Main Menu
Workflower's main menu offers access to all functions of the script. You access it either as a dialog or - since version 2.0 - as a ScriptUI Panel.
On the panel, hold down Shift, Ctrl/Cmd, or Alt/Option to execute additional functions. New icons will be revealed for the additional functions.
When right-clicking on each of the buttons, you get quick links to the function's user guide chapter and tutorial.
Main Menu as Dialog
Hit the shortcut for the Main Menu dialog to come up (Win: Ctrl+Alt+X, Mac: macControl+X).
Click anywhere in the menu but the buttons or hit Escape to close it. (Closing it by clicking outside of the menu unfortunately won't work.)
If you encounter performance issues with the main menu (or another panel) coming up, this might be due to calculating the current mouse position. If this is bothering you, go to Settings > System > Position of Borderless Dialogs and set it to At Last Position or Always Centered to disable calculating the mouse position.
On Windows, you may also try to change the Mouse Position Calculation to External File (Advanced).
Main Menu Panel Shortcuts (Windows only)
| Function | Shortcut (Win) | Shortcut (Mac) |
|---|---|---|
Move Panel left | Ctrl+Alt+Left | - |
Move Panel right | Ctrl+Alt+Right | - |
Move Panel up | Ctrl+Alt+Up | - |
Move Panel down | Ctrl+Alt+Down | - |
Center Panel | Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Left | - |
Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Right | - | |
Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Up | - | |
Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Down | - |
Main Menu as ScriptUI Panel
(Added in version 2.0)
To install the ScriptUI Panel, please follow the instructions.
Please note that is optional to have the ScriptUI panel Workflower ScriptUI Panel.jsxbin installed while it is mandatory to have the main script file --- Workflower ---.jsxbin installed.
After installation, open the ScriptUI Panel by going to Window > Workflower ScriptUI Panel.jsxbin.
The ScriptUI panel has a responsive layout. Change the panel size for it to adjust to the four possible configurations:
Row layout, 1 line
Row layout, 2 lines
Column layout, 1 column
Column layout, 2 columns
If you want to use Workflower's Main Menu without modifier keys and you own KBar, you can easily batch-create all buttons for KBar which, as of version 2.0, will be added without modifier keys.
Did you encounter that a button sometimes does not execute a function? Please read the following page on some known bugs and workarounds of Workflower's ScriptUI Panel.
Tip: If you want to restart the ScriptUI Panel, right-click on empty space of the panel and click on Restart ScriptUI Panel. You might want to do this if you encounter any issues relating to the panel and you want to quickly see whether a restart helps.
Tip: When you center-click on empty space on the ScriptUI panel, Refresh Layout will be executed.
Customize ScriptUI Buttons
If you want to save on space in your AE interface, you can also customize which buttons you want to appear in Workflower's ScriptUI Panel.
To make use of this, go to Settings > Miscellaneous > Customize ScriptUI Buttons. Now choose which buttons you want to deselect.
Please note that these settings only apply to the ScriptUI Panel. The Main Menu via shortcut will still feature all available buttons.
Button Size
As of version 2.0.1, Workflower's ScriptUI Panel displays smaller buttons than the Main Menu as Dialog.
In case you rather like larger buttons to be displayed, right-click on any button and select Use Large Buttons.
ScriptUI Panel Caching
The Caching Problem
It does seem that a ScriptUI Panel only has limited access to AE's cache, and when executing a function that relies heavily on caches, performance will not be as good as compared to executing the function from within a regular script.
Default Caching Solution
That's why, for certain functions that rely heavily on caching (e.g. Refresh Connections), the ScriptUI panel will not execute the function itself but it will call the main Workflower file within which the function will be executed, hence accessing more of AE's cache and increasing the performance. Nevertheless, there will be a bit of a lag between pressing the button and the execution of the function.
However, since most functions don't rely so much on caching, they will be executed directly from the ScriptUI Panel itself, hence reducing the lag and interacting with the ScriptUI Panel feels more responsive.
Choosing a Manual Solution
But there's also a way to manually choose the method to be used. Go to the System Settings and choose between these options:
Better Responsiveness (= executing from ScriptUI Panel)
Better Caching (= executing from main Workflower file)
Mix between Methods (= mix as described above)
Now, this choice can come in handy when you're working on a comp and you might notice a slowdown when executing Workflower functions. You might want to try to set the method to Better Caching and see whether it helps when more of AE's cache can be taken into account.
Learning Tools built into the Main Menu
(Added in version 2.0)
The Main Menu provides two ways that help with learning Workflower:
1.) Extended Tooltips
Hover over the functions on the Main Menu to get information on the function.
When pressing a modifier key, the Extended Tooltip of the modifier function will be displayed.
You can also turn off Extended Tooltips and only use simple tooltips (displaying solely the function name and shortcut), or disable tooltips altogether by going to the Miscellaneous Settings or by right-clicking on a button and disabling it from the Help Menu.
2.) Help Menu
When right-clicking on a function button, Workflower will open up a dropdown where you can click on links to the user guide and tutorial chapter about the specific function.
Press one of the modifier keys and right-click on the button to open up the links for the modifier functions.
You may also change your tooltips preferences from this menu.
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