Open pre-comps as Folders / Groups in the timeline

There's a ScriptUI that does this called Free Compose (aescripts.com/free-compose).

It also adds some nice functionality by letting you select the layers right in the comp window, easily reposition an anchor point after animating, change whether effects render before or after masking, and a few other cool things.

A feature other people would like being introduced doesn't mean you HAVE to use it. Odd reply. 

No No No! It would cause the confusion and timeline get massy. Original Idea is better! 

Folders like in Photoshop would be a great addition to After Effects. Being able to group layers into folders would declutter large compositions while keeping everything organized. A folder-based masking system would also allow multiple layers to be masked at once, improving workflow efficiency. Unlike pre-compositions, folders would let users access and edit keyframes of grouped layers directly within the main composition – making it easier to align animations while keeping an overview of the entire project.

I would actually like to see layer groups but not as an implementaton of the nesting comps feature, just as a separate feature. Nesting and grouping layers are not actually the same functionality.

Adobe should just add FOLDERS!
Damn it!

Nobody gets how a company can be so deaf to critique! There's nothing about 'reinventing the wheel' or 'making AE more complicated' about adding folders. it's the opposite, it would make life easier for professionals and beginners. professionals already use Workflowers, and beginners are used to folders from ALL OTHER SOFTWARES.. Adobe, Wake up!

Two years later, the idea still has "No Status".

Being unaware of this thread (couldn't find with built in search) I posted my own take on it, and the post just got attached here and left to collect the dust.

Unfortunately, similar fate befalls upon the reported bugs, which reported to "soft" Support are being forwarded to here; here those have numbers of anonymous views, but have no status, no confirmation - the sense here is that Adobe employees even don't read them.

I wonder if and where there is some sort of threshold, bypassing which sets the water into motion.

There are already numerous threads requesting a grouping feature, which I fully support. Additionally, I propose integrating the ability to expand Precomps. These two features should be seen in tandem, as they both provide quicker access to project contents and help declutter the UI.

Groups act as intermediaries between Layers and Precomps. Each Group is unique, and the layer numbering remains unchanged. Users can create, expand, collapse, edit membership, copy, cut, paste, duplicate, delete, drag-n-drop Folder to Group and convert Group to Precomp. Groups, unlike Precomps, would not have keyable layer properties.

Expanding a Precomp mirrors the contents and state of the nested comp, showing the original layer indices, making it much easier to sync animations in the main comp. Editing the expanded comp’s contents would change the contents for all its instances. User can Explode Precomp to Group or to individual layers.

A living example of this concept can be seen in coding, where editors offer the ability to collapse and expand functions, loops, and other code blocks, making it easier to manage and navigate complex codebases.

The minimal viable feature would then include collapsible single-level Groups and expandable Precomps, which can be scaled up later to multiple levels of nesting.

Thank you.
CX

P.S. Dear Adobe, before or concurrently, could you also address the Effect’s time-code bug? This issue is directly tied to how 3D Precomps currently function, and I am heavily involved in finding a solution.

"kind of"

No.