Installation
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To install the script, you can use the aescripts + aeplugins manager app. Make sure to use at least version 1.5.344.0 of the app, otherwise, the script won't be installed correctly.
When you're installing the trial, click on Account > Add Trial in the app and search for Workflower 2. After you added the trial, you can simply click on Install.
When you've already licensed Workflower 2, you can install it from the Licenses tab.
If you receive an error upon opening AE because the WQ plugin cannot load (seems to be mostly an issue on Mac), please read the following section.
If you're not using the manager app, please follow these instructions:
Download the script from aescripts.com/workflower/. (You can simply download the trial by clicking on 'TRY'. This also works for people with a license as trial and licensed product are the same file. If you have a license, you may also go to your account, then click on My Downloads & Licenses to download Workflower.)
Unzip the downloaded file. In the unzipped files, you'll find a folder called "00 Files":
Within this folder, you'll find all relevant files to copy-paste:
In the folder "01 Script", you'll find the file "--- Workflower ---.jsxbin". Copy and paste this file into After Effects' Scripts folder:
Windows: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe After Effects XX\Support Files\Scripts
Mac: /Applications/Adobe After Effects XX/Scripts
In the folder "02 ScriptUI Panel", you'll find the file "Workflower ScriptUI Panel.jsxbin". Copy and paste this file into After Effects' ScriptUI Panels folder:
Windows: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe After Effects XX\Support Files\Scripts\ScriptUI Panels
Mac: /Applications/Adobe After Effects XX/Scripts/ScriptUI Panels
In the folder "03 Startup", you'll find the file "Workflower Startup.jsxbin". Copy and paste this file into After Effects' Startup folder:
Windows: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe After Effects XX\Support Files\Scripts\Startup
Mac: /Applications/Adobe After Effects XX/Scripts/Startup
In the folder "04 Plug-in Windows" or "04 Plug-in Mac" (choose depending on your OS), you'll find the folder "TerribleJunkShow". Copy and paste the entire folder "TerribleJunkShow" (not only "WQ.aex" or "WQ.plugin") into After Effects' Plug-ins folder:
Windows: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe After Effects XX\Support Files\Plug-ins
Mac: /Applications/Adobe After Effects XX/Plug-ins
In case you experience issues with the WQ plug-in upon opening After Effects (seems to be only an issue on Mac), please check out this section.
In the folder "05 App Data Windows" or "05 App Data Mac" (choose depending on your OS), you'll find the folder "Workflower for After Effects". Copy and paste the entire folder "Workflower for After Effects" (not only the content) into your system's App Data folder:
Windows: Path of %PROGRAMDATA%, by default this is C:\ProgramData
(To find it, simply type C:\ProgramData into the search bar of the file browser as it might visibly not appear at the highest level of C:)
Mac: /Library/Application Support
(To find it, simply go to the highest level of your main drive, then click on Library > Application Support)
You need to put the script files into the system scripts folder, as specified above, not the user scripts folder. Otherwise, the script won't work. That's why you also can't install the script via the File > Scripts > Install Script File... which would put the script into the user scripts folder.
If accidentally put --- Workflower ---.jsxbin into the ScriptUI Panels folder or into the user scripts folder and you then copied the file to the correct location, you need to make sure the file at the wrong location is deleted because the script otherwise won't work.
Make sure that the main script "--- Workflower ---.jsxbin" is the first or one of the first entries in the folder. (However, because of its name, starting with "---", it should appear at the top or near the top most of the time anyway.) This is important because After Effects can apply shortcuts only to the first 20 scripts within the scripts folder. So "--- Workflower ---.jsxbin" should be at least script 20 when you're on Windows, or pretty much script 1 when you're on Mac. (On Mac, Workflower will have to install more scripts in the scripts folder to apply shortcuts. For more on this, read the chapter on Shortcut Modes.)
Also, be aware that you should NEVER rename the script files. If they don't have exactly that name, the script won't work.
After copying the script files or installing them via the manager app, (re-)start After Effects, go to File / Scripts and click on "--- Workflower ---.jsxbin".
If you didn't install the ScriptUI Panel yourself, Workflower will now inform you about how to install it yourself.
Afterwards, you will be directed to install the shortcuts.
