diff --git a/tl/src/tl/subs.cljs b/tl/src/tl/subs.cljs
index e95dd9d..fd1a253 100644
--- a/tl/src/tl/subs.cljs
+++ b/tl/src/tl/subs.cljs
@@ -83,16 +83,18 @@
      (->> (:groups scene)
           (keep (fn [[gid g]]
                   (when (and (= :annotation (:type g)) (= ctx (:parent g)))
-                    (let [src-segs (scene/resolve scene gid)
+                    (let [src-segs (when-not (get-in g [:meta :hidden]) (scene/resolve scene gid))
                           bars     (scene/merge-bars
                                     (mapcat (fn [{[a b] :src}] (scene/pieces segs a b)) src-segs))
-                          reason   (scene/broken-reason scene gid)]
+                          reason   (scene/broken-reason scene gid)
+                          hidden   (get-in g [:meta :hidden])]
                       {:id gid :name (:name g) :color (or (:color g) "#4e8fc2")
                        :content (:content g) :children (count (:marks g))
                        :nested (get nested gid 0)
                        :draft (boolean (:draft g))
                        :script (:script g)            ; pdf highlights linked to this group
                        :broken (boolean reason) :reason reason
+                       :hidden (boolean hidden)
                        :start (or (ffirst bars) 0) :bars bars}))))
           (sort-by (juxt :broken :start))      ; broken annotations sink to the bottom
           vec))))
diff --git a/tl/src/tl/views.cljs b/tl/src/tl/views.cljs
index 88171ad..39eb4de 100644
--- a/tl/src/tl/views.cljs
+++ b/tl/src/tl/views.cljs
@@ -377,11 +377,12 @@
                (reset! scrolled-on-load? true)
                (scroll-to-seg-track! segs playhead))
              ;; clip-following: only while the playhead is actually inside a bar of
-             ;; an annotation that opts in (:meta :scroll-to) — scroll each of its
-             ;; clips into view as the playhead crosses onto a new bar (discontinuity).
+             ;; an annotation that opts in (:meta :scroll-to) and is not hidden —
+             ;; scroll each of its clips into view as the playhead crosses onto a new bar (discontinuity).
              ;; Track [ann-id bar-idx] to avoid scrolling within the same bar.
              (when-let [current-bar (some (fn [a]
-                                            (when (and (ann-scroll-to? (get-in scene [:groups (:id a)]))
+                                            (when (and (not (get-in (get-in scene [:groups (:id a)]) [:meta :hidden]))
+                                                       (ann-scroll-to? (get-in scene [:groups (:id a)]))
                                                        (some (fn [[lo hi]] (<= lo playhead hi)) (:bars a)))
                                               [(:id a) (first (keep-indexed (fn [j [lo hi]]
                                                                               (when (<= lo playhead hi) j))
@@ -414,7 +415,8 @@
            [:div.ann-lanes {:style {:height lane-h :width width}
                             :on-mouse-down #(scrub! @content fps zoom %)}
             ;; annotation bars — solid for saved, dashed for the in-progress draft
-            (for [[i a] (map-indexed vector anns)
+            ;; visible annotations: full bars with labels
+            (for [[i a] (map-indexed vector (filter (fn [a] (not (get-in (get-in scene [:groups (:id a)]) [:meta :hidden]))) anns))
                   [j [lo hi]] (map-indexed vector (:bars a))]
               ^{:key (str (:id a) "-" j)}
               [:div.ann-bar {:title (:name a)
@@ -430,10 +432,27 @@
                                      :cursor (if (:draft a) "default" "pointer")
                                      :border-radius 2
                                      :border (str (if (:draft a) "1px dashed " "1px solid ") (:color a))}}])
-            (for [[i a] (map-indexed vector anns) :let [[lo _] (first (:bars a))] :when lo]
+            ;; visible annotation labels
+            (for [[i a] (map-indexed vector (filter (fn [a] (not (get-in (get-in scene [:groups (:id a)]) [:meta :hidden]))) anns)) :let [[lo _] (first (:bars a))] :when lo]
               ^{:key (str "lbl-" (:id a))}
               [:div.ann-bar-label {:style {:top (* i 18)
-                                           :left (+ 4 (px lo fps zoom))}} (:name a)])]]]
+                                           :left (+ 4 (px lo fps zoom))}} (:name a)])
+            ;; hidden annotations: tiny colored dots with dither pattern — click to unhide
+            (for [[i a] (map-indexed vector (filter (fn [a] (get-in (get-in scene [:groups (:id a)]) [:meta :hidden])) anns)) :let [[lo _] (first (:bars a))] :when lo]
+              ^{:key (str "hidden-" (:id a))}
+              [:div.ann-hidden {:title (str (:name a) " (click to unhide)")
+                                :on-click #(do (.stopPropagation %)
+                                               (rf/dispatch [::events/put-group (:id a)
+                                                           (update (get-in scene [:groups (:id a)])
+                                                                   :meta dissoc :hidden)]))
+                                :style {:top (+ 6 (* i 18)) :height 6
+                                        :left (px lo fps zoom) :width 12
+                                        :background (str (:color a) "33")
+                                        :cursor "pointer"
+                                        :border-radius 1
+                                        :border (str "1px solid " (:color a) "88")
+                                        :background-image "url(\"data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' width='2' height='2'%3E%3Crect width='2' height='2' fill='%23ffffff'/%3E%3Crect width='1' height='1' fill='%23000000'/%3E%3Crect x='1' y='1' width='1' height='1' fill='%23000000'/%3E%3C/svg%3E\")"
+                                        :background-size "2px 2px"}}])]]]
          [:div.timeline-body-scroll {:ref (fn [n] (reset! body-scroll-el n))
                                      :style {:padding-top (+ lane-h 24)}}
           [:div.gutter-tracks
@@ -846,7 +865,11 @@
           [:label.form-check {:title "During playback, scroll each of this annotation's clips into view as the playhead reaches it"}
            [:input {:type "checkbox" :checked (boolean (get-in d [:meta :scroll-to]))
                     :on-change #(put (assoc-in d [:meta :scroll-to] (.. % -target -checked)))}]
-           [:span "Follow clips during playback"]]])
+           [:span "Follow clips during playback"]]
+          [:label.form-check {:title "Hide this annotation from the timeline lane (still usable in links)"}
+           [:input {:type "checkbox" :checked (boolean (get-in d [:meta :hidden]))
+                    :on-change #(put (assoc-in d [:meta :hidden] (.. % -target -checked)))}]
+           [:span "Hide from timeline"]]])
        [:div.form-marks-label "Content"]
        ^{:key gid} [content-editor gid (:content orig)]
        (if (and linking (= gid (:gid linking)))