Lock a composition's Work Area

Thanks for the advice, but this isn't a fix or workaround to the problem at hand, which is wanting to make use of the work area, without it getting inadvertently nudged around in the process of animating.

The problem isn't during rendering (for me, anyway). The problem is that while working in AE, it's super freaking annoying to inadvertently move the work area when you're trying to move something else, like a comp marker. It's a small thing in the grand scheme, but is such an unnecessary annoyance and time waster.

Modify the render settings to use the comp length instead of the work area. You can save custom presets. Another good idea is to follow a checklist. 

I just came here to ask for the same thing. Mind boggling that you can't do this simple thing. I'm constantly moving the work area accidentally when I go up to move a comp marker or when I'm scrubbing. Literally dozens of times per day. Drives me absolutely round the bend, contributes to RSI. I would love to be able to lock/unlock the work area with a keyboard shortcut. Does anyone know if it's possible to create a script that would do this? I'm guessing not, but had to ask.

Yep that would be a great thing to fix. Please do that Adobe!

Adobe doesn't invest enough in developers for AE or even Premiere Pro. It's evident in the software itself. If I didn't have to use it for my job, I would have been gone a long time ago. I'm here cause I googled how to lock a composition's timeline and it made me laugh and cry when I saw it wasn't yet a feature. This is such a simple thing to implement and would save companies billable hours and frustration. But of course, Adobe doesn't see this as high enough on the totem pole to do anything about it... so it will likely never be implemented.