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 Timeline Panel, Effect Controls Panel, Layer Properties keyboard shortcuts shown below, you will be up and running with Adobe After Effects in no time.

Showing Properties and Groups in the Timeline Panel Keyboard Shortcuts

Note:  This table contains double-letter shortcuts (for example, LL). To use these shortcuts, press the letters in quick succession.

•  Find in Timeline panel  Ctrl + F
• Toggle expansion of selected layers to show all properties  Ctrl + ` (accent grave)
• Toggle expansion of property group and all child property groups to show all properties  Ctrl-click the triangle to the left of the property group name
• Show only Anchor Point property (for lights and cameras, Point Of Interest)  A
• Show only Audio Levels property  L
• Show only Mask Feather property  F
• Show only Mask Path property  M
• Show only Mask Opacity property  TT
• Show only Opacity property (for lights, Intensity)  T
• Show only Position property  P
• Show only Rotation and Orientation properties  R
• Show only Scale property  S
• Show only Time Remap property   RR
• Show only instances of missing effects  FF
• Show only Effects property group  E
• Show only mask property groups  MM
• Show only Material Options property group  AA
• Show only expressions  EE
• Show properties with keyframes  U
• Show only modified properties UU
• Show only paint strokes, Roto Brush strokes, and Puppet pins  PP
• Show only audio waveform  LL
• Show only selected properties and groups  SS
• Hide property or group  Alt + Shift-click property or group name
• Add or remove property or group from set that is shown  Shift + property or group shortcut
• Add or remove keyframe at current time  Alt + Shift + property shortcut

Showing Properties in the Effect Controls Panel Keyboard Shortcuts

• Toggle expansion of selected effects to show all properties  Ctrl + ` (accent grave)
• Toggle expansion of property group and all child property groups to show all properties  Ctrl-click the triangle to the left of the property group name

Modifying Layer Properties Keyboard Shortcuts

• Modify property value by default increments  Drag property value
• Modify property value by 10x default increments  Shift-drag property value
• Modify property value by 1/10 default increments  Ctrl-drag property value
• Open Auto-Orientation dialog box for selected layers  Ctrl + Alt + O
• Open Opacity dialog box for selected layers  Ctrl + Shift + O
• Open Rotation dialog box for selected layers  Ctrl + Shift + R
• Open Position dialog box for selected layers  Ctrl + Shift + P
• Center-selected layers in view (modifies Position property to place anchor points of selected layers in center of current view)  Ctrl + Home
• Center anchor point in the visible content  Ctrl + Alt + Home
• Move selected layers 1 pixel at current magnification (Position)  Arrow key
• Move selected layers 10 pixels at current magnification (Position)  Shift + Arrow key
• Move selected layers 1 frame earlier or later  Alt + Page Up or Alt + Page Down
• Move selected layers 10 frames earlier or later  Alt + Shift + Page Up or Alt + Shift + Page Down
• Increase or decrease Rotation (Z Rotation) of selected layers by 1°  + (plus) or - (minus) on the numeric keypad
• Increase or decrease Rotation (Z Rotation) of selected layers by 10°    Shift + + (plus) or Shift + - (minus) on numeric keypad
• Increase or decrease Opacity (or Intensity for light layers) of selected layers by 1%     Ctrl + Alt + + (plus) or Ctrl + Alt + - (minus) on numeric keypad
• Increase or decrease Opacity (or Intensity for light layers) of selected layers by 10%   Ctrl + Alt + Shift + + (plus) or Ctrl + Alt + Shift + - (minus) on numeric keypad
• Increase Scale of selected layers by 1%]  Ctrl + + (plus) or Alt + + (plus) on the numeric keypad
• Decrease Scale of selected layers by 1%  Ctrl + - (minus) or Alt + - (minus) on numeric keypad
• Increase Scale of selected layers by 10%  Ctrl + Shift + + (plus) or Alt + Shift + + (plus) on the numeric keypad
• Decrease Scale of selected layers by 10%  Ctrl + Shift + - (minus) or Alt + Shift + - (minus) on numeric keypad
• Modify Rotation or Orientation in 45° increments  Shift-drag with the Rotation tool
• Modify Scale, constrained to footage frame aspect ratio  Shift-drag layer handle with the Selection tool
• Reset Rotation to 0°  Double-click the Rotation tool
• Reset Scale to 100%  Double-click the Selection tool
• Scale and reposition selected layers to fit composition  Ctrl + Alt + F
• Scale and reposition selected layers to fit composition width, preserving image aspect ratio for each layer  Ctrl + Alt + Shift + H
• Scale and reposition selected layers to fit composition height, preserving image aspect ratio for each layer  Ctrl + Alt + Shift + G