Adobe After Effects is one of the best 2D/3D animation and video editing software on the market! After Effects is commonly used for motion graphics, visual effects, and compositing. If you begin with Adobe After Effects, you might want to know some useful keyboard shortcuts for navigating around your project and performing common tasks faster.
Level up your video editing skills using these best keyboard shortcuts on Adobe After Effects!
If you want to speed up your video editing on Adobe After Effects, you should familiarize yourself with the keyboard shortcuts. Keyboard shortcuts are more efficient than using a mouse/trackpad to select menu items visually.
A keyboard shortcut is a combination of one or more key presses, which instructs the computer to carry out a task. Quite often keyboard shortcuts have letters in common with the menu command they are associated with. For example, the letter P is used for both Play and Purge options, so it's not hard to remember that pressing Alt + P on your keyboard will play your project.
Use Code: BLOG10 At Checkout To Save 10% off our Online After Effects Courses
Act Quickly, This Discount Won’t Last Forever!
To use an After Effect keyboard, you simply have to press the particular key or combination of keys at one time. You can also import or export user-defined shortcuts (with .jsx files) for other Adobe applications, like Photoshop and Illustrator, into After Effects.
On the top menu, click on Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts to open the Adobe After Effect shortcuts dialog box. You can then browse through different menus and submenus to look for the exact shortcut you are looking for. If you are curious, you also have the option of clicking on each menu item to know what they do.
However, it is important to note that not all Adobe After Effect shortcuts are listed in this dialog box. There are some hidden shortcuts that you need to know and we will share some of them with you in this article!
Speed up your edit process with these After Effect keyboard shortcuts.
Both Windows and Mac OS support the use of After Effect keyboard shortcuts.
For Windows: Use Ctrl and Alt.
For Mac OS: Use Command and Option.
|
Windows |
Mac OS |
|
|
Open Preferences dialog box |
Ctrl + Alt + ; |
Command + Option + ; |
|
Restore default preferences settings |
Hold down Ctrl + Alt + Shift while starting After Effects |
Hold down Command + Option + Shift while starting After Effects |
|
Windows |
Mac OS |
|
|
Deselect |
F2 or Ctrl + Shift + A |
F2 or Command + Shift + A |
|
Move selection |
Ctrl + Alt + Down Arrow or Ctrl + Alt + Up Arrow |
Command + Option + Down Arrow or Command + Option +Up Arrow |
|
Move selection to bottom (back) or top (front) of stacking order |
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + Down Arrow or Ctr l+ Alt + Shift + Up Arrow |
Command + Option + Shift + Down Arrow Or Command + Option + Shift + Up Arrow |
|
Extend selection to next item |
Shift + Down Arrow |
Shift + Down Arrow |
|
Extend selection to the previous item |
Shift + Up Arrow |
Shift + Up Arrow |
|
Duplicate selection |
Ctrl + D |
Command + D |
|
Quit |
Ctrl + Q |
Command + Q |
|
Undo |
Ctrl + Z |
Command + Z |
|
Redo |
Ctrl + Shift + Z |
Command + Shift + Z |
|
Purge All Memory |
Ctrl + Alt + / (on numeric keypad) |
Command + Option + / (on numeric keypad) |
|
Interrupt running a script |
Esc |
Esc |
|
Windows |
Mac OS |
|
|
New project |
Ctrl + Alt + N |
Command + Option + N |
|
Open project |
Ctrl + O |
Command + O |
|
Open a most recent project |
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + P |
Command + Option + Shift + P |
|
New folder in Project panel |
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + N |
Command + Option + Shift + N |
|
Open Project Settings dialog box |
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + K |
Command + Option + Shift + K |
|
Find in Project panel |
Ctrl + F |
Command + F |
|
Windows |
Mac OS |
|
|
Cycle through tools |
Alt - click tool button in the Tools panel |
Option - click tool button in the Tools panel |
|
Activate Selection tool |
V |
V |
|
Activate Hand tool |
H |
H |
|
Temporarily activate Hand tool |
Hold down the spacebar or the middle mouse button |
Hold down the spacebar or the middle mouse button |
|
Activate Zoom In tool |
Z |
Z |
|
Activate Zoom Out tool |
Alt (when Zoom In tool is active) |
Option (when Zoom In tool is active) |
|
Activate Rotation tool |
W |
W |
|
