Preferences

To open the Preferences dialog box, go to:

• Windows: Edit > Preferences > [category name]
  
• macOS: After Effects > Settings > [category name]

Use the following keyboard shortcuts to open the Preferences > General menu:

• Windows: Ctrl + Alt + ; (semicolon) 
• macOS: Command + Option + ; (semicolon)

Reset preferences

Restore the default Preference settings

To restore the default preference settings, press and hold the following keys while the application is starting.

• Windows: Ctrl + Alt + Shift
• macOS: Command + Option + Shift

Restore default Keyboard Shortcuts

To restore default keyboard shortcuts,

• Windows: Alt + Click
• macOS: Option + Click

Reset background preferences

To reset background preferences, follow these steps:

• macOS

• Windows

Reveal preferences

Preferences, including keyboard shortcuts and workspaces, are stored as files in the following locations:

• Windows: \Users\[user_name]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\After Effects\[version]
• macOS: /Users/[user_name]/Library/Preferences/Adobe/After Effects/[version]

To reveal the preferences in After Effects, go to:

• Windows: Edit > Preferences > General and select Reveal Preferences in the Explorer button
• macOS: After Effects > Settings > General and select Reveal Preferences in the Finder button

It is recommended that you do not modify the files in this directory manually; use the Preferences dialog box to modify the preferences. For information on modifying keyboard shortcuts, see Modify keyboard shortcuts and Workspaces and Panels for managing workspaces.

General preferences

Specifies the size of Bezier direction handles and vertices for masks and shapes, direction handles for motion paths, and other similar controls.

After Effects user interface tips.

Layers overview.

About precomposing and nesting.

About spatial and temporal keyframe interpolation.

Set After Effects to default to separated X, Y dimensions (for 2D layers) or separated X, Y, Z dimensions (for 3D layers) on position properties.

Designate the first vertex for a Bezier path.

Variable-width mask feather.

Automatically sets the Anchor Point in the center of newly created shapes. 

Preferences and composition settings that affect nested compositions.

Split a layer.

Choose a color picker.

About Dynamic Link and After Effect.

Enable or disable the playing of a sound when the last item in the render queue has been processed. 

Keyboard shortcuts

Enable notifications when you select certain parts of the UI, After Effects suggests new features, introduces you to changed functionality and offers tips to improve your workflow.

You can use this option to configure:

• On Footage Layer Opens: Select whether double-clicking a footage layer opens the Layer panel (default) or the source footage item.
• On Comp Layer Opens: Select whether double-clicking a pre-composition layer opens the source composition of the layer (default) or the Layer panel.
• Open Layer Panel when Double-clicking with Paint, Roto Brush, and Refine Edge Tools: If selected, double-clicking a precomposition layer when a Paint tool, Roto Brush, or Refine Edge tool is active opens the layer in the Layer panel. 

For more information, see Creating layers and Precomposing, nesting, and pre-rendering.    

Startup and Repair

Use Startup & Repair to quickly diagnose and troubleshoot issues with After Effects preferences without having to make changes in your set preferences or starting over from scratch. 

Startup Options

Select to display the Start screen when you launch After Effects.

Enables a System Compatibility Report that lists any compatibility issues and suggested fixes when you start After Effects.

Repair Options

There are two repair options that you can use to identify and resolve startup issues.

It temporarily restarts After Effects with default preferences. If restarting After Effects in Safe Mode resolves the issue, it indicates that your current preferences are corrupt and need to be reset or replaced or an installed plugin is unstable.

It empties all caches to clear up additional storage space and can resolve certain startup issues.

Reveal and Reset Preferences 

See Reveal Preferences

See Reset Preferences

Migrate Previous Version Preferences

After Effects prompts you to migrate settings from a previous version if it finds a preference folder from a previous version and no preference folder for the current version. This occurs when you start After Effects for the first time and when you delete the entire preferences folder.

Previews

Preview modes and Fast Previews preferences and also, see Fast Previews.

