'save in subfolder' - how to turn off by default ?

Question

'save in subfolder' - how to turn off by default ?
Thank you for any help with this,
TB

Answer 1

It is really annoying when settings/features are added that just assume a specific work process - without an option to turn them off (or complicated work arounds).  And even more annoying when I am asked to submit a feature request after adobe randomly changes things.
This was not a random change. The ability to render image sequences into a sub-folder was a feature request that we have received many many times over the years. Many After Effects users, myself included, sometimes forget to manually create a folder for an image sequence with the result of hundreds or thousands of files exploding into the renders folder or your desktop or wherever the render was saved to.
We answered not only this common feature request but extended the functionality to all formats by the following:
Adding the Save in Subfolder control to create a folder for any output module
Adding support for creating and using folder paths in output file name templates (which naturally interacts with the Save in Subfolder control)
Adding a new output file name template that creates a folder, which is used by default for image sequences
All of these additions were vetted by actual After Effects users before we released the After Effects CC (12.2) update.
not sure why defaults have to be changed.
Perhaps I didn't answer your original question directly: there is not a simple option to stop Save in Subfolder from being enabled when you choose an image sequence format. This would be an additional control on top of the rest of this new functionality. It's not something we thought was necessary as part of the original design of these changes, but we could be convinced to add it in the future. So if you (or anyone else) would like to see this added, please submit a feature request.
The reason why you can get the result you want by changing default output file name template is because that is how the logic works in After Effects. Choosing an image sequence format triggers the use of the Comp Folder and Name template. Changing what that template contains will apply your new rules instead.
Regardless of the template, you can always change the output file path on a case-by-case basis by simply unchecking Save in Subfolder or by choosing a different output file name template.