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Sterphy
Known Participant
Sep 28, 2022 9:42 AM UTC
Open for Voting

Folders in After Effects timeline

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.

136 replies

Participant
Jul 29, 2026 3:55 AM UTC

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 

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Participating Frequently
Feb 28, 2026 9:46 PM UTC

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

But this REALLY should be a native feature.

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Known Participant
Feb 22, 2026 2:28 PM UTC

"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"

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Sterphy
SterphyAuthor
Known Participant
Jul 26, 2025 1:24 PM UTC

Their lack of communication with users is absolutely shocking 

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Participant
Jul 17, 2025 10:13 PM UTC

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.

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melbendi
Inspiring
Jun 20, 2025 6:46 PM UTC

Maybe that's why 😉

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Sterphy
SterphyAuthor
Known Participant
Jun 20, 2025 4:28 PM UTC

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.

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llealloo
Known Participant
Jun 19, 2025 8:13 PM UTC

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

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BHSal
Known Participant
Aug 10, 2026 11:23 AM UTC

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 

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Known Participant
Jun 19, 2025 7:54 PM UTC

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.

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Sterphy
SterphyAuthor
Known Participant
Jun 19, 2025 6:35 PM UTC

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

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