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_Clint_Hayes_
Participating Frequently
Sep 11, 2008 1:31 AM UTC
Answered

Can't select keyframes

I noticed someone else had a very similar problem back in February, but had just upgraded to CS3 and opened a 6.5 file. I'm working on a file I just began a couple of days ago in CS3 and have begun having the same problem today.

The problem is that at seemingly random times, keyframes that I've been moving back and forth to tweak suddenly cease to be selectable. If I singe-click on them with either mouse button, nothing happens. If I double-click on them with either mouse button, the current setting dialogue box pops up. BUT--if I drag a marquee around one or more of them, they will get selected--I just can't move them.

I'll drag a keyframe or keyframes one way, it won't be quite right, so I'll try to drag them back, and suddenly some of them won't go, and when I try to select them singly, they just stay gray. They show up in the graph editor, but I can't move them there either. I have no idea what's going on.

Anybody else know what's going on?

Thanks,

Clint
Jonas Hummelstrand
Jonas HummelstrandCorrect answer
Participating Frequently
Sep 13, 2008 3:42 PM UTC
Try clicking on the property's name in the Timeline window, which will select all the keyframes of that property. Then cut them with Ctrl-X / Cmd-X and paste them back.

- Jonas Hummelstrand
http://generalspecialist.com/
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24 replies

Lionarith
Participant
Jun 28, 2017 11:24 AM UTC

Just happened to me also, i cannot drag or select any keyframe in the project. Didn't do anything new, feels random. Serious bug Adobe...

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darrellhaemer
Participating Frequently
Apr 22, 2017 6:35 AM UTC

Pretty amazing this is still happening in 2017. I just experienced a stuck "in" keyframe like Clint Hayes mentioned. Fortunately, cutting and pasting unstuck it. Before that though, I had already tried deleting and re-creating the keyframes, duplicating the layer and re-creating the keys, duplicating a different (but similar) layer and re-creating the keyframes, and I had the same exact issue every time!

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Roei Tzoref
Roei Tzoref
Legend
Apr 22, 2017 7:23 AM UTC

How about in 14.2? An update was released a few days ago. Is this still happening? If so, please provide the exact steps to reproduce this bug and write them here for other users to be aware of. As for the fix, please report this bug here: Feature Request/Bug Report Form so they may actually fix it. in the report, a link to this thread would help also.

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darrellhaemer
Participating Frequently
Apr 22, 2017 1:51 PM UTC

Yes, in 14.2.0.198. This happened to me just last night with AE being fully up-to-date.

Unfortunately, I don't know if there's a simple collection of steps to reproduce the bug. It didn't happen until I had a moderately complex project put together. Once it happened, it did continue to happen with more frequency, but not with much consistency. Sorry!

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hairygrak
Participant
Dec 1, 2015 12:54 AM UTC

If it's of any use: I've had the same error in CC 2015 (adjusted the speed of a clip in Premiere, imported to AE, keyframes don't react to right click) and precomping the clip fixed the problem.

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MMazor
Participating Frequently
Feb 16, 2016 2:47 PM UTC

Same issue on latest version of AE 13.7.0.124

Time-stretched clip not allowing to select Scale Keyframe.

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steveohm2
Participant
Aug 7, 2015 10:08 PM UTC

I also have this problem and have randomly had it for over a year on multiple machines, home and office. Thanks Blacker, but the alt left right doesn't work for us since we can't actually select the keyframe. In my case now, I have an audio track, so frame rate should'nt be an issue (though I do have have mixed frame rates in the comp). On this particular layer I can select the first two keyframes, but not the last two. ...An interesting discovery - I can select it by dragging a selection box around it rather than clicking on it. But even selected I can't move it... BUT if I use Blackers trick and option-shift-arrow move it, it's suddenly a well-behaving keyframe and I can do what I need. This is a horribly desperate work-around for a bug that that's been around SEVEN years.

Side note: I've also been experiencing the dreaded sticky-cursor when using AE - a click acts like it's held down and creates a selection box (again, multiple machines, multiple versions, multiple years) - only on wacom and only in AE, not mouse - so I suspected the unselectable keyframes might also a wacom issue. To test I removed wacom, which resolves the sticky cursor, but no effect on the "unselectable keyframe" issue.

I'd like to think CC 2015 would fix the problem, but I tried that, for one day, as-of 7/2015 it wasn't worthy of beta status. Love ya Adobe, but let's fix some of these legacy issues first.

Imac 27" 2013

Yosemite 10.10.4

AE vers13.0.0.214 (Again, have had this problem for several versions, I updated yesterday, but apparently there's yet another update today)

Wacom (but tested with and without)

Plugins (some installed, but none on this layer and I think none in this comp)

Pro user

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SteveBlacker
SteveBlacker
Participating Frequently
Aug 20, 2014 8:42 PM UTC

I have found that if you hold down alt+left/right arrow keys to move the keyframes in question, it seems to free them up.  Weird bug.  In my case, I *did* change the frame rate during the project.  Still, that shouldn't lock the keyframes.

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SteveBlacker
SteveBlacker
Participating Frequently
Aug 20, 2014 7:54 PM UTC

This is happening in AE CC 2014 for me too. 

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zuhloobie
Participating Frequently
Mar 11, 2014 7:11 PM UTC

I am having the same issue - AE CS6

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Ben_Day
Participant
Mar 4, 2014 10:22 PM UTC

Crazy! This issue originally came up in 2008 and here I am having the same issues with AE CC in 2014. Randomly some keyframes can't be selected or moved. Copying/deleting/pasting the keyframes helps sometimes. Any other solutions out there?

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_Clint_Hayes_Author
Participating Frequently
Sep 13, 2008 4:15 PM UTC
UPDATE 2: Okay, it doesn't work in all cases. One "in" keyframe doesn't want to play along. Cut, paste, still inaccessible. But to the degree that it works, I'll take it.
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_Clint_Hayes_Author
Participating Frequently
Sep 13, 2008 3:59 PM UTC
UPDATE: I just cut and pasted that last keyframe that I couldn't access and that made it accessible as well.

Thanks, thanks, a million times thanks for the suggestion, but what on earth is going on that that's fixing the problem?

Clint
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