Participant

Answered

After Effect custom workspace keeps rearranging itself...why?!

Forum|Forum|8 years ago
November 8, 2017
13 replies
9359 views

Hi,

I have a custom workspace set up in AE. However, every time my project autosaves and sometimes when I import new assets all the panels resize, some crush up to one side, some spread wide in the middle. On some occasions, panels will even disappear.

It used to be that I could reset to saved workspace and it would correct itself - though this is tedious when I have to do it after every autosave - but since the CC2018 update, this no longer works. It seems like AE isn't saving my layout but is saving this squashed and stretched layout instead and I can't overwrite it.

I have also saved it under new names and that doesn't work.

It's beginning to drive me mad, not to mention interfering with my workflow.

Any help is gratefully received.

Thanks

Correct answer prbmotion

My solution is to create a KBar button of "reset to saved layout"

It's a tiny bit faster and at this point, it's second nature...

M

marco_py1

Participant

Btw this hasn't been fixed in 8 years, it's to do with Windows display scaling settings, if you set it to anything other than 100%, AE will do this.

Nosidda89

Inspiring

2025, and still an issue. Why is this still not resolved? Even when having a KB shortcut to reset my workspace to saved settings, it still doesn't reset to the changes that I had set up. I will literally set my workspace exactly as I want it, save the changes, and then do a reset to test and see if it stays the same. It does not stay the same, it keeps making Animation Composer previews massive (far bigger than they need to be), and shrinking both the main preview and the right side panel. Animation Composer ends up taking up over 1/3 of the upper half. I always have to manually resize it down, and resize the right side panel up.

Why is my workspace reset changing anything? It's supposed to reset the workspace back to exactly the way I had it saved.

Fix this!!!

Q

Quensyne

Participant

I think I've found the solution. Certain windows in After Effects behave like this: if they have more space than their default size, they reset their scale to the default size, and this changes the size of other windows. This happens only with certain windows; for example, it's not the case with the handy script window. I found that the Audio, Align and Project panels behave like this, and perhaps if we do more testing, we could find other windows that behave similarly.
I worked around this issue by unlocking the panels that weren't working and leaving them as standalone windows. After restarting AE, everything works fine. However, this creates an empty space where the panels used to be, and other windows take up that space. To fix this, I asked ChatGPT to write a script with a UI for an empty, resizable window, and I placed it in the empty space. Then, I positioned my Project window above it. Although this window isn't locked, and I might accidentally close or move it, it would be nice if Adobe added a feature to lock standalone windows.
Version of After Effects: 24.0. Sorry for the poor quality of the screenshots.

Q

Quensyne

Participant

With new tests, I found another workaround: I simply place my empty window (or any other correct window) next to the window that changes its size, select it before closing After Effects, and then it works. I need to select the window that works well next to the one that changes size, and after restarting, for some reason, After Effects picks the window that changes size (in my case, it's the Project window), but it doesn’t change size at all.
However, with this method, before closing AE, I need to select another window in the group, or else the layout will break after a restart. I think the same issue will occur after a crash as well.

B

Brendan25620801v6kw

Participant

Just started happening to me after I upgraded to AE 2024 on a Mac running Ventura 13.4.1. During the session as I move between different precomps, my workspace spontaneously changes itself. Extremely disruptive to my workflow. Fix it, Adobe. Now.

B

Ben232689370la3

Participant

Have the same problem. Im spending most my time trying to fix this dumb window space problem and Im in AE2022

E

eduardo32818218o1ix

Participant

2023 and still having this issue and don't know how to fix it. It's really frustating. Did anyone came up with a solution?

I

impylse

Participant

Same problem for years... this is extremely annoying. Adobe, get your shit together..............

gmetrixcc

Inspiring

Dont forget that for AfterEffects, the projects themselves save the workspace information. This means that if you save a project it also remembers what workspace settings were on at the time you saved that project. Then, when you try to open that project, it also tries to set that workspace.

This causes some confusion because for other Adobe apps, the files themselves do not save workspace layouts. You might be setting a custom workspace yourself but if you open a project that had a different workspace it will override that as soon as you open the project.

I suspect that this feature could be the cause of some of the confusion on this thread. Projects not only hold project files, videos etc... they also hold the workspace that was used when you last saved them.

G

goncba

Known Participant

I'm having exactly the same issue since a year ago or so.

Every time I save the project (or autosave), open a new project and switch between windows, the workspace changes itself.

In my case I'm using a triple-monitor setting:

1920*1080p (two of them)

1680*1050 (the third, and usually this monitor is the one which rearranges the most)

It would be great to have a REAL fix for this.

Windows 10 - October 11 2018 Update

After Effects CC2019

GTX 1070 Strix

silbertd16757292

Participating Frequently

Adobe has got me extremely scared to do any updates but the way their programs are working after i did the last update i can't wait for their next update hoping it will correct all these bugs that I am experiencing now which makes Adobe soft wares a nightmare to work with. Once i find a working update i am never really gonna update my software in a hurry unless there is a major additional feature that will benefit me. That is if I am still using adobe software cause at this rate I am not sure how long i will be staying with them.

silbertd16757292

Participating Frequently

I am experiencing the same problem. I am really getting fed up of adobe with all these bugs when they release a new update for their programs. I hope they find a solution really soon as in now cause i am already researching for another program to switch to, I DON'T NEED ANY HEADACHES RIGHT NOW IN MY LIFE AND ADOBE SEEMS TO BE A VERY BIG ONE!!!!!