Is there a way to dismiss all AE error messages at once?

[Kyler CROP]

As an example: if I am working in a project with a thousand asset files and someone changes the name of the project folder, AE gives an error message stating that there is an error with "Footage Item A", after which it will give an error message stating that there's a problem with "Footage Item B", and so on for every item in the project. Is there a way to dismiss all of these alerts at once?

In the rare ocassion that something like this happens, I tend to force quit the application and relaunch it, as it's quicker than closing all of the alerts, but I feel that this is a very rough workaround.

It would be nice if AE gave an alert along the lines of "There is a problem with ### items in your project" instead of itemized alerts.

[Mylenium]

You could create a simple script that does the import since those can suppress dialogs. Here's an older quick tip on it:

https://lesterbanks.com/2019/08/use-2-lines-of-code-to-suppress-dialogs-in-extendscript/

Mylenium

[Kyler CROP]

This is useful to know for importing issues, but these particular error messages typically come up outside of this context.

It may be possible to make a ScriptUI Button that I could press to suppress dialogs but I would have to quickly click on a dialog's "Okay" to dismiss and then the button before another dialog comes up, which would be quite difficult. I may try it out, though.

Thanks for the suggestion!

[Mylenium]

Yeah, it's unfortunately a requirement to do all this inside the script, not outside. AE simply has no way of constantly monitoring your interactions and intercepting specific dialogs. You may want to browse through AEScripts.com, though. There's all sorts of scripts that can help you, including renaming tools that apply the changes in bulk without causing errors.

Mylenium

[Kyler CROP]

I think there's been a miscommunication: I'm not trying to rename or import anything. I'm referring to dismissing "Unlinked Media" dialogs. If I'm working on a project and all my media gets unlinked all at once, it creates a dialog for each individual asset which can take a long time to dismiss one at a time. I'm wondering if there's a way to dismiss them all without just pressing down the "Esc" key for five minutes.

[Rick Gerard]

Fixing unlinked media is easier if the footage was in a folder that got moved or renamed. I had a client once that kept renaming folders and even clips in a shared Dropbox folder until I started charging him for the time it took to fix the missing footage errors in Premiere, DaVinci, and After Effects. I could solve many of the problems by putting the folder back in its original location or fixing the folder name.  When the footage has been renamed, it's a laborious process. If every piece of footage missing footage was in a different folder, then you are stuck with following every link. 

I don't know any way for a script to search through the folders on your system and repair links, but a script would be able to look in one folder. If the folder was just moved or renamed, AE should automatically find all missing footage from that folder. If the files have been moved to different folders, I think you are out of luck.

[Kyler CROP]

Thanks for the input, but I feel as though I'm not explaining myself properly.

I'm not worried about unlinked media or scripts to import footage.

I'm concerned with dismissing the dialog boxes that accompany unlinked footage when the footage is unlinked while the project file is open. To dismiss them all can take a few minutes at a time and has locked up my system in the past. I'm just wondering if there's a way to close out all these dialogs at once or if there's a way to surpress the dialogs in the first place.

[Rick Gerard]

I was trying to explain that AE should find all missing footage in a moved or renamed folder when you link the first one. If you have the footage in separate folders, each missing asset must be relinked individually. If assets have been renamed, you are in much more trouble. If you have just moved or renamed a folder, when you see the missing footage message, press the ` key to expand the Project panel and check the file path column for the drive, folder, and file names for the missing files. All you have to do is move the files back to their original location or restore the original folder name, and AE will automatically relink all missing footage.  

If you locate any asset in a moved or renamed folder and AE does not automatically relink all assets that were in the original folder, then delete your preferences and relaunch AE.

[Kyler CROP]

Thank you, but the solution you're offering is not relevant to the problem that I am experiencing.

I'm asking if there's a way to close all dialogs / alerts from After Effects at once, as it locks up my system.

I know how to relink footage; relinking footage is not my problem. My problem is that AE sometimes creates 1,000 dialogs at once that all must be dismissed before I can do anything else in the program.

[Kyler CROP]

I understand that, in my specific example, changing the name of the folder would fix the issue, but...

1. I don't always have the option to rename folders when working on a shared server
2. I can't relink media in AE manually until all of the dialog boxes I'm referring to are closed
3. I sometimes encounter this issue for reasons other than unlinked media - errors resulting from broken plugins, for example

Again, I'm just asking if there's a way to close all dialogs from AE quickly. I have the option to just hold down the escape key but that can take minutes, depending on how many errors are queued up in AE's memory.