Adobe After Effects is one of the most popular visual effects software used by movie producers, advertisement agencies, media companies, and personal videographers for post-production visual and motion effects. Key features include motion graphics creation, text animation, visual effects, compositing, animation, 3D creation, and integration with other Adobe services and products. Adobe After Effects is commonly used to complete post-production videos for social media content, advertisements, title sequences, broadcast graphics, film, and other general video post-production.

Adobe After Effects, due to its extensive features and capabilities, tends to be more difficult to learn compared to other creative software. Still, with the listed previews and views keyboard shortcuts shown below, you will be up and running with Adobe After Effects in no time.

Previews Keyboard Shortcuts

• Start or stop the preview  Spacebar, 0 on the numeric keypad, Shift + 0 on the numeric keypad
• Reset preview settings to replicate RAM Preview and Standard Preview behaviors  Alt-click Reset in the Preview panel
• Preview only audio from the current time  . (decimal point) on numeric keypad*
• Preview only audio in the work area  Alt + . (decimal point) on numeric keypad*
• Manually preview (scrub) video  Drag or Alt-drag current-time indicator, depending on the Live Update setting.
• Manually preview (scrub) audio  Ctrl-drag current-time indicator
• Preview number of frames specified by Alternate Preview preference (defaults to 5)  Alt + 0 on numeric keypad*
• Toggle Mercury Transmit video preview  / (on numeric keypad)
• Take snapshot  Shift + F5, Shift + F6, Shift + F7, or Shift + F8
• Display snapshot in the active viewer  F5, F6, F7, or F8
• Purge snapshot  Ctrl + Shift + F5, Ctrl + Shift + F6, Ctrl + Shift + F7, or Ctrl + Shift + F8
• Fast Previews > Off  Ctrl + Alt + 1
• Fast Previews > Adaptive Resolution  Ctrl + Alt + 2
• Fast Previews > Draft  Ctrl + Alt + 3
• Fast Previews > Fast Draft  Ctrl + Alt + 4
• Fast Previews > Wireframe  Ctrl + Alt + 5

Note: Some shortcuts are marked with an asterisk (*) to remind you to ensure that Num Lock is on when using the numeric keypad.

Views Keyboard Shortcuts

• Turn display color management on or off for an active view  Shift + / (on numeric keypad)
• Show red, green, blue, or alpha channel as grayscale  Alt + 1, Alt + 2, Alt + 3, Alt + 4
• Show colorized red, green, or blue channel  Alt + Shift + 1, Alt + Shift + 2, Alt + Shift + 3
• Toggle showing straight RGB colour  Alt + Shift + 4
• Show the alpha boundary (outline between transparent and opaque regions) in the Layer panel  Alt + 5
• Show alpha overlay (colored overlay on transparent regions) in the Layer panel  Alt + 6
• Show Refine Edge X-ray  Alt + X
• Center composition in the panel  Double-click the Hand tool
• Zoom-in in Composition, Layer, or Footage panel . (period) on the main keyboard
• Zoom-out in Composition, Layer, or Footage panel  , (comma)
• Zoom to 100% in the Composition, Layer, or Footage panel  / (on main keyboard)
• Zoom to fit in Composition, Layer, or Footage panel  Shift + / (on main keyboard)
• Zoom up to 100% to fit in the Composition, Layer, or Footage panel  Alt + / (on main keyboard)
• Set resolution to Full, Half, or Custom in the Composition panel  Ctrl + J, Ctrl + Shift + J, Ctrl + Alt + J
• Open the View Options dialog box for the active Composition panel  Ctrl + Alt + U
• Zoom in time  = (equal sign) on the main keyboard
• Zoom out time - (hyphen) on the main keyboard
• Zoom in the Timeline panel to single-frame units (Press again to zoom out to show the entire composition duration.)  ; (semicolon)
• Zoom out in the Timeline panel to show the entire composition duration (Press again to zoom back into the duration specified by the Time Navigator.)  Shift + ; (semicolon)
• Prevent images from being rendered for previews in viewer panels  Caps Lock
• Show or hide safe zones  ' (apostrophe)
• Show or hide the grid Ctrl + ' (apostrophe)
• Show or hide the proportional grid  Alt + ' (apostrophe)
• Show or hide rulers  Ctrl + R
• Show or hide guides  Ctrl + ; (semicolon)
• Turn snapping to grid on or off  Ctrl + Shift + ' (apostrophe)
• Turn snapping to guides on or off  Ctrl + Shift + ; (semicolon)
• Lock or unlock guides  Ctrl + Alt + Shift + ; (semicolon)
• Show or hide layer controls (masks, motion paths, light and camera wireframes, effect control points, and layer handles)  Ctrl + Shift + H