Controlling Layer Visibility in the Timeline

In addition to controlling the visibility and editability of the contents of a layer or folder, when you organize layers in folders, you gain control of which layers appear in the Timeline. When you close a folder, layers within it disappear from the Timeline; making it much easier to view and navigate. Closing the layer folder has no effect on the contents of each layer within it, however. All the elements on those layers continue to display on the Stage in whatever mode you chose for them before closing the folder.

When you create new layer folders, they are open by default.

To close layer folders in the Timeline

• In the Timeline, click the triangle to the left of the open folder icon (Figure 6.14).

  Figure 6.14. Clicking the triangle to the left of the folder icon toggles between open (top) and closed (bottom) folder views.

  

  The triangle rotates to the closed position, and the icon changes to a closed folder. The Timeline hides all the layers contained within the layer folder.

To open layer folders in the Timeline

• In the Timeline, click the triangle to the left of the closed folder icon.

  The triangle rotates to the open position, and the icon changes to an open folder. The Timeline displays all the layers contained within the layer folder.

Tip

• You can open or close all the folders in a movie at the same time via the contextual menu. Access the menu by Control-clicking (Mac) or right-clicking (Windows) any Timeline layer. Then, choose Expand All Folders or Collapse All Folders (Figure 6.15).

  Figure 6.15. To open all folders at the same time, Control-click (Mac) or right-click (Windows) any layer to access the contextual menu for layers. Then choose Expand All Folders.