After Effects is a powerful video editing software used by motion graphics professionals and visual effects artists. To work efficiently, it’s essential to know the keyboard shortcuts that can speed up your workflow. In this article, we’ll provide you with advanced keyboard shortcuts in After Effects that can save you a lot of time.
As a experienced motion designer myself my objective here is to share with you the top After Effects shortcuts you need to speed up your motion graphic workflow, I will also visually show you what each shortcuts does with animated graphics so you don’t have to try or figure it out how the shortcuts works.
Alright it is time to give your mouse some rest let’s get started!
I have organized below some of the best After Effects shortcuts for mac and windows so it is easy for you to browse and find the shortcuts you need.
Just hit + to expand the tab and preview.
Here is a list of the best After Effects keyframe shortcuts every motion designer should know about.
Add Keyframe Shortcuts
Always clicking the stopwatch or the diamond icon every-time to add a keyframe can be annoying, luckily there are shortcuts to quickly add a keyframe for each property (Anchor point, position, scale, rotation, opacity).
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Option + A, P, S, R, T |
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Alt + Shift + A, P, S, R, T |
TIPS: With the keyframe shortcuts above you can also remove quickly remove a keyframe by doing re-pressing the same shortcuts.after effects split video shortcut
Easy Ease Keyframe Shortcut
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Easy Ease In Keyframe Shortcut
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Easy Ease Out Keyframe Shortcut
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Reveal Keyframes on a layer
To quickly check where you keyframe are on the timeline, simply hit U
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PRESS U |
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PRESS U |
Reveal Keyframes expression on a layer
To show only modified keyframe properties with expressions.
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PRESS UU |
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PRESS UU |
Go to Next or Previous Keyframe
Go to the Previous Keyframe
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Go to the Next Keyframe
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If you want to know more about keyframe in After Effects check out this tutorial
After Effects Shortcut Panel
The adobe team have created a nice visual keyboard shortcut editor to show your where all the shortcuts are located. to access the shortcut editor quickly try:
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Command + Option + ‘ |
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CTRL + Alt + ‘ |
After Effects Waveform Shortcut
Quickly access your audio layer waveform by pressing on your keyboard LL
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PRESS LL |
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PRESS LL |
Add to Render Queue Shortcut
To add your active composition or your selected composition to render queue use this shortcut below
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Command+Shift+/ |
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Ctrl+Shift+/ |
Render Specific Frame Shortcut
This shortcut is awesome when you need to make a screenshot of your composition, it basically render one frame only in psd or any other format.
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Ctrl+Alt+S |
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Command+Option+S |
IN and OUT Layer Shortcut
This shortcut is very handy when you need to move your vertical line indicator to the first frame of your layer or at the last frame of the layer
Go to the Layer Start Frame
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Go to the Layer End frame
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Work Area Shortcut
If you want to quickly set your rendering work area this shortcut should be handy.
Start Work Area
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End Work Area
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Next Frame Shortcut
If you quickly want to jump to the next frame on your timeline use these AE shortcuts below
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Hold COMMAND + Right Arrow |
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Hold Alt + Right Arrow |
Previous Frame Shortcut
If you quickly want to jump to the previous frame on your timeline use these AE shortcuts below
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Hold COMMAND + Left Arrow |
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Hold Alt + Left Arrow |
Here are the top 10 After Effects Layers shortcuts I use the most on daily basis.
Reveal Properties of Selected Layers
Reveal layer properties are one of those shortcuts you will use the most in After Effects, here are keyboard 5 letters you need to remember P S R T
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- Press P: to reveal the layer Position
- Press S: to reveal the layer Scale
- Press R: to reveal the layer Rotation
- Press T: to reveal the layer Opacity
Reveal Keyframes on layer
Sometime you only need to know where you keyframes are on a layer,
Simply press U
Solo layer shortcut
Solo shortcuts allows you to focus on one layer and hide all other layer
Trim Layer Shortcut
Trim layer at the beginning
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Option + [ |
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Alt + [ |
Trim layer at the end
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Option + ] |
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Alt + ] |
Start and Stop Layers from the time indicator
Here is how to move selected layers so that their In point or Out point is at the current time
Start Layer at the blue line indicator
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Press [ |
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Press [ |
End Layer at the blue line indicator
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Press ] |
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Press ] |
Pre-compose Selected Layer
To insert your selected layer into a new composition use this quick shortcuts, also make sure you select whether you want your keyframe move inside the composition or stay outside.
This shortcut is also ideal when you want to group layers in one composition
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Command + Shift + C |
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Ctrl+Shift+C |
After Effects Marker Layer Shortcut
To quickly add a marker and a label color to your layer use this shortcut below.
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Option + * |
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Alt + * |
Show or Hide layer shortcut
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Command + Option + Shift + V |
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Ctrl+ Alt + Shift+ V |
Split Layer Shortcut
To split a layer in After Effects use this shortcut below, this shortcut also works on audio layer and video layer.
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Command + Shift + D |
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CTRL + Shift + D |
Start and End Layer Shortcut
This short is very handy when you need to move your time indicator (timeline vertical line) to the beginning on your layer or at the end, simply press I to move where you layer start and press O to move to the end of your layer
Go to the Layer Start
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Go to the Layer End
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Check out the complete list of keyboard After Effects shortcuts on Adobe website.
Beautifully designed and layered out After Effects keyboard shortcuts cheat sheet | from Makeawebsitehub.com
Below some really good After Effects Shortcuts Videos you should check to improve your skills even more.
Hope you were able to find the After Effects shortcuts you need, if not just send me a comment below, I’ll be happy to answer your questions.
Thanks!
Hi, I like to learn everyting over A-E shortcuts.
And animations like tearing and intros.