Collapse and Select Groups
Last updated
Last updated
Expands or collapses a group (Win+Mac: Shift+X).
You can have a layer within the group or the group header itself selected to expand/collapse the group. The expanded/collapsed state of sub-groups will be remembered when a higher group will be collapsed and then expanded again.
If you have no layer selected and you execute Expand / Collapse Group, all groups at the upper level (no sub-groups) will collapse. If you hit Expand / Collapse Group again, all groups at the upper level will expand.
If you want to expand / collapse all sub-groups, you can use the dedicated function.
Most functions of Workflower refresh the layout of the current comp too (see Refresh Layout). When expanding/collapsing groups, however, only the layout of comps with less than 25 layers will be refreshed by default. This is because expanding/collapsing can get comparatively slow in bigger comps if Refresh Layout would have to be executed as well.
You can deactivate this behavior, too, if you don't like it, or choose to not refresh the layout even in smaller comps as well, by going to the Layout Settings and changing Refresh Layout when Expanding/Collapsing/Selecting/Renaming.
(Added in version 2.0)
You can also expand or collapse a group simply by double-clicking on the group header.
For this to work, you need the WQ plug-in installed that you find in your installation files. For installation instructions, please read the user guide chapter on Installation.
Please note that by double-clicking the group header, you can only expand/collapse the group if you have a single group header selected. If you want to expand/collapse multiple groups or you want to expand/collapse all groups, you have to execute Workflower's Expand / Collapse Group function.
Also, be aware that the double-clicking behavior only is active when one layer is selected. So, let's say you select a collapsed group, then you move it and afterwards you want to expand it again by double-clicking but since all group layers are still selected, the function won't expand the group. You will have to deselect all layers beforehand and then you can doube-click the group header to expand the group.
(Added in version 1.1)
Expands or collapses all sub-groups (Win: Ctrl+Alt+Shift, Mac: no default shortcut).
Sometimes you just quickly want to hide all sub-groups to get a clearer view of your comp. That's what Expand / Collapse All Sub-Groups is for. It will collapse or expand all sub-groups that are contained in higher sub-groups as well.
Selects groups or Shy Mattes (Win+Mac: Shift+D).
Because of the additional shy'd layers needed for a group (see Create Group for an explanation), you cannot simply select all (visible) group layers in order to move a group. That's why you always have to use the Select Group function.
Select either a group header or a layer contained in the group and execute Select Group.
There are two exceptions when you cannot just have a layer contained in the group selected:
Select Group will not select the containing group to a selected layer when you additionally have a group header selected that is contained within the same group. In this situation, it will only select the group of the selected group header in addition to the existing selection.
When you have a group layer selected that has a Shy Matte above, Select Group will only select the Shy Matte above in addition to the existing selection. See below for more info.
(Outdated since version 1.1 ->) Compared to most other group functions, Select Group won't work when only having a group layer selected. You need to have the group header selected to use Select Group. (This is because when you are within a group, you might want to select a handful of layers - of which some might be a sub-group header and some not. If only a group would be needed to select the entire group, the higher group would then be selected instead of the sub-groups.)
An [ ] icon will be shown next to the group header name for a brief time to indicate that the group is selected. This will, however, slow down selecting the group by a little bit.
As of version 1.1, you can choose for the icon to stay until the next time you execute Refresh Layout too. (Go to Settings > Icons to enable this setting.) This will not slow down the execution of the function. However, it might confuse you since the [ ] icon will stay even after deselecting the group if you don't execute Refresh Layout beforehand (and therefore make you falsely think the group would be still selected).
If you don't want the icon to be shown at all, you can also go to Settings > Icons to disable it.
When executing Select Group on a group with effects on its header, this might cause "ghost" expression errors to occur (= not actual errors, however ones that are being displayed). This is because upon executing Select Group, the icon [ ] will be displayed briefly next to the group header name in order to indicate it's being selected (and therefore confuse the expressions of the Linked Effects). To avoid the errors, you can go to the Icon Settings and disable the icon when selecting a group.
If you have no layer selected and you execute Select Group, all groups and all layers outside of groups will be selected. This is equivalent to AE's Select All, however, AE's function DOES NOT select shy'd layers, so the additional, shy'd layers for the Workflower groups to function as well as the content of collapsed groups will not be selected. So whenever you want to select all layers in your comp, use Workflower's function instead.
(Added in version 2.0)
When using AE 22.6 and above, you can also select keyframe label groups. Instead of a layer, simply select a keyframe (or multiple ones) and execute Select Group. Now all keyframes in the comp with the selected label color/s will be selected.
Most functions of Workflower refresh the layout of the current comp too (see Refresh Layout). When selecting groups, however, only the layout of comps with less than 25 layers will be refreshed by default. This is because selecting groups can get comparatively slow in bigger comps if Refresh Layout would have to be executed as well.
You can deactivate this behavior, too, if you don't like it, or choose to not refresh the layout even in smaller comps as well, by going to the Layout Settings and changing Refresh Layout when Expanding/Collapsing/Selecting/Renaming.
(Added in version 2.0)
You can also select a group simply by Alt/Option+double-clicking on the group header.
For this to work, you need the WQ plug-in installed that you find in your installation files. For installation instructions, please read the user guide chapter on Installation.
Please note that by Alt/Option+double-clicking the group header, you can only select the group if you have a single group header selected. If you want to select multiple groups or you want to select all groups/layers, you have to execute Workflower's Select Group function.
Also, be aware that the double-clicking behavior only is active when one layer is selected. So, let's say you select a collapsed group, then you move it and afterwards you want to expand it again by double-clicking but since all group layers are still selected, the function won't expand the group. You will have to deselect all layers beforehand and then you can doube-click the group header to expand the group.
(Only applicable if using AE versions below 23 without Selectable Track Mattes)
As of version 1.1, Select Group will select Shy Mattes as well.
First, select the group layer which has a Shy Matte above, then execute Select Group and Workflower will additionally select the Shy Matte.
For more information on the selection behavior, please read the chapter on Shy Mattes.