Activate Roto Brush tool |
Alt + W |
Option + W |
|
Activate Refine Edge tool |
Alt + W |
Option + W |
|
Activate and cycle through Camera tools |
C |
C |
|
Activate Pan Behind tool |
Y |
Y |
|
Activate and cycle through Puppet tools |
Ctrl + P |
Command + P |
|
Activate and cycle through mask and shape tools |
Q |
Q |
|
Activate and cycle through Type tools |
Ctrl + T |
Command + T |
|
Activate and cycle between the Pen and Mask Feather tools |
G |
G |
|
Activate Selection tool when a pen tool is selected |
Ctrl |
Command |
|
Activate and cycle through Brush, Clone Stamp, and Eraser tools |
Ctrl + B |
Command + B |
|
Windows |
Mac OS |
|
|
Open / Close Project panel |
Ctrl + 0 |
Command + 0 |
|
Open / Close Render Queue panel |
Ctrl + Alt + 0 |
Command + Option + 0 |
|
Open / Close Tools panel |
Ctrl + 1 |
Command + 1 |
|
Open / Close Info panel |
Ctrl + 2 |
Command + 2 |
|
Open / Close Preview panel |
Ctrl + 3 |
Command + 3 |
|
Open / Close Audio panel |
Ctrl + 4 |
Command + 4 |
|
Open / Close Effects & Presets panel |
Ctrl + 5 |
Command + 5 |
|
Open / Close Character panel |
Ctrl + 6 |
Command + 6 |
|
Open / Close Paragraph panel |
Ctrl + 7 |
Command + 7 |
|
Open or close Paint panel |
Ctrl + 8 |
Command + 8 |
|
Open or close Brushes panel |
Ctrl + 9 |
Command + 9 |
|
Open or close Effect Controls panel for the selected layer |
F3 or Ctrl + Shift + T |
F3 or Command + Shift + T |
|
Open Flowchart panel for project flowchart |
Ctrl + F11 |
Command + F11 |
|
Close active viewer or panel |
Ctrl + W |
Command + W |
|
Windows |
Mac OS |
|
|
Import one file or image sequence |
Ctrl + I |
Command + I |
|
Import multiple files or image sequences |
Ctrl + Alt + I |
Command + Option + I |
|
Open movie in the panel |
Double-click the footage item in the Project panel |
Double-click the footage item in the Project panel |
|
Add selected items to the most recently activated composition |
Ctrl + / |
Command + / |
|
Replace selected source footage for selected layers with footage item selected in Project panel |
Ctrl + Alt + / |
Command + Option + / |
|
Replace source for a selected layer |
Alt - drag footage item from Project panel onto the selected layer |
Option - drag footage item from Project panel onto the selected layer |
|
Delete a footage item without a warning |
Ctrl + Backspace |
Command + Delete |
|
Open Interpret Footage dialog box for a selected footage item |
Ctrl + Alt + G |
Command + Option + G |
|
Remember footage interpretation |
Ctrl + Alt + C |
Command + Option + C |
|
Edit selected footage item in application with which it's associated (Edit Original) |
Ctrl + E |
Command + E |
|
Replace selected footage item |
Ctrl + H |
Command + H |
|
Reload selected footage items |
Ctrl + Alt + L |
Command + Option + L |
|
Set proxy for a selected footage item |
Ctrl + Alt + P |
Command + Option + P |
After Effects, users can change any keyboard shortcut to fit their workflow.
The Keyboard Shortcut Customization tool is available in Adobe After Effects and allows you to customize the keyboard shortcut for any command/ menu item. It makes customization easy compared to manually editing an XML file.
1- Open the Keyboard Shortcut Customization tool from Adobe After Effects by pressing Ctrl+Alt+' (Command+Option+’ for Mac OS). A dialog box will pop up showing a list of commands and corresponding keyboard shortcuts.
2- Save a new Keyboard Layout Preset
3- Choose either the whole application or specific panels that you want to edit the keyboard shortcut for
2- You can add, modify or remove any shortcut key for these commands. To add a new shortcut key, type the Command name and your desired keyboard shortcut in corresponding fields.
3- Once you've entered all the values, click on Save. To cancel the settings, click on Cancel.
Using customized shortcuts will help you save time and do the editing work easier. If you use shortcuts, you can finish your video editing task faster without moving your hands from the keyboard.
You'll also become more productive. Using shortcuts in Premiere Pro makes your workflow smoother and increases your editing performance.
Learning and using these keyboard shortcuts on Adobe After Effect will save you a lot of time in the long run. The more you use shortcuts, the faster you'll be able to work and perform tasks in Premiere Pro.
Now that you know some basic shortcuts with After Effect, let's take a look at some advanced features and actions you can do with this video editing software!