On Mac, the OS might refuse to load the plug-in upon launching After Effects since Apple cannot scan for malicious software:
If that's the case, please do the following:
Make sure the problem just occurred. If it didn't, start After Effects so the error will be triggered.
Open up your System Preferences
Go to Privacy & Security:
On MacOS Ventura/Sonoma and later, scroll down the Privacy & Security settings page. On MacOS Monterey and earlier, make sure you're at the General tab of the Privacy & Security settings page.
Allow WQ.plugin to load:
Restart After Effects
You will get the same error message but this time you can click on Open:
You may also take a look at this quick video tutorial on how to fix the issue.
If you experience something similar on Windows, please make sure to exempt the plug-in from a security check as well.
During the installation process of Workflower, eventually the Keyboard Shortcuts panel will come up.
In the Keyboard Shortcuts panel, the default shortcuts will have been set (if chosen before). You can customize your shortcuts by clicking on Edit next to the shortcut. When you're done, make sure to click on Save to apply the shortcuts. (Otherwise, no shortcuts will be applied.)
From now on, you can access any Workflower function via a shortcut. Either by hitting the shortcut of the main panel (from where you can access every function) or the shortcut of the desired function itself.
Workflower will always set shortcuts on the current Keyboard Layout in After Effects. It is not possible, however, to set shortcuts on the default layout (After Effects Default.txt). Go to the After Effects Keyboard Shortcuts panel to change it. Click on Save As... to create a copy of it and define a new preset.
If After Effects is running in another language than English, it will be possible to set Workflower shortcuts on the default file (since it will not be the After Effects Default.txt file); it is recommended, however, to create a copy of that, too, in order to have a backup copy the original shortcuts.
After creating the new preset, click on OK and open up the Workflower Keyboard Shortcuts panel to set the shortcuts.
When, at some point, you switched the Keyboard Layout within After Effects, hitting a Workflower shortcut might not have an effect since no shortcuts have been associated with the new keyboard layout. In that case, go to File / Scripts and click on "--- Workflower ---.jsxbin" again. Workflower's main panel will come up. Now go to the Workflower Keyboard Shortcuts panel and set shortcuts for this layout.
To update the script, you can use the aescripts + aeplugins manager app. Make sure to use at least version 1.5.344.0 of the app, otherwise, the script won't be installed correctly.
After updating make sure to restart After Effects in case you have it open already.
If you're not using the manager app, download the new version of Workflower from aescripts.com and you will receive all installation files. Repeat the steps as outlined in the Manual Installation instructions. Choose to replace all prior installed files.
Now you have successfully updated to the newest version. Afterwards, make sure to restart After Effects in case you have it open already.
When you're on Mac, or you're using Individual Scripts Mode on Windows, after updating the main script file, all other shortcut slots will have to be updated to the newest version as well. Just execute any Workflower function and all shortcut slots will be automatically updated.
(Added in version 1.0.4)
Workflower supports KBar buttons. As of Workflower 2.5, there are two ways of setting up the buttons:
To set up a KBar button via linking, go to KBar's settings, click on Add Button and select Run JSX/JSXBIN File. Now link it to the script file "--- Workflower ---.jsxbin".
This also applies when you're on Mac or you're using Individual Scripts Mode on Windows - do not link it to another shortcut slot file in that case (like "--- Workflower II Function 03 ---.jsxbin"). Afterwards, put in your desired function name.
To set up via the Workflower API, go to KBar's settings, click on Add Button and select Run Scriptlet. Now put in this code:
So, when you want to add Create Group, you would write:
The advantage of using the API over linking the script file is that the button will always call the Workflower file within the AE version that's currently running. When you're using Script File Linking on the other hand and you've linked the script file in another AE version, however, the wrong Workflower file will be called (e.g. you originally set up the buttons in AE 2023, then upgrade to AE 2024), meaning you will have to redirect each of the buttons to the current AE version.
To call a function via the API, Workflower needs to have been started once in your session. Opening and closing the ScriptUI Panel will suffice for example.
