Duplicate Pre-Comp and Replace Keyboard Shortcut

Hi why are you AI? 

YES. I got so fed up I finally built (*ahem* stupid AI helped…) a script to automate this for myself. It duplicates the selected layers, “deemphasizes” the orignals (visibility and audio off, set to a guide layer, and sets the label color to None), duplicates the source precomps, and then replaces the duplicate layers. I run it from Kbar, but adding command-opt-shift-D from File>Scripts menu is a good idea!

Since this forum software is user-hostile and we can’t attach files, here’s a ~3 day WeTransfer link to my script and icon for Kbar: https://we.tl/t-zEgvSPpK3w

Anyone in the future after the 3 day link expires, just reply here and I’ll repost it. Maybe by then I’ll have a website again for this stuff.

That whole “version up a precomp” process is such a repetitive workflow pain. You’re right — it’s easy to forget the replace step, especially when juggling multiple versions or working fast. Having a native “Duplicate and Replace” or “Replace with New Copy” command would cut out half the clicks and reduce human error.

Your proposed shortcut —
Cmd + Alt + Shift + D → Duplicate precomp and replace layer with new copy —
is actually perfect. It mirrors AE’s existing logic and feels natural in the app.

And yeah, “True Comp Duplicator” should’ve been absorbed into AE years ago. It’s wild that we still rely on third-party scripts for something so fundamental to versioning and precomp management. Adobe already has the backend behavior — it’s just about wrapping it into an official, reliable, one-click action.

If this ever becomes an official feature, it could even have a few smart options like:

• “Duplicate & Replace” (your version)

• “Duplicate Linked” (still linked to original assets)

• “Duplicate All Nested Comps” (basically what True Comp Duplicator does)

You could even imagine a little “Version Up” button that auto-names the new precomp like CompName_v02 and replaces it right in the timeline. Simple, clean, fast.