Text syncing with each other

[Soltero]

When I duplicate a text layer that has effects on it and try to edit the text of the copy, the text changes on both copies. What am I doing wrong?

[Rick Gerard]

Sounds like you are duplicating a pre-comp (nested composition) in the timeline. If you want to duplicate a nested comp and make a unique copy you have to do that in the project panel. This is a rookie mistake that folks new to AE often make.

If that is not the problem then we need complete workflow details and a screenshot of the entire AE comp with the modified properties of the layers giving you problems displayed. Just select the problem layer, press the U key twice, then PrintScreen and paste. If you are on a Mac the shortcut is Shift + Ctrl/CMnd  + 3 then drag the screenshot from the desktop to the reply field on the forum.

[Soltero]

I tried that but it removes the size and the In & Out times, when I duplicate it in the timeline it duplicates perfectly but then it does that.

[Rick Gerard · Accepted solution]

We need to see a flow chart of your project and the timelines that are giving you problems with the modified properties revealed.

I cannot duplicate anything you have said unless I duplicate a pre-composed text layer, open up the pre-comp and edit the text there. Then it makes sense.

I think you project contains text layers that have been pre-composed. These pre-comps have been scaled and re-positioned in the main comp. When you duplicate the pre-composed text layer in the main comp and edit the text it is going to change the text everywhere that pre-comp is used. This is normal behavior.

Let's say your original nested (pre-composed) text layer is called Text1. You should see a Text1 composition in the project panel. Duplicate the Text1 comp in the project panel and you get Text2. Now go back to the timeline and duplicate the nested (pre-composed) text comp layer named Text1 and name the new copy Text2 by just hitting the enter key and typing. Now, with the Text2 layer selected hold down the Alt/Option key and drag the Text2 comp from the Project Panel to the Timeline. This will replace the repositioned, scaled rotated and what ever else layer with your new Text2 comp. You now have two unique nested text comps in your timeline and you can change the wording in either one of then without effecting the other.

If you think about it for a minute this all makes sense. Nothing in the timeline is a unique copy of anything in the project panel. Nothing you do in the timeline changes the properties or the look of any footage in the project panel. That is how AE works and how it always has. I hope that is the way it always will work because destructive editing is, well, an awful idea.