Preferences

Preferences is where you set defaults, tune how alignment is calculated, and customize the panel’s appearance. You can open it from the panel’s flyout menu. Changes take effect after you click Save, which also reloads the main panel. Preferences has three tabs: Functionality, Appearance, and Information.

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Functionality

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Defaults

Sets what the panel starts with each time you open it:

• Align to: the default Align to target.
• Modifiers: which modifiers start active.
• Spacing Amount: the default value in the distribute spacing field, in pixels.

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Settings

Toggles that change how Align Pro calculates a layer’s bounds:

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Appearance

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Theme

System, Darkest, Dark, or Light. Darkest works on any After Effects version; the others require After Effects 25 or later and are unavailable below it.

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UI Layout

• Orientation: Default, Vertical, or Horizontal, to match how you’ve docked the panel. Choosing Vertical or Horizontal automatically turns off Labels and Show Menu, since there isn’t room for them.
• Elements: choose what appears in the panel:
  • Labels: the text headings above each section (Align Layers, Distribute Layers, and so on).
  • Show Menu: displays the Align to control as a dropdown menu instead of a row of icon buttons.
  • Align, Distribute, Spacing, Modifiers: show or hide each control section independently, so the panel only contains what you use.

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Color

Sets the accent color used for active/selected buttons. Choose a preset or enter a Custom hex value.

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Information

Shows the installed version and your license status.