Order AE

An After Effects script that cleans up the Project panel: every item gets sorted into a folder by type, and numbered sets get their own subfolder.

Safe to re-run — new imports fall into the folders that already exist. Everything happens inside a single undo group, so one Ctrl/Cmd + Z puts it all back.

What it does

Before

Project
├── Lower Third
├── Lower Third 2
├── Lower Third 4
├── A001_C003.mov Comp 1
├── A001_C003.mov Comp 2
├── IMG_4521.MOV
├── IMG_4521.MOV
├── IMG_4521.MOV
├── Main Comp
├── logo.png
├── VO_take3.wav
└── b-roll.mov

After

Project
├── Comps
│   ├── Lower Third
│   │   ├── Lower Third
│   │   ├── Lower Third 2
│   │   └── Lower Third 4
│   ├── A001_C003.mov Comp
│   │   ├── A001_C003.mov Comp 1
│   │   └── A001_C003.mov Comp 2
│   └── Main Comp
├── Images
│   └── logo.png
├── Audio
│   └── VO_take3.wav
└── Video
    ├── IMG_4521.MOV
    │   ├── IMG_4521.MOV
    │   ├── IMG_4521.MOV
    │   └── IMG_4521.MOV
    └── b-roll.mov

How numbering is read

Grouping is by base name only — the numbers just have to be there.

Case	Result
Lower Third 2, Lower Third 4, Lower Third 9	One Lower Third folder. Gaps don't matter, and the set doesn't have to start at 1
Lower Third (no number)	Read as the 1 and filed with its set
Title_02, Scene-3, Shot04	All the common separators work
A001_C003.mov Comp 1 on its own	Left alone. A set of one isn't a set — it gets a folder the run after a Comp 2 appears
render (1), export [3]	Bracketed indices count too
20250614	Skipped — a pure number has no base to name a folder after
0628.mp4	Extensions are stripped before the number is read, so the 4 in .mp4 is never mistaken for an index
Eleven identical IMG_4521.MOV entries	One folder under the full name. Replacing clips with AE comps from Premiere leaves piles of these
IMG_4521.MOV × 11 beside a lone IMG_4530.MOV	Identical names win over a shared base, so the eleven copies get an IMG_4521 folder rather than everything landing in a generic IMG bucket

Matching is case-insensitive and trims whitespace, but it's a whole-name match. Lower Third joins Lower Third 2; Lower Third old doesn't, since that's a different comp rather than a member of the set.

Re-running

• New items at the project root drop into their existing category folder.
• A new Lower Third 5 joins the existing Comps/Lower Third folder instead of starting a second one.
• A lone item that finally gets a sibling is grouped on the next run.
• Anything already inside a group subfolder is left exactly where it is.
• Your own folders — and AE's auto-created "Linked Comp" folders — are never touched, unless you tick Also pull items out of other folders.

Folders it creates

Folder	Contents
Comps	All compositions
Images	png, jpg, tif, tga, exr, dpx, webp, hdr, …
Design Files	psd, psb, ai, eps, svg, pdf
Video	mov, mp4, mxf, mkv, r3d, braw, …
Audio	wav, mp3, aac, aiff, flac, m4a, opus, caf, …
Data	json, mgjson, csv, txt, xml, …
Solids	Solid sources (left alone by default)
Placeholders	Placeholder / offline items
Other	Anything unrecognised

Files are matched on extension first. Anything the lists miss falls back to what the media actually is — an item with audio and no video goes to Audio whatever it's called, a zero-duration visual goes to Images. Offline footage is classified from its item name, so it still lands correctly.

Install

As a dockable panel (recommended)

1. Copy OrderAE.jsx into your AE Scripts/ScriptUI Panels folder:
   • Windows — C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe After Effects <version>\Support Files\Scripts\ScriptUI Panels\
   • macOS — /Applications/Adobe After Effects <version>/Scripts/ScriptUI Panels/
2. Restart After Effects.
3. Open it from Window → OrderAE.jsx.

One-off run

File → Scripts → Run Script File… and pick OrderAE.jsx.

If the panel doesn't appear, enable Preferences → Scripting & Expressions → Allow Scripts to Write Files and Access Network.

Options

Option	Default	Notes
Group numbered items into subfolders	On	The graph 2 / graph 4 behaviour
Also pull items out of other folders	Off	Full resort, including your existing folder structure
Leave AE solids where they are	On	AE manages its own Solids folder; unchecking pulls them into the script's
Delete leftover empty folders	Off	Cleans up folders emptied by the sort

Customising

Folder names, extension lists, and the grouping threshold sit at the top of the script:

var MIN_GROUP_SIZE = 2;   // 2 = a lone numbered item stays put until it has a sibling
                          // 1 = every numbered item gets its own folder
                          // items always join a folder that already exists

var FOLDER_NAMES = {
    comps:  "Comps",
    images: "Images",
    ...
};

var EXTENSIONS = {
    audio: "wav,mp3,aac,aif,aiff,...",
    ...
};

Compatibility

ExtendScript (ES3), tested on After Effects CC 2019 and later. No dependencies.

License

MIT