Layer Order Flexibility in Adobe After Effects

I’d like to suggest a feature for future versions of After Effects that would greatly improve workflow efficiency when working with complex compositions.

Currently, the layer order in the timeline is directly tied to their visual stacking order, which limits flexibility when organizing projects with many layers. My suggestion is to implement a feature that allows users to rearrange the layers in the timeline without affecting their render or visual stacking order (for example, allowing layer 3 to appear below layer 1 in the timeline view, even if it's rendered on top).

This would enable users to organize layers logically—by type, function, group, etc.—without altering the final output of the composition. This is especially helpful for projects with dozens or hundreds of layers.

One possible solution could be the implementation of an alternate view mode or an option to “decouple visual stacking from timeline order,” similar to how groups or tags work in other software.