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BrianLevin
BrianLevin
Known Participant
Jan 16, 2026 8:07 PM UTC
Not Prioritized

Keystrokes are not registering consistently

After Effects version 25.6.0

MacOS 26.1

 

While using After Effects, and only After Effects, I find that every few keystrokes is ignored by the program. It happens everywhere, when renaming layers, when typing in timecode, when typing text into a text box.

 

Goes without saying the expected behavior is that... that doesn't happen.

 

Here's an example best I could show it with screencapturing software. You can see me start typing and I enabled keystrokes and you can see clearly that I typed several characters towards the end and it completely ignored those characters that I typed. This isn't unique to text boxes, it happens everywhere in the program. When typing in fonts, when renaming folders in the project panel, when typing in timecode, renaming layers in the timeline, you name it, this is happening all the time.

 

Video on Dropbox 

    11 replies

    RDCREATES
    Participant
    Oct 28, 2026 9:37 AM UTC

    I'm currently facing the same issue.
    After Effects 26.5, macOS 26.6.2.

    I was wondering if you've found a fix for this.

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    Nishu Kushwaha
    Community Manager
    Nishu KushwahaCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    Oct 28, 2026 4:26 PM UTC

    Hi, sorry you’re running into this too. Could you try After Effects in Safe Mode with third-party plug-ins disabled and let us know if the keystrokes register consistently there? Also, what Mac model and keyboard are you using, and what’s the exact AE build number? If Safe Mode helps, please share which third-party plug-ins you have installed.


    Thanks,

    Nishu

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    RDCREATES
    Participant
    Oct 28, 2026 4:55 PM UTC

    Hey!

    Using After Effects in Safe Mode helped. All of my key presses were registered correctly. My After Effects version is 26.5.0, build 89. I’m using a 2024 MacBook Pro with an M4 Max chip and the built-in keyboard.

    I have quite a few third-party plugins, so I’ve put together a list of all the ones I have installed.

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    nishu_kush
    nishu_kush
    Legend
    Jan 21, 2026 4:55 PM UTC

    Hi Brian,

     

    We're here to help. Can you try running After Effects in Safe Mode with third-party plug-ins disabled?

    Let me know how it goes.


    Thanks,
    Nishu

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    BrianLevin
    BrianLevinAuthor
    Known Participant
    Jan 21, 2026 6:42 PM UTC

    Unsurprisingly this definitely helped, I typed out a lengthy text box and I
    also was able to type into the names of folders, change layer names, and
    despite running in Safe Mode the VideoCopilot Console was still working and
    I called up several effects without issue.

    So yes, more than likely it's something with my plugins or third party
    effects. Is there a way I can generate a list of what I have and post it so
    we can try to figure out which one it is, or maybe there is info that Adobe
    is aware of certain effects causing certain issues?

    --
    * Brian Levin*
    Founder | Editor
    Personal info removed by Mod.

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    Community Expert
    RobShultzCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    Jan 17, 2026 1:13 AM UTC

    Have you tried a different keyboard?

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    BrianLevin
    BrianLevinAuthor
    Known Participant
    Jan 17, 2026 2:23 AM UTC

    I should note I can reproduce this on my laptop as well. The keyboard is a
    wired standard Mac keyboard, no adapters, directly wired. You can see the
    keystrokes being typed in my video and then simply being ignored inside of
    After Effects, and this problem is strictly isolated to After Effects, and
    especially to this version of it. It hasn’t been a problem in the past.

    * Brian Levin*
    Founder | Editor
    Personal info removed by Mod.

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