Feature Requests

In the same way that expression pickwhipping to a property will result in an expression like this: thisComp.layer("My Layer").transform.opacity I'd love to be able to drag the pickwhip onto a specific keyframe to get the following result: thisComp.layer("My Layer").transform.opacity.key(1)  

It would be a help to be able to tab through the list of items when creating/editing a Dropdown Control. Even better if pressing Tab when on the last item creates a new item below. And while I'm asking, a shortcut to delete an item would be handy (perhaps items with blank text are removed?).

I work a lot with digital signage in After Effects. Much of my workflow involves opening images or PDF files and manually copying text into my AE project. Recently, Apple introduced a feature that lets you drag text directly from screenshots — almost like moving Lego bricks — and drop it into apps like Notes or TextEdit. It’s way smarter than the usual select → copy → paste routine. You can even do it in Acrobat, although there you still need to manually select the text first. Now imagine if After Effects supported this kind of drag-and-drop text input. You could simply drag live text straight into existing text fields in your composition — making text updates fast, intuitive, and way more efficient.

I don't understand the default behavior of the paragraph alignment tool within After Effects when using point text. When changing from, left aligned, to centered aligned the text jumps halfway across the screen. Never once have I wanted this outcome. I'm not sure who this default behavior serves. If I've placed the text in the middle of the screen but realize after the fact that I have defaulted to left align., I just want the text to remain in place but change the alignment. The way it is currently I have to either manually realign the text in the middle or find the align panel etc.  This may seem like a small thing but this has probably happened 1000s of times over my carreer at this point and I have never once understood why this was the default behaivor. Seems like an easy win.  

Please modernize the Vegas plugin.It's essential for live unified strokes in 2D rigging workflows (RubberHose/Joysticks + Sliders, Duik Angela/etc). It's killing performance!

Folders and groups are the same concept—as the already existing "Pre-comp". The thought behind the "Pre-comp" is to “group” a set of layers. Rather than reinventing the wheel and making After Effects more complicated with added new features like groups and folders, we can improve the functionality of the "Pre-comp".Here is a demonstration of how that would work: https://vimeo.com/137312858Suggested Shortcuts:/ = Split Timeline to show pre-comp. Only works when comps are selected.

Macos has the best visual treatment, I think it's time for Windows to have a little love.Now that After Effects standardized the themes (dark/white) It would be great to replace the ugly old white menus and title bar in Windows with the current WinUI ones. This will allow them to be responsive to the system theme and add a nice blur effect as happens in MacOS.For example, this is what the menus look like in Paint., Winui allows each developer to define the size of the menus.  Thanks.

Dear Adobe After Effects Development Team,I would like to propose the inclusion of a small but highly useful feature in the Project Panel of After Effects—a Notepad-style section or "Link Organizer" for managing project-related references.Feature Idea:An integrated notepad or bookmark section within the Project Panel where users can:Add and organize important project notesStore hyperlinks (to reference folders, Google Drive files, scripts, or brief docs)Tag specific items (like footage instructions, version info, client feedback, etc.)Keep quick access to workflow essentials within the project file itselfWhy It’s Useful:Keeps key project references centralizedReduces switching between external apps (Notepad, Sticky Notes, etc.)Enhances team collaboration in shared project filesMakes handovers and revisions smoother and more traceable

Just like position, let us separate the tracks for X, Y and Z of the Anchor Point.

Sometimes (most of the time...), we want to integrate the reference frames in the generated fill.In the current generated fills, reference frames are skipped over, which makes it necessary to keep all reference frames as well, after generating the fill. Please let the user chose whether or not to integrate the reference frames in the fill.

Importing image sequences could be improved by allowing the option to choose a frame rate to be interpreted at. When working in projects that require mixed rates (e.g. if adding cel animation to live action and the cel is animated on 2s) having image sequences import at the standard rate Hernán Lindenbaum suggested having a frame rate box next to the checkbox for marking as an image sequence in the import dialog - this could show the project / system default value but be able to be overwritten at this point. This seems like the best place for it, as it would be accessible and visible in a logical place. The big time saving would be in not having to manually update the interpretation of the sequence, as well as changing the length of comps that were created at the same time. This would be especially useful on when importing multipass EXR sequences with Create Composition turned on - this is a really useful feature that can create comps for all the passes, as well as a con

Often while writing an expression, I'll need to refer to a property that isn't currently visible. In this case, I have to leave the expression editor to twirl down properties, and then have to open the expression editor again and find where I left off (and potentially have to resize the editor again).   It would be helpful, while the expression editor is active, to be able to hold down a key (eg. Alt), allowing the user to interact with other parts of the UI without closing the editor.

when I'm reviewing media in project panel i hope i can enlarge the thumb icon, i know i can double click to preview the footage, but sometimes we need to scroll through stuff rapidly, and need to know which is which

Typography is an important part of many animations. With the great amount of options designers have with OpenType-Fonts every aspect of a font should be accessible in a modern animation software.Please add all OpenType-Options as seen in the Photoshop Character Panel to be natively accessible in After Effects.

