Folders allow you to quickly and easily organize your content into more manageable chunks or sections – much like you would find in PS or Illustrator. Additionally, folders make it much easier to target a collection of objects with an interaction. Below we will explore how to set up a new folder and how Folders differ from Groups.
Creating a new folder
To create a new folder in the Studio:
Click the New Folder icon at the bottom of the Layers panel
This will create an empty folder which you can then populate with objects from your canvas. Additionally, you can select several objects on your canvas or in your Layers panel and then click the New Folder button to automatically place these assets into a new folder.
Note: Folders can be nested inside other folders to create an organized hierarchical structure.
What is the difference between a Folder and a Group?
There are a lot of similarities between folders and groups, both can be used to organize your layers panel, both can be nested, and both can be the target of an interaction. However, there are a few main differences between the two that we've outlined below:
Although animations can be added to folders in situations where ungrouped layers nested within do not have animations already applied to them, we recommend sticking to primarily applying animations to layers and groups to avoid potential issues with overlapping/conflicting animations. That being said, there may be cases where it can be efficient to apply animations to a folder of assets (eg. a folder of carousel images).
When you select a folder in the Layers panel, it will automatically select all of the objects contained within so you can quickly manipulate them on the canvas. When you select one of those objects on the canvas, however, it will only select that individual object. Contrarily, when you select any object on the canvas that exists inside a group it will automatically default to the group selection. Hold Cmd to select individual objects within a group more easily.
When you click on a folder and use the alignment tool, Studio will treat every object contained within that folder individually. When you select a group and use the alignment tool, Studio will treat the entire group container as one object.
When resizing a folder that contains text, all of the objects will resize except the text component. In this case, only the text container will resize, not the actual text. When you resize a group, all of the objects will resize including any text components within.
Note: If you are looking to optimize your content for screen readers, please see this article on Creating Accessible Content in Ceros for more detailed best practices on using folders and groups.