DIsable Properties Panel

[LSZ1318]

I cannot figure out the way to disable the Properties Panel.  I don't want to use it, ever.  I've tried closing the panel and saving as a new Workspace, but everytime I do something like double click a text layer it automatically pops up again LOL.

[Rick Gerard]

I do not see the problem in AE Beta or AE 23.4. Select Properties, press Ctrl/Cmnd + w to close, double click a footage or solid layer, and the layer panel is selected; double click a text layer, and all the text is selected; double click a shape layer, and the layer is selected. 

[Jim Maitland · Accepted solution]

This was bugging me, too.  I just noticed there's a button on the toolbar to switch the Properties panel on/off, as well as a checkbox to keep it from auto-opening. The options appear on the toolbar when I select a shape layer.

[LSZ1318]

Thanks for that...hadn't seen the On/Off button.  Unfortunately, it appears to have an odd behavior.  Try this:

1. New comp.  Add a text layer.  Double click the layer to edit the text.  Properties Panel appears. 

2. Turn it off and uncheck Auto Open Panel.
3. Add another text layer and double click to edit.  The Property Panel stays hidden.  So far, so good.
4. Add a shape layer.  The Properties Panel appears.
5. Select any of the two text layers.  The panel stays on, lol.  It doesn't remember that I switched it off for that layer (or a unique layer type).

Looks like you have to switch it off for every unique layer type you add to your comp.  Not a big deal, and I'm grateful for the on/off button, but c'mon...

[jeremyw54803074]

I am SO happy that there is a way to switch off the Property Panel, albeit, in this sort of backwards, unintuitive, and worrysom way.

I see these posts going back almost a year, but, I feel I've only run into this conflict with the properties panel with the latest release. I don't know how I missed the joy of repeatedly closing the properties panel until now! 

[StephaneA_AfterEffects]

Thanks !

[Wallroff]

Puuh! Thank You! This was close!

[mrwitte]

I'd pay $50 for a plugin that gets the Properties panel auto-show behavior out of my life. It is breaking my workflow.

[willg94136108]

Just glad to see other people hate it as much as I do

[Jaydude-wb]

How does the button look?

[filmjames313]

I am not seeing this button to turn it off, holy smokes can I please get rid of this panel forever. I am utterly annoyed with yet another update that I will never use. My current solution is to drag it to a display I don't use and ignore it as best I can.

[TimurKo]

This button

[Vivapica]

Legend. Absolutely daft update which completely breaks your custom workspace on every boot.

[digitaldavejackson]

thank you TimurKo.

[jeremyt-BCN]

Thank you for sending a screen grab of the location for the check off option. I kept looking for the check off option on the properties window itself. Or looking in the preferences options.  

[mrwitte]

I didn't believe it at first because nothing ever seems to work when it comes to this particular work-interference hitch - but I tried it and it seems to work! Thanks TimurKo!
Upvoted

[Jean Carlos30478276sjs6]

The Properties Panel should NOT behave different than any other panel in the software, that's basic UI/UX design that Adobe developers need to learn. The option to "Auto open" should not exist. The user should decide if they want it open or not. Another unecessary thing to justify Adobe's subscription model.

[francoestrubia]

They're trying to force his use. In fact, they're trying to force users to work in the same way, making a good thing into a friendly but useless one. Working on ae over 25 years, there's a lot of things to improve before make it friendly to ocassional tutorial's followers.

[Marcela28405562coay]

This worked for me. Yay!

[DeZnas]

thank you!!

[Steve32960844u3dd]

Thank you Marcela !!!!

[mrwitte]

Having more than one nebulous vector to try and tackle this After Effects work-interference issue reminds me of the backflips you had to do to get your Cintiq (or other Wacom tablet) working in Windows 10 after Microsoft rolled out Surface and started fooling around with shoving pen crap everywhere throughout your desktop OS. The Adobe bungle is admittedly nowhere near as egregious, but it's still a very similar brand of aggravation.

It may have been around 2014 (or even eariler?) that some helpful soul posted the steps below somewhere on the web and saved a lot of Windows10/Wacom-using artists a whole lot of misery. I downloaded it and kept it on local storage in order to never, ever lose this lifeline, so unfortunately I'm unable to give credit to the angel who helped us all. Reposting here for yuks because it:

1. was so carthartic at the time (while being of immeasurable help!).
2. is funny to me today, now that I'm not currently completely screwed by my OS/drivers with nowhere to turn while desperately trying to figure out how to get back to work churning out 100 storyboard panels a day.

I hope the original poster realizes how many people they helped at the time. I'll always be grateful.

Vintage Windows 10 Wacom HiJinks

Note:

Back in the day, a "pencil" wasn't a 30-years-late-in-the-game Apple-developed variation of the stylus long-familiar to career digital artists of all stripes: it was a core of graphite wrapped in a wood sheath. When you dragged the exposed graphite tip across a sheet of paper, the graphite ablated and rubbed off onto the paper's surface, making visible marks, and people used pencils for writing and drawing.

[konstantinr76803912]

This is a very, very annoying feature. I can't work fluently anymore because the Properties Panel keeps opening up although having "switched off" to open automatically. Moreover in my case, after double-clicking a text-layer, the panel opens and something keeps After Effects busy and I can't distinguish what the problem is. Keeps me waiting and can't continue to work. Also in another case where there are a lot of paths in a form layer, this feature seems to crash. 

Please Adobe, at least stop this feature from reopening automatically.

[mrwitte]

One workaround that's working for me in the meantime until this issue is fixed:

• Grab the hamburger menu in the upper right of your Properties Panel and pull it away so it undocks (queueWorkArea script hamburger menu is red-boxed for reference in my screenshot since I've already "fixed" my Properties Panel).
• Now, if you have any extra space in the lower right of your interface (or anywhere for that matter), you can drag the Properties Panel almost completely off your screen and out of your way (red arrow in my screenshot points to the upper left corner of my off-screen Properties Panel)
• Save Changes To Workspace to lock in your changes

If you made/saved these changes to your default workspace, AE will now start up automatically with the offending Properties Panel effectively out of your hair.

[thepixelsmith]

Just to clarify this:

Both the Shape Tools and the Type Tool have an auto open panels button. You have to turn off the switch once for each of those tools and then it will stay disabled until you reset your preferences.

A single location or turning this option off/on in preferences would be beneficial.