The GPU Information dialog box is available to check the texture memory for your GPU and to set the ray-tracing preference for the GPU if it is available. The Copy button is available to copy the general information at the top of the dialog box to the system clipboard.

This option allows you to configure Zoom Quality and Color Management Quality. See Viewer Quality preferences.

When you enable this feature, whenever you apply a motion blur or frame blending on a layer, it automatically gets enabled for the composition preview rendering as well.

Choose whether to play audio during previews when the frame rate is slower than realtime. When the frame rate is slower than realtime, audio will stutter to maintain sync.

You can set After Effects to render compositions automatically while idle after a set amount of time. See Preview and render with Multi-Frame Rendering.

Display

Motion paths

Composition thumbnail images

Preview video and audio

Improve performance

Change time-display units

Import

Create layers from footage items or change the layer source

Import a single still image or a still-image sequence

Footage that has changed is automatically reloaded when switching back from another application. By default, footage other than the image sequence is automatically reloaded. You can change this behavior by using the Auto Reload drop-down.

• All Footage Types: Includes even the image sequence footage.
• Non-sequence Footage: Includes footage other than the image sequence.
  
• Off: Turn off auto-reloading of footage.
  

Choose drop-frame or non-drop-frame timecode for Indeterminate Media NTSC, which applies to imports like still image sequences in which timecode values are not present or are unknown.

Alpha channel interpretation: premultiplied or straight

Import footage items by dragging

Output

Set the maximum number of still-image files in a folder. See Segment settings.

Set the maximum size for segments in megabytes. See Segment settings.

Name output files automatically

Audio is also rendered in segments, the length of which is set by the Audio Block Duration value.

Grids & Guides preferences

Grids

The Grids feature within the Grids & Guides preferences allows you to configure grid settings for precise alignment and positioning of elements in your composition.

• Color: Use the color picker or eyedropper to choose a color for the gridlines.
• Style: Choose whether you want the grid to appear as lines, dashed, or dotted lines.
• Gridline every: Set the spacing for the gridlines in pixels.
• Subdivisions: Define the number of subdivisions between each gridline.

Proportional Grid

The Proportional Grid allows you to align and position elements in your composition with greater precision. The Horizontal and Vertical values you set determine the number of divisions in the grid, which in turn affects the spacing and layout of the grid lines.

• Horizontal Values: Set the intervals at which horizontal grid lines appear, which will help you align elements along the width of your composition.
• Vertical Values: Set the intervals for vertical grid lines, which will help you position elements along the height of your composition.

Guides

The Guides feature allows you to create non-printing lines that help you align and position composition elements. It enables precise alignment of elements within your composition, allowing you to place and adjust them swiftly without needing constant measuring and realignment.

• Color: Use the color picker or eyedropper to choose a color for the guidelines.
• Style: Choose whether the guides appear as lines or dashed guidelines.

Safe Margins

The options in the Safe Margins section help you ensure that your content is properly positioned within the visible area of your composition and that it is displayed correctly across various screens. 

• Title Safe: Set the margin that indicates the area where essential text and graphics should be placed to prevent them from being cut off during cropping.
• Action Safe: Set the margin that indicates where important actions or elements should remain visible on various screens and formats.
• Center-Cut Action Safe: Specify a safe space that indicates the portion of the frame likely to be visible across different aspect ratios, especially when content is displayed on various screens.
• Center-Cut Title Safe: Specify a safe that indicates the area where important text and graphics should be placed to ensure they remain visible across various aspect ratios and formats.

Transparency settings

Adjusting the size and colors of the transparency grid behind your composition elements can enhance visibility by providing better contrast against various elements. This makes it easier to distinguish transparent areas from the rest of your design. Additionally, customizing the grid colors to match your personal preferences or project requirements can make your workspace more comfortable and efficient.

• Grid size: Set the grid size and specify the dimensions of the individual squares that make up the transparency grid. 
• Grid colors: Specify the colors used for the checkerboard pattern of the transparency grid. By default, After Effects uses a light gray and white pattern, but you can customize these colors to suit your needs.
  

