Workspaces, panels, and viewers

Adobe video and audio applications provide a consistent, customizable user interface. Although each application has its own set of panels, you move and group panels in the same way in each application.

The main window of a program is the application window. Panels are organized in this window in an arrangement called a workspace.

Each application includes several predefined workspaces that optimize the layout of panels for specific tasks. You can also create and customize your own workspaces by arranging panels in the layout that best suits your working style for specific tasks.

You can drag panels to new locations, move panels into or out of a group, place panels alongside each other, and undock a panel so that it floats in a new window above the application window. As you rearrange panels, the other panels resize automatically to fit the window.

To increase the available screen space, use multiple monitors. When you work with multiple monitors, the application window appears on the main monitor, and you place floating windows on the second monitor. Monitor configurations are stored in the workspace.

Workspaces are stored in XML files in the preferences folder. With some caveats regarding monitor size and layout, these workspaces can be moved to another computer and used there.

• Windows: [drive]:\Users\[user_name]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\After Effects\[version]\ModifiedWorkspaces

• macOS: [drive]/Users/[user_name]/Library/Preferences/Adobe/After Effects/[version]/ModifiedWorkspaces

Stacked panel layout

Customize your workspace by grouping panels the way you want to. In a panel group, you can arrange panels in both stacked and tabbed states. 

You can expand and collapse stacked panels with a single mouse-click on the panel header.

Navigate and use the Home screen

The Home screen helps you get started quickly with After Effects. You can use the following options on the left side:

• Home: Select this tab to open the Home screen.
• New Project: Creates a project in After Effects. 
• Open Project: Opens an existing project.
• New Team Project: Creates a Team Project.
• Open Team Project: Opens an existing Team Project.

If you are a new user, the centre of the screen also gives you the option to create a project. As you create projects in After Effects, the content on the home screen evolves. Experienced users get an option to learn What's New in After Effects, along with other documentation links.

You can also use the Home   icon at the left-hand side of the UI to navigate between the project and the Home screen.

Use the Learn workspace and Learn panel

Learn panel

Designed for new-to-After Effects users, you can use tutorials in the Learn panel to quickly learn about the different panels, timeline, and effects in After Effects. You can access the learn panel from the Window menu > Extensions. You can use these lessons to create projects in the application.

The panel is fully interactive with task-oriented videos. When you select a video in the panel, it displays the steps to perform the task. As you try the steps in the UI, the panel tracks your motion and guides you through the steps. Once you complete a task, the status of the task updates to completed.

Learn workspace

The Learn workspace offers a simple interface with the following panels that you can use to create an After Effects project:

• Learn panel
• Project panel
• Composition panel
• Timeline panel

To access the workspace, select Help > Learn After Effects. The workspace includes the Learn panel docked to the side so that you can follow the instructions and have clear access to the rest of the workspace.

Customizing workspaces

You can access custom or default workspaces with a single click in the new workspace bar. The workspace bar occupies the right side of the Tools panel. You can customize the width of the bar by dragging the vertical divider between the tool and the workspace bars.

The workspaces that don't fit in the available space are displayed in the chevron    menu on the workspace bar.

Choose a workspace

• Select Window > Workspace, and then select the desired workspace.

• Select a workspace from the Workspace menu in the Tools panel.

• If the workspace has a keyboard shortcut assigned, press Shift+F10, Shift+F11, or Shift+F12.

Save, reset, or delete workspaces

Save a custom workspace

As you customize a workspace, the application tracks your changes, storing the most recent layout. To store a specific layout more permanently, save a custom workspace. Saved custom workspaces appear in the Workspace menu, where you can return to and reset them.

Reset a workspace

Reset the current workspace to return to its original, saved layout of panels.

Delete a workspace

Dock, group, or float panels

You can dock panels together, move them into or out of groups, and undock them to float above the application window. As you drag a panel, drop zones—areas onto which you can move the panel—become highlighted. The drop zone you choose determines where the panel is inserted and whether it docks or groups with other panels.

Docking zones

Docking zones exist along the edges of a panel, group, or window. Docking a panel places it adjacent to the existing group, resizing all groups to accommodate the new panel.

