by MonkyyJM·Workflow
Images © MonkyyJM. Used for product review; image policy.
Shy Bar earns its place in the aescripts library for its breadth of layer-selection windows and its Seeker Sleuth search, with recent macOS shortcut fixes in the 2.0.3 release.
Shy Bar is a ScriptUI panel for After Effects built around selecting, showing, and hiding layers based on their type and properties. It offers dedicated windows for shapes, precomps, adjustment layers, audio, video, Photoshop and Illustrator layers, missing assets, parents, track mattes, keyframes, label colors, and blending modes, alongside filters for solo, locked, guide, 3D, and enabled layers.
The Seeker Sleuth search window supports case-sensitive searching and multi-label color selection through a custom checkbox. Modifier keys change how selections behave: Shift adds more layers, Alt activates solo mode on chosen layers, Ctrl enables them, and Ctrl + Alt selects them. Additional windows cover layers with masks, comments, markers, effects, motion blur, or expressions, plus time-based filters relating to the CTI and work area.
Version 2.0.3 is compatible with After Effects 2023 through 2026 and adds support for AE 2025 themes and custom buttons. The release also includes macOS fixes for keyboard shortcut detection. A demo video is available.
Shy Bar is best for after Effects users who need to show, hide, and select layers by type and attribute across busy compositions.
Shy Bar is completely free to download and use.
Shy Bar is compatible with After Effects 2023, 2024, 2025, and 2026. Version 2.0.3 also adds support for AE 2025 themes. If you run one of these releases, the panel should install and launch through the Window menu as documented. For versions outside this range, check the developer's page for current details before installing, since compatibility beyond the listed releases is not confirmed here.
Shy Bar installs by unzipping the file downloaded from aescripts, locating Shy Bar.jsxbin, and copying it to the ScriptUI Panels folder. If you want an independent label colors panel, also copy Shy Bar - Labels.jsxbin to the same folder. After that, reopen After Effects and launch the panel through Window > Shy Bar.jsxbin, or Window > Shy Bar - Labels.jsxbin for the separate labels panel.
Shy Bar uses modifier keys to change how layer selections behave. Holding Shift adds more layers to your selection, while Alt activates solo mode exclusively on the chosen layers. Ctrl enables your chosen layers, and Ctrl + Alt selects them. In the Seeker Sleuth search window, pressing Ctrl + Alt on the label checkbox automatically selects the label colors of the currently selected layers, and right-clicking the search button sends a layer name or duration to the search field.
Shy Bar is listed as free in this catalog, so no purchase figure is quoted here. Because licensing terms can change, check the developer's page on aescripts for the current details before downloading. The download arrives as a zip you unzip to retrieve the Shy Bar.jsxbin file, which you then place in your ScriptUI Panels folder to install the panel in After Effects.
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