It is past due, for AE to have its own internally integrated physics engine, which can be much more powerful and integral to the workflow, than any 3rd party solution can offer.

The title says it all. Auto-save should function in the background and NOT pop up with an annoying progress bar every time it runs. Gets REALLY bad on large project files when auto-saves take up to a min every single time.Total workflow killer. Should be just like taking snapshots of your project in the background while continue working.The dialog even pops up and steals focus from another app you're in.

I get that 20 years ago hard drives weren't the quickest and there was a limited choice in codecs so it made sense to playback from RAM. But now we all have SSDs and DNxHR exists I don't get why AE has not been re-written to playback straight from a hard drive rather than moving it into RAM first. It would be great for AE to playback from disk with a choice of codec and bit depth dependent on a users needs and system capability, much in the way that Resolve does with smart cache (see pic). Uncompressed I gather would be a strain on most systems but this is overkill anyway, certainly for playback - I challenge anyone to point out any differences between uncompressed and DNxHR HQ and if people wanted to keep working uncompressed then the option could always be there to playback from RAM but for me and I would assume many others 10bit DNx would be fine. This will mean longer timelines and smoother playback as AE isn't having to move disk cache to RAM for stuff further up the timeline when

Thumbnail preview on the project list should offer different size options! the current size is too small for quickly previewing images and footage. This feedback comes from someone who has been using After Effects for almost 16 years! Thanks.

When a layer is already selected, it's easy to navigate the layer stack with Cmd-Up or Cmd-Down (or Ctrl-Up/Down on Windows).   However, when no layers are selected, those keyboard shortcuts have no effect, and the user has to switch over to the mouse to select one or more layers before being able to return to navigating via shortcuts.   It would he helpful if, when no layers are selected, Cmd-Up selected the top-most layer and Cmd-Down selected the bottom-most layer.

I would like the option to vertically align text within a text box. Currently you can only do horizontal alignment. This is a feature in numerous other design programs and web apps. Cavalry has this feature  for example(image attached), and you can also vertically align in Premiere Pro. Why is this important? If I am setting up templates or Mogrts that have text boxes where the text needs to be centered on screen, if the text drops down another line then it throws the vertical alignment off. The anchor point does not stay centered. Follow up request. Allow text to scale down to fit inside a text box. So if the content exceeds the space allowed, rather than clip off text it dynamically reduces the font size of the text. Again, other design software have this feature.

Many keyboard shortcuts cannot be modified and that 100% should not be the case. Take U for example.U key is often used. It shows/hides properties with keyframes. But is incoviniently placed in the middle of the keyboard. I would want it the swap with E for a much better workflow. But I cannot. Because when I try, it says: This key may not be reassigned. Just like for many other "root" keys Please, make it so this is not the case anymore.

I would like to report a long-standing issue (or design inconsistency) that causes frequent workflow disruptions in multi-project environments:Currently, After Effects globally remembers the last used path for Save As…, Export, and Render Queue output, regardless of which project is currently open. This results in the file dialog always opening in the last used folder – even if it belongs to a completely different project.This behavior:Increases the risk of saving files to the wrong directoryLeads to overwritten assets or misplaced rendersBreaks structured workflows, especially in client projects or team-based production pipelinesIs inconsistent with user expectations in project-centric workflowsProposed improvement:Please implement an option to make file dialogs (Save, Export, Render Queue Output Module) respect the current project’s location as the default directory – or store the last used path per project, not globally.This would bring After Effects in line with industry-standard b

Dear Community,Dear After Effects Team @Adobe Why is there still no way to group layers without pre-composing within a single composition?I imagine it to function just like groups in Photoshop, where you expand a group to reveal all layers within. This will open up entirely new workflows. I came across a plugin created by Petter Bergmar called "FoldLayers": https://vimeo.com/121569449Is it really this complicated to natively implement such a functionality into After Effects? Can wait to receive aducated reponses.Kind regards

I’d like to request the addition of a default arrow shape as a built-in option in the Shape Tool menu (alongside rectangle, ellipse, polygon, and star). Arrows are one of the most commonly used graphic elements in motion design, UI animations, infographics, tutorials, and explainer videos. Why this matters: Currently, creating an arrow requires either manually drawing it using the pen tool, combining shapes, or importing from Illustrator. This adds unnecessary steps to a very frequent workflow. A default arrow would save time and streamline projects that rely on directional graphics or flow-based visuals. The feature could be enhanced with simple customization options such as: Head type (triangle, barbed, hollow, etc.) Tail style (line, dashed, none) Line thickness, arrowhead size, and direction Symmetry or custom proportions This small addition would improve efficiency and usability for many users across various industries. It would also align After Effects

I use Substance Designer to create luma mattes for complex video transitions. Currently the workflow is to bring an SBSAR into Substance Player and export an image sequence. Then I have to retime it in AE which can be a bit cumbersome.It would be great to have SBSAR integration in AE similar to the integration in Photoshop Beta. But it would be nice to also keyframe exposed parameters in AE as well.