Delete, Ungroup and Dissolve Groups
Delete Layer / Clone / Group
Deletes regular layers, Precomp Clones, and groups (Win: Shift+FwdDel, Mac: Shift+Delete).
Select either a regular layer, a Precomp Clone layer, or a group header and then execute Delete Layer / Clone / Group.
Deleting Regular Layers
If you delete a regular layer that is contained in a Precomp Clone, it will remove the layer from the Precomp Clone as well.
If you delete a track matte layer, it will remove the track matte state from the layer below.
Otherwise, it is identical to AE's Delete when deleting regular layers.
Deleting Precomp Clones
If you delete a Precomp Clone, the function will also delete the clone comp item from the project window. If you would delete the Precomp Clone using AE's Delete, only the layer within the comp, not the clone comp itself would be deleted. Because of that, expression errors will appear since the expressions on the clone layers cannot reference the Precomp Clone anymore. That's why it is always advised to use Delete Layer / Clone / Group when deleting a Precomp Clone.
In case, unused clone comps already exist and expression errors accumulate, open up the settings, go to the Cloning tab and click Delete Unused Precomp Clones.
Deleting Groups
Just deleting all group layers individually still would leave the additional, shy'd layers from the group, so always use Delete Layer / Clone / Group to delete a group, or alternatively use Select Group and then use AE's Delete.
Ungroup Layers
Releases layers from a group, or a group from another group (Win+Mac: Shift+H).
Note for Mac users and when using Individual Scripts Mode on Windows: The default shortcut for this function has been added in version 1.1.
All selected layers or groups will be ungrouped and moved below the group they were contained in. This is especially useful when the containing group is right at the bottom of another group. If you would move the layers below by yourself and then execute Refresh Layout, the layers would then be shifted two levels upwards instead of one. In these circumstances, use Ungroup instead to only move them one level upwards.
As of version 1.1, if a group at the highest level is selected, Ungroup Layers will move the entire group after the next group at the highest level.
(Removed in version 1.1 ->) If a group is selected and is at the highest level already, the group will be dissolved completely.
Dissolve Group
Dissolves a group (Win: Ctrl+Shift+FwdDel, Mac: no default shortcut).
Select either the group header or a layer contained in the group and then execute Dissolve Group. It will remove the group but will not delete all contained layers, as Delete Layer / Clone / Group would. It will release the layers one level upwards, either to a higher group or move them out of groups completely.
Last updated
