Arrange Tools and Groups.
Move, resize, add and remove Tools in Altar, and organize them into Groups with Edit mode. Drag Tools in and out of Groups, and recover with Reset.
Everything here happens in Edit mode. Right-click an empty part of the Canvas and choose Edit Mode. A frame appears around the panel, and a Layout bar appears at the bottom left. Choose Exit Edit Mode from the same menu when you are done.
Move and resize a Tool
- Move - drag the strip along the top of the Tool. Other Tools shuffle out of the way.
- Resize - drag the corner of the Tool. A badge shows the new size in grid units while you drag a loose Tool. Widgets have a minimum and maximum size, so you can give the controls more room. An overlay cell starts at one unit, and widening it shows its name. A Button’s name turns on the first time you make it wider than it is tall.
- Open its settings - click the gear in the top right corner of a built-in Tool. For a Button you made, right-click it and choose its Settings entry.
- Remove it - click the X in the bottom left. Built-in Tools and any Tool in a Group have one. A built-in Tool on the Canvas asks you to confirm, and a Tool inside a Group is removed straight away. For a loose Button you made, right-click it and choose Remove from layout. Nothing is deleted, and you can add it back at any time.
Add a Tool
Right-click the Canvas and choose Add Tool. Type to search, or browse the list, which is sorted under category headings with your hidden Groups at the top.
- Click a row to place the Tool loose on the Canvas.
- Click the arrow at the end of a row to choose a Group for it instead.
- New group is the last row of the Groups heading, and creates an empty Group. It is not offered when you open Add Tool from a Group’s plus button.
The Canvas scrolls to the new Tool and highlights it. A Widget that can open as an overlay appears twice, once as inline and once as an overlay cell.
Work with Groups
A Group keeps related Tools together and folds out of the way.
- Create one with Add Tool → New group, or from Settings. See Settings.
- Rename it by editing the name in its header while in Edit mode.
- Add Tools with the plus button in its header.
- Fold it by clicking the header. In Edit mode, use the arrow at the left of the header.
- Resize it like any Tool. Tools inside re-flow to fit, like words in a line of text.
- Remove it from the Canvas with the X in its header. The Group and its Tools are kept, and you can put it back from Add Tool.
Drag between Groups and the Canvas
Drag any Tool out of a Group onto the Canvas, into a Group, or straight from one Group to another. The Group under your pointer lights up, and the Tool lands where you let go. Nothing moves until you let go.
Undo layout changes
Rearranging the Canvas is not part of After Effects undo. Two ways back:
- Layouts - save the arrangement you like, then use Reset to saved later. See Customize your workspace.
- Restore default arrangement - in the right-click menu. It replaces your current arrangement with the default one, and it cannot be undone.