Grouping zones

Grouping zones exist in the middle of a panel or group, and along the tab area of panels. Dropping a panel on a grouping zone stacks it with other panels.

Dock or group panels

Undock a panel in a floating window

When you undock a panel in a floating window, you can add panels to the window and modify it similarly to the application window. You can use floating windows to use a secondary monitor, or to create workspaces like the workspaces in earlier versions of Adobe applications.

Maximize or restore panel groups

Double-click the active panel's tab or in the fallow area of the tab well of a panel group to maximize or restore that panel group. You can also press the ` (accent grave) key with the mouse pointer over that panel group to maximize or restore a panel group.

Resize panel groups

When you drag the divider between panel groups, all groups that share the divider are resized.

Open, close, and show panels and windows

Even if a panel is open, it may be out of sight beneath other panels. Choosing a panel from the Window menu opens it and brings it to the front of its group.

When you close a panel group in the application window, the other groups resize to use the newly available space. When you close a floating window, the panels within it close, too.

• To open or close a panel, choose the panel from the Window menu.

• To close a panel or window, select its Close button. If you accidentally close a panel, choose it from the Window menu, and it will be displayed again.
  

• To open or close a panel, use its keyboard shortcut.

• If a frame contains multiple panels, place the pointer over a tab and roll the mouse scroll wheel forward or backward to change which panel is active.

• If a frame contains more grouped panels than can be shown at once, drag the scroll bar that appears above the tabs.

Maintain your workspace when opening projects

If you want to maintain your current workspace layout when opening a project saved with a different workspace in After Effects, you can enable the Maintain current workspace when opening projects preference. This removes the need to rearrange your workspace and keeps the layout consistent, no matter which project you open.

Viewers

A viewer is a panel that can contain multiple compositions, layers, or footage items or multiple views of one such item. The Composition, Layer, Footage, Flowchart, and Effect Controls panels are viewers.

Locking a viewer prevents the currently displayed item from being replaced when you open or select a new item. Instead, when a viewer is locked, and a new item is opened or selected, After Effects creates a new viewer panel for that item. If you select the item from the viewer menu of a locked viewer, a new viewer isn't created; the existing viewer is used.

Instead of housing multiple items in a single viewer and using the viewer menu to switch between them, you can choose to open a separate viewer for each open composition, layer, or footage item. When you have multiple viewers open, you can arrange them by docking or grouping them, like any other panels.

For example, you can create one Composition viewer each for different 3D views (Top, Bottom, Back, Front, custom views) so that you can maximize each of the views with the ` (accent grave) keyboard shortcut, which maximizes or restores the panel under the pointer.

• To create a new viewer, choose New from the viewer menu. Learn more about opening panel, viewer, and context menus.

• To lock or unlock a viewer, choose Locked from the viewer menu, or select the Toggle Viewer Lock   button.

• To lock the current viewer, split the current frame, and create a new viewer of the same type in the new frame, press Ctrl + Alt + Shift + N (Windows) or Command + Option + Shift + N (macOS).

• To cycle forward or backward through the items in the viewer menu list for the active viewer, press Shift + . (period) or Shift + , (comma).

Customize panel background colors

You can customize the appearance of the empty fallow area in the Composition, Layer, and Footage panels by setting a background color of your choice. You can select from five different shades of gray presets or you can choose a custom color to match your needs, providing a more personalized and visually efficient workspace.

_{Customizing the background color of the empty area around your composition panel can reduce distractions and enhance visibility.}

Edit this, look at that (ETLAT) and locked Composition viewers

If a Composition viewer is locked, the Timeline panel for another composition is active, and the Composition viewer for the active composition isn't shown, then most commands that affect views and previews operate on the composition for which the viewer is shown.

For example, pressing the numpad 0 can start a preview for the composition visible in a locked Composition viewer rather than the composition associated with the active Timeline panel.

This behavior facilitates a working setup sometimes referred to as edit-this-look-at-that (ETLAT). The most common scenario in which this behavior is useful is the scenario in which you make a change in the Timeline panel for a nested (upstream) composition and want to preview the result of the change in a containing (downstream) composition.

To prevent this behavior, unlock the Composition viewer or show the Composition viewer for the composition that you want to view or preview.