Timeline Groups

A group is a header row in the Timeline that holds tracks and Data Tracks. Use one to keep a long composition readable — all the projection layers of one wall, every sound track, one scene — and to switch, fade or turn down everything in it with one control.

• A group holds tracks and Data Tracks. It does not hold clips directly, and a group cannot hold another group.
• The group's position in the track list is part of the drawing order, like a track's: rows higher up the list are drawn in front of rows below.
• The group's Opacity and Volume scale every clip inside it, on top of each clip's and each track's own values.
• Hiding the group (Visibility off) takes everything inside it off the wall and out of the mix at once.

Create a group

There are three ways to create a group. In an empty Timeline, right-click anywhere in the track area (Right click to add a track or group).

Tracks you select, with Ctrl + G — the quickest way:

1. Select the tracks by clicking their headers in the track list:
   • click a header to select that track alone,
   • Shift + click another header to select every track from the first one to it (across groups, Data Tracks included),
   • Ctrl + click a header to add a track to the selection or take it out again (Cmd on a Mac).
2. Press Ctrl + G. The selected tracks are wrapped in one new group, in their current order, where the first of them sat. The group's name is selected, ready for you to type — Enter keeps it, Esc keeps the default name Group.

Ctrl + G also groups the tracks of the selected clips when no track header is selected, or the one track shown in the Inspector.

An empty group. Right-click the empty area below the tracks, or a gap between two rows at the top level, and choose Create New Group. The group appears at that place. Fill it with Add Track to Group (see Fill a group), or drag rows into it.

From a track's menu.

1. Right-click a track (or a Data Track) and choose Group Track.
2. The track is wrapped in a new group exactly where it sits. The group's name is selected, ready for you to type its name — press Enter to keep it, Esc to keep the default name Group.

With several tracks selected — by their headers as above, or by selecting clips on each of them — right-click one of those tracks: the menu item reads Group N Tracks and wraps all of them in one group, in their current order. A toast confirms it: N tracks grouped.

Groups are never nested

Create New Group is not offered on a gap inside a group. Choosing Group Track on a track that is already in a group creates the new group above that group, at the top level, and moves the track into it.

The group header

The header row of a group shows, from left to right:

Element	What it does
▾ / ▸ (left panel)	Collapses or expands the group
Name	Double-click to rename
Contents	What the group holds: 3 tracks, 2 tracks · 1 data track, empty. While folded it adds hidden, so a collapsed group never reads as empty
⋮⋮ Grip	Drag to move the whole group
+	Add Track within Group — adds a track at the top of the group

The header takes the group's Color (set in the Inspector). A hidden group's header and its rows are drawn greyed out.

Click the header to select the group and show it in the Inspector. Right-click the header for the group's menu:

Menu item	What it does
Rename Group	Edit the name in place
Add Track to Group	Adds a track at the end of the group
Add Data Track to Group	Adds a Data Track at the end of the group
Duplicate Group	Copies the group with every track, clip and Data Track in it, directly below the original
Collapse Group / Expand Group	Folds this group
Collapse All Groups / Expand All Groups	Folds or unfolds every group of the composition
Ungroup (keep the tracks)	Removes the group header; its rows stay in place (Ctrl + Shift + G)
Delete group	Deletes the group with all its tracks and clips

Rename a group

• Double-click the group's name, or
• select the group (click its header) and press F2, or
• right-click the header → Rename Group.

Type the new name; Enter saves, Esc cancels.

Fill a group

To…	Do this
Add a new track at the top of the group	Click + on the group header
Add a new track at the end of the group	Right-click the header → Add Track to Group
Add a new Data Track	Right-click the header → Add Data Track to Group, or right-click a gap inside the group → Add Data Track
Add a track at a particular place in the group	Right-click the gap between two of the group's rows → Create New Track
Move an existing track or Data Track into the group	Drag its header (Data Track: its grip ⋮⋮) onto a gap inside the group
Take a track out of the group	Drag it onto a gap at the top level, outside any group
Move a track from one group to another	Drag it onto a gap inside the other group

The rows inside a group sort like any tracks: drag a header up or down within the group.

Move a group

Drag the ⋮⋮ grip on the group's header. A green Group label follows the pointer; drop it on a gap between top-level rows — above or below another group or a track that is not in a group. Everything inside the group moves with it. A toast confirms Group was moved!.

A group can only be dropped at the top level — dropping it into another group is refused.

Collapse and expand

Collapsing hides a group's rows in the Timeline to save space; it does not change the show — the folded tracks play exactly as before.

• Click ▾ on the header to fold the group, ▸ to unfold it, or
• right-click the header → Collapse Group / Expand Group, or
• right-click the header → Collapse All Groups / Expand All Groups to fold or unfold every group of the composition at once.

The header of a folded group still counts what it holds (3 tracks hidden), and the ▸ tooltip repeats it.

Whether a group is folded is a setting of the editor view, not of the project: it is not saved with the show.

Group settings in the Inspector

Click the group's header to select it. The Inspector shows:

Setting	What it does
ID	The group's variable name (group1, group2, …) — the name scripts, Data Tracks and the REST API address it by
Color	The colour of the group's header in the Timeline. Only for your orientation — it does not affect the output
Visibility	Off hides everything in the group: its clips are not drawn, not heard and not decoded, and its Data Tracks stop sending. Use it to switch a whole layer of the show off without touching each track
Audio (switch in the section header)	Off mutes the audio of every clip in the group
Volume	0–100 %. Scales the volume of every clip in the group, on top of the clip's and the track's own volume
Opacity	0–100 %. Scales the opacity of every clip in the group, on top of the clip's own opacity and its fades

The levels multiply: a clip at 80 % volume on a track at 50 % in a group at 50 % plays at 20 %. See Audio for the full chain of volume levels.

Groups have no keyframe curves of their own. To animate a whole group's opacity or volume, drive the group's value with a Data Track — pick the group in the ⚡ wizard and choose Opacity or Volume.

Duplicate a group

Right-click the header → Duplicate Group. The copy appears directly below the original, named ‹name› copy, with:

• every track and every clip on it,
• every Data Track with its curve,
• the group's own settings (colour, visibility, opacity, volume).

The rows inside keep their names. The copy gets a new ID of its own.

Delete or ungroup

There are two ways to get rid of a group, and they do very different things:

	Ungroup (keep the tracks)	Delete group
The group header	is removed	is removed
The tracks, clips and Data Tracks inside	stay, at the same place and in the same order, now at the top level	are deleted with the group
Asks for confirmation	No	Yes — the dialog names what goes with it, e.g. Everything in it is deleted too: 3 tracks, 1 clip.

• Ungroup: right-click the header → Ungroup (keep the tracks), or select the group (click its header) and press Ctrl + Shift + G. With a track inside a group selected, the shortcut dissolves that track's group. A toast says how many rows were kept.
• Delete: right-click the header → Delete group, then confirm with Delete group (or Enter). Changed your mind? The same dialog offers Ungroup instead, which removes only the header and keeps everything in it.

WARNING

Delete group deletes its contents too. If you only want to remove the grouping, use Ungroup (keep the tracks). The Delete key does not delete a selected group — it only acts on selected clips.

Tips

• One group per layer of the show — e.g. Wall, Floor, Sound. With the groups folded, the Timeline reads as an outline of the show; with Visibility you can switch a layer off during rehearsal.
• Fade a whole scene with the group's Opacity, instead of keyframing every clip.
• Turn down all sound of a scene with the group's Volume, without losing the mix between its tracks.
• Duplicate a group to build a variant of a scene and switch between the two with Visibility.