40 Best Shortcuts to Boost Your Efficiency in After Effects

After Effects is a powerful tool for motion graphics and visual effects, but it can also be overwhelming. With so many features and functions, it’s easy to get lost in the software. However, there is a way to streamline your workflow and work more efficiently – by using keyboard shortcuts.

In this article, I will cover 40 most essential After Effects shortcuts in 2023, helping you to work faster and smarter. I will also reveal some secret  shortcuts I used that you haven’t seen anywhere else. Whether you are a beginner or an experienced user, these shortcuts will help you to save time and focus on the creative aspects of your projects.

Below I have organized by category some of the best After Effects shortcuts for both Mac and Windows so it is easy for you to browse and find the shortcuts you need.

1. Keyframe Shortcuts
2. Interface Shortcuts
3. Audio Shortcuts
4. Rendering Shortcuts
5. Timeline Shortcuts
6. Layer Shortcuts
7. Shortcuts Resources & References

A. KEYFRAME SHORTCUTS

1. Create Keyframe

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), see demo below.

	Option + A, P, S, R, T
	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.

2. Easy Ease Keyframe Shortcut

Easy ease is a keyframe interpolation option in Adobe After Effects that helps to smooth out the animation between two keyframes. It’s a shortcut that can be applied by selecting the keyframe(s), right-clicking, and choosing the “Keyframe Assistant” > “Easy Ease” option.
Alternatively, you can use the keyboard shortcut “F9” to apply easy ease to selected keyframes.

F9   F9

3. Easy Ease In Keyframe Shortcut

“Easy ease In” shortcut allows to start the animation fast then slow down toward the end.

Shift + F9  Shift + F9

4. Easy Ease Out Keyframe Shortcut

“Easy ease out” shortcut start the animation slow then go fast toward the end.

Command+Shift+F9   CTRL + Shift + F9

5. Reveal Keyframes on a layer

To check where your keyframes are on the timeline, select your layer and hit U

	U
	U

6. Reveal Keyframes expression on a layer

This shortcut displays all properties of active or modified keyframes, including any expressions, quickly.

	UU
	UU

7. Go to Next or Previous Keyframe

Go to the Previous Keyframe   J     J

Go to the Next Keyframe   K    K

Want to learn more on keyframe feel free to check this After Effects keyframes tutorial

B. INTERFACE SHORTCUT

8. Switch Resolution

Effortlessly adjust your composition resolution with ease using the shortcuts mentioned below, instead of struggling with a full resolution view that may overload your computer.

	Full: Cmd + J Half: Cmd + Shift + J Quarter: Cmd + Opt + Shift + J
	Full: CTRL + J Half: CTRL + Shift + J Quarter: CTRL+ Alt + Shift + J

9. Swap replace Layer

Replace layers in your After Effects timeline by selecting a layer in the timeline, holding down the ALT key, choosing a new layer from the project panel, and then dropping it onto the old layer. See Demo Below

10. Switch from Time to Frame count

To quickly change the time to frame count in After Effects, move your cursor to the preview time box, Hold CTRL + Mouse Click.
This shortcut will also swap the time on your timeline to frame or regular time.

11. Switch from Fill to Gradient

To swap from fill color to gradient HOLD Alt + Click on the fill color box demo below:

12. Maximize Windows Panel

Maximize any window in After Effects to fill the entire screen by hovering over it and pressing the “~” Tilde key on your keyboard. See demo below. This option allow you to focus on specific area of After Effects.

	~
	~

13. Show Ruler and Guide

If you want to be very accurate in After Effects the ruler and guides should be your best friend, to turn them ON and OFF simply press CTRL + R then you can drag your guides on your scene. See demo below.

	CMD + R
	CTRL + R

14. Shortcut Editor

The Adobe team have created a nice visual keyboard shortcut editor to show your where all the shortcuts are located.
On the shortcut editor you can also create you own shortcut.
To access the shortcut editor use this shortcut below:

	Command + Option + ‘
	CTRL + Alt + ‘

C. Audio Shortcuts

15. Waveform Shortcut

To quickly access your audio layer waveform select your layer on your timeline and press on your keyboard LL

	LL
	LL

D. Rendering Shortcuts

16. Add to Render Queue Shortcut

To add your active composition or your selected composition to render queue use this shortcut below.

