Skip to main content
Sterphy
Known Participant
September 28, 2022
Open for Voting

Folders in After Effects timeline

  • September 28, 2022
  • 123 replies
  • 17321 views
Timeline folders. We have them in Animate, Photoshop, Illustrator... precomps can utterly ruin your work and is NOT an alternatives to having a simple folder hierarchy - especially when dealing with shape layers or anything that requires continual rasterization.

123 replies

llealloo
Known Participant
June 19, 2025

I would be just as happy to see them build an entirely new node based composition type where you could nest layered comps or other node based comps inside it, with the ability to feed master properties through nodes. That would crush

BHSal
Known Participant
August 10, 2026

That would be amazing! If they mixed layer based compositing with nodes it would turn AE from a legacy tool to the best on the market 

Known Participant
June 19, 2025

Honestly, the sooner I can move away from Adobe the better.  They just don't give a ****, as is illustrated by this thread being so well supported and so little listened to.  We're not talking about a hard to build feature here.  This is very basic stuff.

 

After Effects is the only reason I still pay the subscription.  I've found alternatives for pretty much everything else that are free and do a good enough job for what I need.

Sterphy
SterphyAuthor
Known Participant
June 19, 2025

I think they've secretly found a way to monetise stress, anger and disappointement. It's the only logical answer. 

motionben
Known Participant
June 16, 2025

C'mon guys, they're doing their best! They're only the worlds 88th most valuable company! Give them a break!!!

llealloo
Known Participant
June 12, 2025

Pretty please with a cherry on top!

Sterphy
SterphyAuthor
Known Participant
June 12, 2025

Well then who is saying no? The person who made workflower did it on their own, and a whole team can't manage it?  What I *want* you to respond is "yes, we are implementing this basic feature instead of some buggy new thing that nobody asked for, and you can expect it..."

I'm forced to use AE because of my job, but if I wasn't I'd never use it again.  When a genuine competing product comes along AE is toast 

Participating Frequently
June 11, 2025

Companies can often hold back on publicising breakthrough features they have yet to launch.  This, however, is NOT a breakthrough feature.  It's the utter lack of recognition that this feature has been requested time and time again, as if it's something so niche that it's irrelevant to most users.  It is certainly NOT irrelevant.

Known Participant
June 11, 2025

What are you Adobe? A secret society that hides its plans from the public? Come on, lots of software companies do upcoming feature lists the are working on. You are not a secret society, you are a public company.

What are you fighting with? You are a biltiondollar company that could do such feature in no time. Why do we have to ask so many times for such useful and requested feature?

DaciaSaenz
Inspiring
June 11, 2025

Y'all... we all want folders. We have your requests. And we have no new news. And if we did have news, we wouldn't be able to share it until the feature was public. 

@Sterphy, what do you want us to respond in the meantime?  A lot of the people in this thread responding to you are individual contributors on this team. We're doing our best to advocate for features that we know users want, including folders in the timeline. 


The fight continues. 

 

- Dacia Saenz, AE & PR Engineering Teams
Known Participant
February 22, 2026

All this crap you've jammed into AE and you couldn't find time to include timeline folders? Are you being led by a lunatic?

Sterphy
SterphyAuthor
Known Participant
June 10, 2025

I wonder if he'll reply this decade