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.
Due to its extensive features and capabilities, Adobe After Effects tends to be more difficult to learn than other creative software. Still, with the listed Text, Masks, and Paint tools keyboard shortcuts shown below, you will be up and running with Adobe After Effects.
Text Keyboard Shortcuts
- New text layer Command + Option + Shift + T
- Align selected horizontal text left, center, or right Command + Shift + L, Command + Shift + C, or Command + Shift + R
- Align selected vertical text top, center, or bottom Command + Shift + L, Command + Shift + C, or Command + Shift + R
- Extend or reduce selection by one character to right or left in horizontal text Shift + Right Arrow or Shift + Left Arrow
- Extend or reduce selection by one word to right or left in horizontal text Command + Shift + Right Arrow or Command + Shift + Left Arrow
- Extend or reduce selection by one line up or down in horizontal text Shift + Up Arrow or Shift + Down Arrow
- Extend or reduce selection by one line to right or left in vertical text Shift + Right Arrow or Shift + Left Arrow
- Extend or reduce selection one word up or down in vertical text Command + Shift + Up Arrow or Command + Shift + Down Arrow
- Extend or reduce selection by one character up or down in vertical text Shift + Up Arrow or Shift + Down Arrow
- Select text from insertion point to beginning or end of line Shift + Home or Shift + End
- Move insertion point to beginning or end of line Home or End
- Select all text on a layer Double-click text layer
- Select text from insertion point to beginning or end of text frame Command + Shift + Home or Command + Shift + End
- To mouse-click point, select text from insertion point Shift-click
- In horizontal text, move insertion point one character left or right; one line up or down; one word left or right; or one paragraph up or down Left Arrow or Right Arrow; Up Arrow or Down Arrow; Command + Left Arrow or Command + Right Arrow; or Command + Up Arrow or Command + Down Arrow
- In vertical text, move insertion point one character up or down; one left or right; one word up or down; or one paragraph left or right Up Arrow or Down Arrow; Left Arrow or Right Arrow; Command + Up Arrow or Command + Down Arrow; or Command + Left Arrow or Command + Right Arrow
- Select word, line, paragraph, or entire text frame Double-click, triple-click, quadruple-click, or quintuple-click with the Type tool
- Turn All Caps on or off for selected text Command + Shift + K
- Turn Small Caps on or off for selected text Command + Option + Shift + K
- Turn Superscript on or off for selected text Command + Shift + = (equal sign)
- Turn Subscript on or off for selected text Command + Option + Shift + = (equal sign)
- Set horizontal scale to 100% for selected text Command + Shift + X
- Set vertical scale to 100% for selected text Command + Option + Shift + X
- Auto leading for selected text Command + Option + Shift + A
- Reset tracking to 0 for selected text Command + Shift + Control + Q
- Justify paragraph; left align last line Command + Shift + J
- Justify paragraph; right align last line Command + Option + Shift + J
- Justify paragraph; force last line Command + Shift + F
- Decrease or increase font size of selected text by 2 units Command + Shift + , (comma) or Command + Shift + . (period)
- Decrease or increase font size of selected text by 10 units Command + Option + Shift + , (comma) or Command + Option + Shift + . (period)
- Increase or decrease leading by 2 units Option + Down Arrow or Option + Up Arrow
- Increase or decrease leading by 10 units Command + Option + Down Arrow or Command + Option + Up Arrow
- Decrease or increase baseline shift by 2 units Option + Shift + Down Arrow or Option + Shift + Up Arrow
- Decrease or increase baseline shift by 10 units Command + Option + Shift + Down Arrow or Command + Option + Shift + Up Arrow
- Decrease or increase kerning or tracking 20 units (20/1000 ems) Option + Left Arrow or Option + Right Arrow
- Decrease or increase kerning or tracking 100 units (100/1000 ems) Command + Option + Left Arrow or Command + Option + Right Arrow
- Toggle paragraph composer Command + Option + Shift + T
Masks Keyboard Shortcuts
- New mask Command + Shift + N
- Select all points in a mask Option-click mask
- Select the next or previous mask Option + ` (accent grave) or Option + Shift + ` (accent grave)
- Enter free-transform mask editing mode Double-click the mask with the Selection tool or select the mask in the Timeline panel and press Command + T
- Exit free-transform mask editing mode Esc
- Scale around the center point in Free Transform mode Command-drag
- Move selected path points 1 pixel at the current magnification Arrow key
- Move selected path points 10 pixels at the current magnification Shift + Arrow key
- Toggle between smooth and corner points Command + Option-click vertex
- Redraw Bezier handles Command + Option-drag vertex
- Invert selected mask Command + Shift + I
- Open the Mask Feather dialog box for selected mask Command + Shift + F
- Open the Mask Shape dialog box for selected mask Command + Shift + M
- Subtract mode S
- Darken mode D
- Difference mode F
- Add mode S
- Intersect mode I
- None N
Paint Tools Keyboard Shortcuts
- Swap paint background color and foreground colors X
- Set paint foreground color to black and background color to white D
- Set foreground color to the color currently under any paint tool pointer Option-click
- Set foreground color to the average color of a 4-pixel x 4-pixel area under any paint tool pointer Command + Option-click
- Set brush size for a paint tool Command-drag
- Set brush hardness for a paint tool Command-drag, then release Command while dragging
- Join current paint stroke to the previous stroke Hold Shift while beginning the stroke
- Set starting sample point to point currently under Clone Stamp tool pointer Option-click
- Momentarily activate Eraser tool with Last Stroke Only option Command + Shift
- Show and move overlay (change Offset value of aligned Clone Stamp tool or change Source Position value of unaligned Clone Stamp tool) Option + Shift-drag with the Clone Stamp tool
- Activate a specific Clone Stamp tool preset 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 on the main keyboard
- Duplicate a Clone Stamp tool preset in Paint panel Option-click the button for the preset
- Set opacity for a paint tool Digit on numeric keypad (for example, 9=90%, 1=10%)*
- Set opacity for a paint tool to 100% . (decimal) on numeric keypad*
- Set flow for a paint tool Shift + a digit on the numeric keypad (for example, 9=90%, 1=10%)*
- Set flow for a paint tool to 100% Shift + . (decimal) on numeric keypad*
- Move earlier or later by number of frames specified for stroke Duration Command + Page Up or Command + Page Down (or 1 or 2 on the main keyboard)
Note: Some shortcuts are marked with an asterisk (*) to remind you to make sure that Num Lock is on when you use the numeric keypad.
