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A
andreweugene
Participant
April 9, 2026

After Effects menu lags (still) when interacting v26.0

  • April 9, 2026
  • 1 reply
  • 22 views

Issue — After Effects menus and UI lag severely when the Tools panel is open.

Steps to reproduce

  1. Open After Effects with the Tools panel enabled (Window > Tools / Ctrl+1)
  2. Click any top menu (File, Edit, Composition, etc.)
  3. Observe lag/freeze when opening or navigating menus

Expected result — Menus open and respond instantly.

Actual result — Menus lag or freeze noticeably while the Tools panel is visible. Disabling the Tools panel via Window > Tools (Ctrl+1) resolves the issue.

Adobe After Effects version — 26.0, also happening in Beta 26.3 (Build 38)

Comparative information

  • Affects all projects
  • Issue does not exist in 25.6.4
  • Introduced sometime after 25.6.4

Operating system — Windows 11 Pro

GPU driver version — Version 595.79 Released Tue Mar 10, 2026

    1 reply

    Nishu Kushwaha
    Community Manager
    Nishu KushwahaCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    April 9, 2026

    Thanks for reaching out, and sorry to hear about the issue.

     

    To help narrow it down a bit, could you check:

    • Does the lag happen in a new blank project as well?

    • Does disabling Preferences > Appearance > Hardware Accelerate Composition/Layer Panels make any difference?

    • If you switch to Mercury Software Only, does the UI feel more responsive?

    Also, let me know the rest of the system specifications (CPU, GPU, RAM) and a screen recording of the issue.

     

    Thanks,

    Nishu

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