You may even check within your KBar command for this, so you don't have to manually open and close the ScriptUI Panel after every After Effects launch (you'll only need to change the functionName variable):
To link a KBar button to a specific function, use these script function names:
menu
Settings
settings
keyboardShortcuts
refreshLayout
nonIndentLayout
expressionModeLayout
showLayerRelationships
refreshConnections
quickRefreshConnections
addRemoveLayerReferences
linkUnlinkProperties
sortProjectItems
revealProjectFile
createGroup
duplicateGroup
expandGroup
expandAllSubGroups
selectGroup
deleteLayerCloneGroup
ungroup
dissolveGroup
parentGroup
parentExceptionLayer
centerHeader
enableGroup
soloGroup
lockGroup
relabelLayers
relabelLayers(label-ID), e.g. relabelLayers(3)
createMatte
mergeMattes
cloneAndPrecomp
cloneInComp
showCloneLayers
showAndSoloCloneLayers
previewCustomCloneSize
linkedAdjustmentLayer
mattedAdjustmentLayer
convertPropertyToCompSize
renameLayers
renameLayersByNumber
storeLayers1
storeLayers2
storeLayers3
storeLayers4
pasteLayers1
pasteLayers2
pasteLayers3
pasteLayers4
storeLayersByID
pasteLayersByID
saveGlobalStoreComp
loadGlobalStoreComp
tagUntagLayers
performOnTaggedLayers
activateTag1
activateTag2
activateTag3
revealLayerOpacity
showMoveIndicator
precompose
preRender
showHidePreRender
showHidePreRenderWFProxy
pushFrameToPhotoshop
markPreRenderState
nameExceptionLayer
trimExceptionLayer
trimLayerToKeyframes
trimLayerToLayer
createControl
unshy
If you want to use Workflower icons in KBar, you can download them as PNGs below.
(Note: Icons have been updated for version 2.5.)
This is a legacy function. Since Workflower now features its own ScriptUI Panel, buttons for functions added after v2.0 won't be created.
As of version 1.1.3, you can create all of Workflower's buttons at once as a KBar toolbar.
Simply go to the Layout Settings and click on Install WF KBar Toolbar. Workflower will then create a new toolbar in KBar and replicate the entire Main Menu.
After installing, (re-)start KBar and click on its hamburger menu to select the Workflower toolbar.
For safety, Workflower will create a backup of your old KBar settings file and save it next to the current one. So if you want to go back, you can always go back to your old KBar settings. To do that, simply go to KBar's Settings, click on Restore and select the backup file.
As of version 2.0, buttons will be added without modifier keys. That way, you may want to use KBar over Workflower's ScriptUI Panel if you prefer to have all buttons visible at the same time.
Default Installation (Bundled Version)
Windows Version:
LGPL v3 compliant FFmpeg build from BtbN
Distributed under MIT license (build) and LGPL v3 (FFmpeg)
Code-signed for Windows security
Original build available at: https://github.com/BtbN/FFmpeg-Builds
Source code available at: https://ffmpeg.org/download
Mac Version:
LGPL v3 compliant FFmpeg custom-build
Compiled specifically for Workflower
Unmodified FFmpeg source code
Source code available at: https://ffmpeg.org/download
Automatically installed with the script
Fallback Option 1: Terminal Installation (Package Managers)
License: Subject to the package managers' choice
Installed independently via system package managers:
Windows: Winget (winget install ffmpeg)
Mac: Homebrew (brew install ffmpeg)
Workflower only references the FFmpeg installation path and does not modify or redistribute the externally installed FFmpeg code.
Fallback Option 2: Manual Installation
License: Varies based on chosen version
User is responsible for:
Choosing appropriate version
License compliance
Proper installation
Maintaining installation path
Workflower only references the FFmpeg manual installation path and does not modify or redistribute any externally installed FFmpeg code.
The bundled version is specifically compiled to be LGPL v3 compliant, allowing for more flexible integration with commercial software. Manual and package manager installations may vary in their licensing depending on the source and version chosen.
Our bundled version uses unmodified FFmpeg source code compiled with LGPL v3 compliant options
Original FFmpeg source code is available at: ffmpeg.org/download
Users can choose which version to use based on their needs
Package manager and manual installations are handled independently of our script
The script interfaces with FFmpeg through standard CLI commands, regardless of which version is installed. The script only references the FFmpeg installation path and does not modify or redistribute any externally installed FFmpeg code.
By Chirag Mehta
Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License (CC BY 2.5)
By Terrible Junk Show
Full license texts are available here:
FFmpeg: LGPL v3 License
BtbN: MIT License
Name that Color: CC BY 2.5 License
with a specific label color
