Manage GameObjects in the Hierarchy window
Use the Hierarchy window to organize the GameObjects in your scenes and manage their parent-child relationships.
Read time 5 minutesLast updated 21 days ago
Use the Hierarchy window to arrange the GameObjects in your scenes, group them into parent-child hierarchies, and control their visibility in the view.
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Unity uses the concept of parent-child hierarchies, or parenting, to group GameObjects. Group GameObjects under a parent to keep the Hierarchy window organized and to move, rotate, and scale the whole group of GameObjects together. To learn more, refer to Parent-child relationships in the Hierarchy window.
Reorder GameObjects in the Hierarchy window
By default, the Hierarchy window lists GameObjects by order of creation, with the most recently created GameObjects at the bottom. You can reorder the GameObjects by dragging them up or down.
Use an existing GameObject as a parent
To make an existing GameObject the parent of another GameObject, drag the child onto the parent GameObject in the Hierarchy window.
To ungroup GameObjects, select the child GameObject and drag it to a different position in the Hierarchy window.
You can also paste a GameObject as a child of another GameObject.
Create an empty parent GameObject
Create a new GameObject in the Hierarchy window as the parent of existing GameObjects. An empty parent GameObject acts as a container for related GameObjects.
To create an empty parent GameObject:
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In the Hierarchy window, do one of the following:
- To create an empty parent for a single GameObject, right-click the GameObject to open the context menu.
- To create an empty parent for multiple GameObjects, select the GameObjects on the same level, then right-click to open the context menu.
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Select Create Empty Parent.
Tip
Press Ctrl+Shift+G (macOS: Cmd+Shift+G) to create an empty parent GameObject for the selected GameObject.
Paste a GameObject as a child
You can cut or copy a GameObject and paste it as a child of another GameObject.
To paste a GameObject as a child:
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In the Hierarchy window, right-click the GameObject, then select Cut or Copy.
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Right-click the intended parent GameObject, then do one of the following:
- Select Paste Special > Paste as Child (Keep Local Transform) to paste the GameObject as a child, but keep its local position, rotation, and scale relative to the parent. The GameObject might move in the scene, because it now inherits the parent's transform.
- Select Paste Special > Paste as Child (Keep World Transform) to paste the GameObject as a child, but keep its world position, rotation, and scale. Unity adjusts the local position, rotation, and scale relative to the parent so the GameObject stays in place in the scene.
Tip
You can also press Ctrl+Shift+V (macOS: Cmd+Shift+V) to paste a GameObject as a child with its local transform.
Organize GameObjects as siblings
Child GameObjects that share the same parent are siblings.
To organize siblings under their parent, do one of the following:
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Drag them in the Hierarchy window.
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Right-click a GameObject in the Hierarchy window to open its context menu, then either:
- Select Set as first sibling to move the GameObject to the top of its parent's list of siblings.
- Select Set as last sibling to move it to the bottom of the list.
These options aren't available for GameObjects that don't have a parent.
Set a default parent for new GameObjects
You can make any GameObject in the Hierarchy window the default parent of new GameObjects. When you create or drag a GameObject into the Scene view, it becomes a child of the default parent GameObject. The name of the default parent GameObject appears in bold in the Hierarchy window.
You can only set one default parent in each scene. If you set a GameObject as the default parent, and then you make a different GameObject in the same scene the default parent, only the second GameObject is the default parent.
If you have multiple scenes in the Hierarchy window and you set a default parent for each scene, when you drag a GameObject into the Scene view, Unity makes the default parent GameObject in the active scene the parent of the new GameObject.
To set a default parent GameObject:
- In the Hierarchy window, right-click the GameObject you want to set as the default parent.
- From the context menu, select Set as Default Parent.
Tip
You can set a keyboard shortcut for the default parent setting in the Shortcuts Manager. Assign a keyboard shortcut to Hierarchy View > Set as Default Parent. The shortcut sets a selected GameObject as the default parent, or removes default parent status from an existing default parent.
Remove a default parent
When you remove default parent status from a GameObject, its name is no longer in bold. If you don't set a new default parent, when you drag a GameObject into the Scene view, it appears at the top level in the Hierarchy window.
To remove default parent status from a GameObject:
- In the Hierarchy window, right-click the default parent GameObject. The default parent GameObject is the one whose name is in bold.
- From the context menu, select Clear Default Parent.
Expand or collapse nested GameObjects
In the Hierarchy window, you can expand or collapse the GameObjects nested under a parent GameObject to make large collections easier to navigate.
- To expand a parent, select the foldout arrow (►) to its left.
- To expand both the parent and any child that contains its own children, hold Alt (macOS: Option) and select the foldout arrow (►).
- To collapse all descendant GameObjects, select the down-facing foldout arrow (▼).
Set Scene visibility and pickability
If you have a scene with many GameObjects, it can be difficult to find and select specific GameObjects in the Scene view. To clear the Scene view without affecting the visibility or behavior of GameObjects at runtime, you can toggle the visibility and pickability of GameObjects from the Hierarchy window:
- To hide and show the GameObject, select Scene visibility (eye icon).
- To toggle the GameObject's pickability, select Scene picking (hand icon).
Note
If you select multiple GameObjects, press H to hide and show them, and L to toggle their pickability.
For more information, refer to Scene visibility and Scene picking.