Learn more about working with safe zones, grids, guides, and rulers.

Labels

You can use labels (colored boxes in the Label column) in the Project and Timeline panel to organize and manage compositions, footage items, layers, and keyframes. By default, different label colors indicate different kinds of footage items, but you can assign label colors to indicate whatever categories you choose.

While assigning label colors to categories, you can also use the label color menu swatches to quickly identify the color you'd like to set your project items, keyframes, layers, or composition marker labels.

Tips for using labels during your workflow

• To change the color of a label for one layer, select the label in the Timeline panel and choose a color.
  
• To select all layers with the same label color, select a layer with that label color and choose Edit > Label > Select Label Group.
• To change the color of a label for all layers with that label color, select one of the layers belonging to the label group, choose Edit > Label > Select Label Group, and choose Edit > Label > [color name].
• To change the default associations of label colors with source types, choose Edit > Preferences > Labels (Windows) or After Effects > Settings > Labels (macOS).
  
• To disable the use of a layer’s label color for layer handles and motion paths, choose Edit > Preferences > Appearance (Windows) or After Effects > Settings > Appearance (macOS), and deselect Use Label Colors For Layer Handles And Paths.
• To disable the use of a layer, footage item, or composition’s label color in the tabs of corresponding panels, choose Edit > Preferences > Appearance (Windows) or After Effects > Settings > Appearance (macOS), and deselect Use Label Colors For Related Tabs.
• To set or change the keyframe colors, select the keyframe > Edit > Label > Choose the colors from the list, or in the Timeline panel, right-click the keyframe > Label > Choose the colors from the list. (See Keyframe Color Labels.)
  
• To select keyframes with the same label group, select the keyframe > Edit > Select Keyframe Label Group, or in the Timeline panel, right-click the keyframe > Select Keyframe Label Group.
  

Media & Disk Cache

Disk Cache is enabled by default. You can enable or disable disk caching and also select a folder to contain your cache. See Caches: RAM cache, disk cache, and media cache.

Caches: RAM cache, disk cache, and media cache

Choose folders or change the location of the media cache database or the media cache itself.

• Clean Database & Cache: Remove conformed and indexed files from the cache and remove their entries from the database. This command only removes files associated with footage items for which the source file is no longer available.

Writes an XMP ID to imported files that improve the sharing of media cache files and previews. See XMP metadata in After Effects.

When you create a layer based on a footage item that contains XMP metadata, After Effects automatically converts XMP metadata to layer markers. See XMP metadata in After Effects.

Video Preview preferences

Toggle video preview with Mercury Transmit. Use the / on the numeric keypad to toggle this option. On macOS without a numeric keypad, use Control + Shift + / on the main keyboard.

Select this option to prevent sending video frames to the external monitor when After Effects is not the foreground application.

Select this option to send video frames to the external monitor when After Effects is rendering frames in the render queue.

See Preview on an external video monitor.

Appearance

Color labels for layers, compositions, and footage items

Color labels for layers, compositions, and footage items

Cycle through colors for mask paths

Use gradients in the user interface.

Brightens or darkens user interface (UI) colors.

Set the preference to darken or lighten the color of highlighted Interactive Controls or Focus Indicators in the app.

Set theme color for After Effects application that impacts the color of the background, text, icons, and standard controls. There are three themes to select from, each promoting readability and accessibility by utilizing high-contrast color combinations for text and background elements.

• Darkest: The color theme primarily uses the darkest tone and contrasting text and icon colors.
  
• Dark: The color theme primarily uses a dark gray tone and contrasting text and icon colors.
  
• Light: The color theme primarily uses the lightest gray tone and contrasting text and icon colors.
  

When you enable this feature, it turns on a lower-contrast variation of the themes, which reduces the contrast of elements such as buttons, icons, menus, and text.

New Project

You can create a template with your preferred project settings, such as color management and folder structure, and use it as a foundation for every new project you create. 

