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Daniel_Peterson
Inspiring
October 4, 2024

MacOS command line Applescript `DoScriptFile` not working for Ae2024?

  • October 4, 2024
  • 6 replies
  • 1415 views

Posting this incase others are having similar issues or know solutions - I utilise MacOS Applescript in an Ae product (BlenderAe) from the command line https://ae-scripting.docsforadobe.dev/introduction/overview.html#running-scripts-from-the-command-line-a-batch-file-or-an-applescript-script and some users are reporting that it's not working with Ae2024 but works perfectly fine with Ae2023 on the same machine. In my own tests I was able to replicate the issue - DoScriptFile was indeed freezing up and not reaching Ae2024 until I added it to the 'Privacy & Security > Full Disk Access'. But this solution did NOT work for the users that reported the problem, and even re-installing After Effects 2024 hasn't helped them. I'm currently waiting for them to try `sudo tccutil reset All com.adobe.AfterEffects` from the terminal. I don't have the latest mac to test personally atm, so any other ideas on fixing this would be appreciated.

    6 replies

    JohnColombo17100380
    Community Manager
    JohnColombo17100380Community Manager
    Community Manager
    August 22, 2025

    @Daniel_Peterson Following up on this issue, have you had a chance to try this out in the latest versions of After Effects 25.4?

     

    Cheers,

    - John, After Effects Engineering Team 

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    Daniel_PetersonAuthor
    Inspiring
    November 26, 2024

    Thanks @JohnColombo17100380, I am using the Javascript method as the default in my scripts now with a fallback to Applescript and so far I have not had any bug reports about my scripts failing (only one, but it seems to be related to another system wide issue in general). Unfortunately I don't have a Mac that's compatible with 2025 atm, but hope to test again soon.

    JohnColombo17100380
    Community Manager
    JohnColombo17100380Community Manager
    Community Manager
    November 26, 2024

    Hi @Daniel_Peterson,

    Thanks for posting about this issue. I was pointed to this thread by @lasse_lauch who is experiencing this issue as well. I've moved it into our Bug reports section.

     

    I was able to reproduce the behavior you described in After Effects 2024, but it appears to be working as expected in version 2025, even without Full Disk Access. Would you both mind giving this a try in 2025 and let me know if you continue to experience the issue with DoScriptFile?

     

    Thanks for any further info you can provide,

    - John, After Effects Engineering Team 

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    Daniel_PetersonAuthor
    Inspiring
    October 28, 2024

    Short update that in some reported user cases installing the new Ae2025 reset / fixed the permissions issue, and also uninstalling old versions also seemed to change or modify the Ae permissions on MacOS.

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    davemyron
    Known Participant
    October 11, 2024

    (Copying my workaround from the other thread)

     

    @Daniel_Peterson the workaround I found is to use JavaScript as the osascript language instead of the default AppleScript:

     

    osascript -l JavaScript -e 'ae = Application("Adobe After Effects 2024"); ae.activate(); ae.doscriptfile("myscript.jsx");'
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      Daniel_PetersonAuthor
      Inspiring
      October 14, 2024

      Great! Thanks so much for sharing this.

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      Daniel_PetersonAuthor
      Inspiring
      October 7, 2024

      A user got back to me and said that using this did NOT work either

       

      sudo tccutil reset All com.adobe.AfterEffects

       

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