VFX artists.

Thank you for considering this improvement.

How is this still not a thing? 

please!!!! plugins that does the same thing are horrible and rely on so much back and forth and expressions. this has to be added to after efffects ​@Adobe - Steve Cordero ​@Adobe 3 Procedes ​@adobecreateaccount 

There is a plugin for this: https://aescripts.com/free-compose/

But this REALLY should be a native feature.

"Hey Adobe, can we have something as necessary and basic as folders for AE timelines?

"How about some poorly made AI tools that slow down the whole app to being nearly unusable"

"Nobody wants that"

"We're Adobe, we don't give a **** what our actual users think"

Their lack of communication with users is absolutely shocking 

There's a script that does this called Free Compose (aescripts.com/free-compose) ... has a few other cool and useful features too, lets you select layers directly in the comp, and more.

Maybe that's why 😉

It's crazy! I'm in the same position because AE is the only app without a much better alternative, yet it's seemingly the one they put the least effort into.