If enabled and a template project chosen, the New Project command allows you to open a project based on a template. The template project can be an After Effects template project file (.aet), an After Effects project file (.aep), or an After Effects XML project file (.aepx).  

For more information, see Save and backup projects in After Effects.

Auto-Save

Use the Auto-Save feature in After Effects to automatically save a copy of your project while you work. You can set the frequency of how often After Effects saves your work and also the number of copies of the project it saves.

Specify a time in minutes to set intervals after which the project gets automatically saved.

Once enabled, After Effects automatically saves the project when you start the render queue.  

Specify how many versions of each project file you want to save. For example, if you type 5, After Effects saves five versions of each project you open.

Once Auto-Save is enabled and configured, After Effects creates a folder named Adobe After Effects Auto-Save in the same directory as your project file or a folder as specified in Custom Location.

To view and return to a previously saved version of your project, select File > Open in After Effect > Saved Version.

For more information, see Save and back up projects in After Effects.

Memory & Performance

Set memory preferences and specify how After Effects allocates and uses memory and CPUs.

Increase or decrease the value to specify how much available RAM After Effects can use and how much for applications you're running in the background.

Displays how much RAM is available for After Effects and other Creative Cloud apps.

Launches the Memory Details dialog and displays all memory-related details.

Multi-Frame Rendering allows After Effects to render multiple frames at the same time during Preview and Render Queue Export. This setting also applies when After Effects compositions are rendered from Media Encoder and Premiere Pro.

Choose to limit how much CPU power to reserve so that other applications other than After Effects can still be used.

Audio Hardware and Audio Output Mapping

Choose the driver for the sound card you want to use.

Choose a default audio output.

Specify the lowest setting possible without audio dropouts. The ideal setting depends on the speed of your system, so some experimentation is necessary.

Choose a Sample Rate for the audio hardware. For common rates for different output mediums, see Understanding sample rate in Adobe Audition Help.

For more information, see Audio Hardware Preferences.

Type

Set preferences for the font size or the number of recent fonts for After Effects to display.

• Preview Size: Change the size of the font preview.
• Number of Recent Fonts to Display: Change the number of recent fonts to display at the top of the menu.

For more information, see Formatting characters and the Character panel.

Scripting & Expressions

By default, scripts are not allowed to write files or send or receive communication over a network. Enable this option to allow scripts to write files and communicate over a network.

Enable this option to enable the JavaScript debugger to open automatically when After Effects encounters a script error.

Enable After Effects to warn you when you use the Run Script File option under the File menu to run a script file.

Enable a modal progress dialog that has a progress bar with the current elapsed time since the start of script execution. 

This once enabled determines the format of expressions created by the pick whip.

When an expression fails to evaluate, expression errors appear in a warning banner at the bottom of the Composition and Layer panels. When this option is disabled, the warning banner remains hidden even when new expression errors occur.

For detailed information, see Expression errors.

Set preferences for the Expression Editor field in the Timeline panel by enabling or disabling the following:

Set different colors for the background and different elements within the expression editor field.

3D

Set preferences to use the keyboard and mouse for easy navigation while working on 3D elements.

• Use 1/2/3 for navigation and 4/5/6 for transform gizmos: Marker commands will be deactivated when this option is enabled.
• Activate Option - Left / Middle / Right mouse click for camera navigation: The temporary wireframe mode will be deactivated when this option is enabled.
  

Select between None, Indicator, and Directional indicator.

Set preferences on how the dolly should behave during mouse scroll and also the drag direction.

• Mouse Scroll Wheel Behavior: Select between Magnify composition, Dolly camera, and Reverse dolly camera.
• Drag Direction: Select between Normal and Reverse.

Deletes all files from this folder except for any cached files in use by the current project.

Notifications

Enable automatic notifications when you add a composition to the Render Queue. These notifications will be sent to Creative Cloud desktop and mobile apps.

Related resources

• Workspaces, panels, and viewers
• Memory and storage
  
• 3D animation settings

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