Is it possible to collapse folders in the world outliner by default?

anonymous_user_e2191170 · April 28, 2015, 4:43pm

I’m moving objects into folders to try to clean up the outliner a bit, but they all seem to be expanded by default whenever I load up the level. It’s a minor thing, but it would be convenient if it were possible to have them remain collapsed until I opened them.

anonymous_user_f778cf8f · July 29, 2015, 5:10pm

Yes. +999.

jeffym85 · August 29, 2015, 4:36pm

+999? What does that mean?

anonymous_user_f778cf8f · August 31, 2015, 7:35pm

“I strongly agree”

SVAD · August 31, 2015, 8:36pm

Ideally, it would remember the state as well.

In Maya, it’s pretty great to be able to shift+click to expand/collapse an entire tree, and it has a split-pane to allow drag drop from very distant parts of the outliner. Maybe the standard approach is to just let the world fill and use search and filter, but discovery can be much better when things are grouped by function or category.

Remember to upvote the question!

anonymous_user_7345575f · September 19, 2015, 12:25pm

Strongly agreed. I’m working on a tile based endless runner, and managing those thousands of tiles is just boring without such a collapse option.

Sean_L · November 3, 2015, 8:57pm

Hello everyone,

I have entered a feature request for an option that allows you to collapse folders in the World Outliner by default, UE-22913. Thank you for your suggestions.

Have a great day,

Sean Flint

Maha_Vajra · January 14, 2016, 3:35pm

+1 here. Everyone needs this. There are SO many rooms on each level, each having SO many acotrs/mesh/triggers/lights… I NEED this feature, that all is colapsed in outliner, and I open the room I’m working on.

Sean_L · January 14, 2016, 3:39pm

This feature request has been entered, however it has been given a lower priority than major crash and showstopper bugs, which are always our highest priority. I will provide updates on this request as they become available.

Have a great day

anonymous_user_f778cf8f · January 14, 2016, 7:43pm

cheers. if you can note on the feature request entry that the engineer to implement this will be an utter hero, please do so. Thanks dude.

Maha_Vajra · January 14, 2016, 10:50pm

Sean, dear Sean, who is so often here for us, thank you in advance BUT!!! you answered like a programer, who thinks in terms of code.

I’m a businessman. And a feature that would take 2 hours to program, that would then double the production speed of every single user, is fairly as (or more) important than any other glitches. Doubling productivity, speeding up the creation process, is a high-priority issue in every commercial product.

Every single 3D software, game engine, developement environment, has a colapse system that facilitates production. Yours don’t. and it’s so easy to add. This feature has to be addressed as high-priority. Not addressing this so-simple matter is making Unreal lose developers.

We can’t always use the search field atop the tree, for when we don’t know the name of one actor amongst thousands, but we know where it should be classifed, and we would find the item in 5-10 seconds rather than 1 minute.

I remain, Sean, in gratitude for the help you often provide.

Sean_L · January 15, 2016, 12:59pm

I have ensured to set the proper amount of community interest on the feature request so that it accurately reflects the amount of users who are requesting it. If you are able to create the feature yourself, feel free to submit a pull request for the developers to consider.

anonymous_user_03c2301f · June 30, 2016, 10:50pm

Has anyone done this? Because this feature is 100% needed.

Also: Shift-Click a folder’s Collapse / Expand arrow does nothing - the expectation is that the folder and all children should uniformly Collapse / Expand.

Example: Open a level, all folders are expanded. Shift-click on the World ‘arrow’ to collapse everything, then normal-click on the World ‘arrow’ to find all folders are in an collapsed state.

Edit: The Content Browser works in this way … odd that the World Outliner does not.

Sean_L · July 1, 2016, 12:36pm

This feature request has been entered, however it has been given a lower priority than major crash and showstopper bugs. As a result, there is no timeline for when the feature will be released at this time.

anonymous_user_8853b4b4 · July 21, 2016, 6:32pm

I have to agree that this is frustrating not to have. I wonder if there is a different method they use at Epic to navigate their large levels? It’s very unfriendly right now.

showpixel · August 6, 2016, 3:33pm

I agree with OP, ue4 safes so much time on many workflows, but this breaks it. It would be great to fold/unfold everything/selected with a shortcut. Or do i miss it somewhere?

VikingMike85 · September 28, 2016, 4:21am

is this still not in? this is kinda ridiculous

Sean_L · September 28, 2016, 12:32pm

Here’s a link to the public tracker so you can keep an eye on the status of the request: Unreal Engine Issues and Bug Tracker (UE-22913)

anonymous_user_db13cd02 · December 7, 2016, 6:05pm

Hrmm… there is a “Tools Review Edit” on UE-22913 that says it should just remember the folder state when reopening the editor. That’s great, but it seems that what we’re asking for here is slightly more than just that change, depending on the use case, at least!

Additional components to this include:

Fix Shift+Click on folders to close all subfolders, like it does in the Content Browser.
I personally would still like the option to have folders closed by default. Or at least, since I’m spawning tons of actors at runtime, I would like a bool parameter for AActor::SetFolderPath() to allow me to specify whether any newly created folders are open or closed by default. For example, at runtime, I am spawning a lot of actors and I use SetFolderPath() to group them into several folders by my own categories, when running PIE. I would like these transient folders to be created “closed” by default.

SPACESCAN · December 13, 2016, 7:27am

Pleasseeeee can this happen!! Would be so so good