	Command+Shift+/
	Ctrl+Shift+/

17. Render Single Frame Shortcut

This shortcut is awesome when you need to make a screenshot of your composition, it basically render one single frame in psd or any other format.

	Ctrl+Alt+S
	Command+Option+S

E. TIMELINE SHORTCUTS

18.  Graph Editor Shortcut

Easily access the crucial Graph Editor in After Effects to improve the smoothness of your animations by selecting a layer and pressing Shift + F3.

	Shift + F3
	Shift + F3

19. Blending mode Shortcuts

To browse the blending mode option quickly, select a layer and press Shift – or Shift +. This shortcuts is super handy when you want to try out and see how a blending mode look on your layer.

	Shift + or Shift –
	Shift + or Shift –

20. Reveal expression only

Sometime you only need to see which layer has an expression, this shortcut is perfect for this where it open and shows only the layer with expression on your timeline. Just quickly press EE

	EE
	EE

21. Timeline Zoom

To zoom IN your timeline and see more frames Press + the same way to see less frames zoom OUT and Press –

	+
	+

22. Turn ON the Hand Tool

Pressing H on your keyboard it will switch to the Hand Tool which will allow your to move up and down quickly on your timeline or move around your composition.

	H
	H

23. Go to Specific Time

To go a specific time or frame in your timeline press ALT+SHIFT+J, a pop up window should appear just enter the time you want to go to.

	Option + Shift + J
	ALT+SHIFT+J

24. 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  I   I

Go to the Layer End frame  O  O

25.Work Area Shortcut

If you want to quickly set your rendering work area this shortcut should be handy.

Start Work Area  B   B

End Work Area  N  N

26. Next Frame Shortcut

If you quickly want to jump to the next frame on your timeline use these AE shortcuts below

	Hold COMMAND + Right Arrow
	Hold Alt + Right Arrow

27. Previous Frame Shortcut

If you quickly want to jump to the previous frame on your timeline use these AE shortcuts below

	Hold COMMAND + Left Arrow
	Hold Alt + Left Arrow

F. LAYER SHORTCUTS

28. Layer Search

Very handy shortcut when you have thousands of layers it allow you to search for your layer, simply press CTRL + F and type the layer you are looking for.

	CMD + F
	CTRL + F

29. Delete all Effects on one Layer

This one is really neat it allows to remove all effects in one layers

	CTRL + SHIFT + E
	CMD + SHIFT + E

30. Create a Null Shortcut

Create a Null layer quickly by pressing CTRL+ALT+Shift+Y 

	CTRL+ALT+Shift+Y
	CMD + Option + Shift+ Y

31. Turn on Selection Tool

The V on your keyboard allow you to quickly change your cursor to the selection tool, it is super useful when you want to select a layer quickly and move the position around on your main scene.

	V
	V

32. Reveal Layer Properties

Reveal layer properties are shortcuts you will use the most in After Effects, here are keyboard 5 letters you need to remember P S R T

• • Press P: to show the layer Position properties
  • Press S: to show the layer Scale properties
  • Press R: to show the layer  Rotation properties
  • Press T: to show the layer Opacity properties

33. Trim Layer Shortcut

Trim layer at the beginning Option + [ Alt + [

Trim layer at the end Option + ] Alt + ]

34. 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  [  [

End Layer at the blue line indicator  ]  ]

35. 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 and combine layers in one single composition

	Command + Shift + C
	Ctrl+Shift+C

36. Show or Hide layer shortcut

Use this shortcut below to quickly turn ON or OFF a layer

To split a layer in After Effects use this shortcut below, this shortcut also works on audio layer and video layer.

	Command + Shift + D
	CTRL + Shift + D

38. 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   I    I

Go to the Layer End  O  O

39. Isolate Specific Properties

To solo specific properties so you don’t have to scroll up and down the timeline, just select each properties you want and then Press SS.

	SS
	SS

40. Reverse time Shortcut

Use this shortcut to play backward a layer or video by pressing CTRL + ALT + R

	CTRL + ALT + R
	CMD + ALT + R

E. SHORTCUT RESOURCES & REFERENCE

The other resources I recommend checking out is the complete list of After Effects shortcuts on Adobe website also review this handy After Effects keyboard shortcuts cheat sheet

Hope you were able to learn and find the After Effects shortcuts you need! Feel free to drop a comment below if you see anything you would like to add.