Explorer window

The Explorer window shows a hierarchical list of every instance inside an experience. At the highest level of the hierarchy are the services; Workspace, for example, is where visible 3D content such as parts are stored.

Parent-child hierarchy

All children of a parent object appear under its branch when expanded. Click the arrow next to a parent branch (or press →/← when a parent is selected) to expand/collapse only that branch.

To change the parent of one or more children (reparent), simply drag and drop them onto the new parent.

Object insertion

While primitive parts can be inserted from the Home or Model tabs, you can select from a full array of objects by hovering over the intended parent and clicking the ⊕ button (shortcut of CtrlI on Windows or ⌘I on macOS).

You can further customize insertion behavior by clicking the ⋯ button to the right of the search field:

Duplicate and paste

Objects can be quickly duplicated into the same branch, while items copied to the clipboard can be pasted into the top‑level Workspace or directly into one or more existing parents.

Folder organization

Like directories/folders on a computer, the Folder object is a useful way to organize objects. For instance, if you want to store all environmental audio assets in a logical place, you can create a folder and place multiple AudioPlayer objects within it.

You can organize objects into folders as follows:

• Create a Folder instance through a standard insertion method, then drag and drop existing objects into it.

• Select multiple objects, right-click them, and then select Group As a Folder from the context menu (shortcut of AltCtrlG on Windows or ⌥⌘G on macOS).

Search methods

Through the search input near the top of the window, you can find instances by name, property, class/subclass/tag bespoke queries, and ancestry queries. You can also combine parameters for advanced logical searches.

Navigate up and down through search results

Select all search results (CtrlA on Windows or ⌘A on macOS)

Refresh search results

Name search

Typing in a basic string yields name matched instances, case‑insensitive. For example, searching by the keyword script finds all instances containing it, such as ServerScriptService and LocalScript.

Property search

You can filter by property equality or value comparisons. Most properties are supported, it works with partial matches, ignores spacing, and is case‑insensitive.

Property equality is searched through the operators = or ==.

Bespoke search

Classes, and subclasses, and tags are searched through various bespoke queries, including:

• classname:[Class] and c:[Class] both find everything that is of class [Class]. For example, classname:Part finds everything that is a Part.
• is:[SubClass] finds everything that is a subclass of [SubClass]. For example, is:BasePart finds everything that is a subclass of BasePart, such as Part and MeshPart.
• tag:[TagName] finds everything with a CollectionService tag of [TagName]. For example, tag:LightSource finds everything that is tagged LightSource. You can add tags using the Tags section of an instance's properties, or Studio's Tag Editor, and tag names will autocomplete.

Ancestry search

You can search within a specific scope using the . operator, chain operators together for highly specific searches, or use * as a wildcard.

• [Parent].[Child] finds named children inside a named parent. For example, workspace.Model finds instances named Model inside instances named workspace, similar to scripting.

• Chaining . operators adds specificity. For instance, Animals.Dog.Tail finds objects named Tail inside Dog inside Animals.

• * acts as a wildcard, for instance:

  Example	Result
  Cart.*	All children of an object named Cart.
  Cart.Barrier.*	All children of Barrier, itself a child of Cart.
  Cart.*.*	All grandchildren of Cart, excluding direct children of Cart.
  Cart.*.Trim	All grandchildren of Cart that are named Trim.

• [Parent].** finds all descendants of a parent. For example, CarModel.** finds all descendants of CarModel.

Combined

For advanced logical searches, you can combine queries through unions and grouping.

• Multiple queries separated by spaces or and operate on all of the conditions.

  Example	Result
  Anchored=true CanCollide=true	Every BasePart that is anchored and can collide.
  Cart.*.* Transparency < 1	All grandchildren of Cart that are not fully transparent.
  Anchored=false and CanCollide=false	Every BasePart that isn't anchored and can't collide.

• The or conjunction operates just like the or operator in code. Groups within parentheses, conjoined by or, find everything within multiple combined queries.

  Example	Result
  Cat or Dog	Everything that has Cat or Dog in its name.
  (Anchored=true CanCollide=true) or (Anchored=false CanCollide=false)	Every BasePart that either is anchored and can collide, or isn't anchored and can't collide.

Selection methods

Within a searched hierarchy, certain key shortcuts and mouse operations behave differently than they do within a non‑searched hierarchy.

Select all

Within a non‑searched hierarchy, pressing CtrlA on Windows or ⌘A on macOS selects all instances. Within a searched hierarchy, the same shortcut or the select all button selects only the query‑matching objects.

Shift-select

Within a non-searched hierarchy, clicking an object and Shift-clicking another object selects every parent in the range. Within a searched hierarchy, if both the initially‑clicked object and the Shift‑clicked object match the query, only query‑matching objects between are selected.

Drag select

Clicking and dragging from the right side of the window initiates a selection box. Within a non‑searched hierarchy, everything inside the box is selected. Within a searched hierarchy, only query‑matching objects inside the box are selected.

Additional key shortcuts