The Class Viewer in Unreal Engine is used to:
- Examine a hierarchical list of classes that the Editor uses.
- Create and open Blueprints.
- Open associated C++ Header files and create new C++ classes based on a specific class.
Opening the Class Viewer
To open the Class Viewer, from Unreal Engine's main menu, go to Tools > Class Viewer.
Class Viewer Interface

The Class Viewer interface consists of the following areas:
Number | Name | Description |
---|---|---|
1 | Filters and Search bar | Use the Filters drop-down to restrict the classes that appear to one or more of the following:
Use the Search bar to find classes by name. |
2 | Settings button | Click this button to open the Settings menu, which you can use to:
|
3 | Classes view | Shows all classes that fit the criteria you selected. |
Working with Classes

If a class has children, click the drop-down arrow to the left of the class name (1) to show the children of that class.
Click the drop-down arrow to the right of a class name (2) or right-click the class name to open a context menu with the options below.
The actions you can perform on a class are different based on class type (Blueprint or C++).
Option | Blueprint Class | C++ Class |
---|---|---|
Create Blueprint | Creates a new Blueprint parented to the selected Blueprint. | Creates a new Blueprint parented to the selected Blueprint. |
Edit Blueprint | Opens the selected Blueprint in the Blueprint Editor. | N/A |
Find in Content Browser | Finds the Blueprint Actor in the Content Browser. | N/A |
Open Source Code | N/A | Opens the class header file in Visual Studio. |
Create New C++ Class | N/A | Opens the C++ Class Wizard to create a new class with the selected class as the Parent class. |
Dragging and Dropping Classes
Click and drag a Blueprint class from the Class Viewer into the viewport to add a new Blueprint Actor of that class to the currently open Level.
You can also drag any class from the Class Viewer to a combo box in the Details panel or World Settings window, if the class is a child of the class associated with the combo box. For example, you can drag any GameMode
child class into the GameMode Override combo box in World Settings.
When dragging classes into a combo box, note that:
- Classes that haven't been loaded will not appear in the combo box.
- Dropping a class into the combo box will force-load the class.
Using the Class Picker
You can switch the Class Viewer to Class Picker mode using only code. The Class Picker displays a list of available classes, such as for converting Static Meshes or selecting a parent for a new Blueprint.
Using the Class Picker requires knowledge of how to use C++ in Unreal Engine.
Configuring the Class Picker
FClassViewerInitializationOptions
, which is used for initializing a Class Picker, has the following options that control Class Picker behavior:
Option | Description |
---|---|
Mode |
This is set to You can change this to |
DisplayMode |
You can choose from the following options:
|
You can use the following filters to configure which classes show in the Class Picker:
Filter | Description |
---|---|
bIsActorsOnly |
Only shows classes that are children of AActor . |
bIsPlaceableOnly |
Only shows classes that are placeable in the Level. If this is true , bIsActorsOnly will also be assumed to be true . |
bIsBlueprintBaseOnly |
Only shows Blueprint base classes. This is useful if you only want to see lasses that Blueprints can be created from. |
bShowUnloadedBlueprints |
Shows unloaded Blueprints, despite their parents being filtered out due to custom filters. |
bShowNoneOption |
Shows a None option in Class Picker. Doesn't affect Class Viewer. When you pick an item, a NULL class is passed. |