Ditto says Open a comp or No comp
No active composition means a composition must be active in After Effects. Open it in a viewer, select its layers, then return to Ditto.
Ditto says No selection or Select 2+
With nothing selected, Ditto shows Select layers and the picker shows No source layer. Copy asks Select a source layer, then the layers to copy to; Link asks Select a source layer, then the layers to link.
Select the source, add destinations, and check the from chip. Select 2+ and Select the layers to copy to after the source mean Copy needs at least one destination. Link allows a single layer.
For Unlink, Select linked layers or a Ditto controller to unlink means the selection is empty. Select members or their controller first.
The wrong layer is the source
The chip is the source of truth. Ditto reads the first layer in the selection returned by After Effects. Deselect, select the intended source and then the other layers, return to Ditto, and check the chip again before acting.
If the summary looks stale, move the pointer out of Ditto and back in, or refocus the panel. Ditto also refreshes before every action.
Ditto says Pick first or Pick what to copy
No valid property is picked. The picker opens automatically after an action with nothing picked. Check an effect, parameter, transform property, or Layer Styles.
Pick what to use from the source first, Pick what to copy from [layer], and Pick what to link from [layer] describe the same missing choice. A source with no effects does not automatically select a transform property.
Ditto says Locked
The target layers are locked, The selected layers are locked, or Linked layers are locked means all relevant destinations or members are locked. Unlock the layers you want to change and retry.
When some layers can be changed, Ditto completes those and reports locked skipped. After a group unlink, locked members stay linked and keep the controller in use. Unlock them and unlink again.
Nothing was copied or a match is missing
Nothing copied with No target has [pick]; turn on Add Missing in settings means no destination has a matching effect or style. Enable Add Missing Effects, or add the matching instances yourself.
Nothing could be copied from [pick] means no picked property could be written. Expand the effect and check for disabled parameters. Ditto cannot script custom effect data. Transform properties can also be unavailable when source and destination dimensions differ.
A successful copy can still report missing or not scriptable. Those counts describe the skipped part of the operation. Review the result before retrying. An effect that cannot be added, including one unavailable in this After Effects installation, remains missing even with the setting on.
Repeated effects land in the wrong instance
Ditto matches type and occurrence, not the effect’s displayed name or overall stack position. Renaming two Glows does not change which one is first or second.
When a required instance is missing, Ditto adds only one effect for that operation. If the source’s second Glow is picked and the destination has no Glow, it receives one new Glow, not a pair. A later copy may then add another to reach the second occurrence. Set up the earlier instances on the destination before copying or linking repeated effects.
Copy did not change the visible value
Check for a destination expression. Copy leaves expressions in place, so an expression can override the value or keys it wrote. A still linked count specifically identifies destination properties that keep a Ditto link. Unlink those properties before making an independent copy.
For an animated destination, plain Copy writes at the playhead. Use Copy keys only when you want to replace its existing keys with the source’s animation.
Link says Not linked or skips properties
| Message | Cause and fix |
|---|---|
| [property] can’t be linked | Its type is unsupported, differs from the control, or cannot accept expressions. Match the layer dimensions, or use Copy if the property is scriptable. |
| [property] has its own expression | Ditto preserves non-Ditto expressions, including disabled expressions. Remove the expression manually only if you intend to replace it. |
| Missing on [layer] | The destination property is unavailable. Match its layer dimensions or effect structure to the source. |
| Expression error: [details] | After Effects rejected the new expression. Ditto restores the previous expression on that property. Check the named property and controller. |
| Nothing could be linked | None of the picked properties produced a working link. Review the picker and the constraints above. |
If only some links fail, Ditto keeps the working ones and reports the first skip reason. When none work, it removes the new controller. Missing effects or styles may already have been added; use Edit > Undo to reverse that action before trying a different setup.
My stagger affects the wrong value
The property beside Stagger is the one that gets the step. Click it to cycle to the intended property. Nothing linkable means the picks contain no numeric, point, or color property available for staggering.
Check the operation as well as the amount. Addition is off at 0; multiplication is off at 1. Changing the operation keeps the previous amount. Locked layers retain their positions in the sequence, so steps can have gaps.
Changing these fields affects the next Link action. It does not rewrite an existing group. See staggering linked properties.
Unlink says Not linked
Nothing in the selection is linked by Ditto means the selected layers have no Ditto expressions to release. Select linked members or use the group’s unlink icon. Selecting a controller releases its whole group.
Unlink froze my expression animation
Unlink restores keys only when it can find a matching controller control with keyframes. Otherwise it keeps one value at the current playhead. Animation produced only by a control expression is not sampled over time. Undo the unlink to recover the connection.
A controller stays after Unlink
It is still used by another member, or the controller itself is locked. Unlock linked members and finish unlinking them. If the controller is locked, unlock it and use its group unlink action again to remove it once unused.
Ditto says Gone or That Ditto controller is gone
A stored controller no longer exists. Move out of the panel and back in to refresh the group list. If the controller was deleted manually while members were linked, undo that deletion before unlinking.
Ditto shows Not ready, Not done, or an unexpected error
Not ready is shown when Ditto cannot inspect the selection. Not done is a fallback badge for an action error. Read the accompanying message, check the active composition and selection, and retry only after reviewing the result. If an action partly changed the comp before failing, use After Effects’ undo history first.