Apple keyboard with Snap Shot

[Rocketbottle]

M1 Mac Studio

macOS Monterey 12.6.3

Apple wide keyboard with Touch ID (Model A2520)

After Effects 23.1.0

New Apple keyboard with Touch ID is a pain. In After Effects I found the F-keys setting is ignored.

AE preferences - General - Use System Shortcut Keys “On”.

 

Take Screen Shot with the keyboard shortcut “Shift + F5”. No action or shutter sound.

Also Show Snapshot pressing F5, no action.

Viewer menu buttons work. Other system and modified keyboard shortcuts seem to work.

[JohnColombo]

Hi @Rocketbottle,

Thanks for posting about this issue. The "Use System Shortcut Keys" option only applies to shortcuts like ⌘+H and ⌘+M, not to the function keys. If you hover your mouse over that option in the Preferences dialog, you should see a tooltip that lists the affected shortcuts.

If you hold down the Fn key on your keyboard while using Shift+F5, does the Snapshot option work?

Thanks for reporting this issue and for any further information you can provide, 

- John, After Effects Engineering Team 

[Rocketbottle]

Hi

Thanks for replying.

I keep the Mac setting "Use F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys" always off - because I need the Mac-specific functions more. Never noticed the tooltips in the settings menu 🙂 I was under the impression the After Effects setting "Use System Shortcut Keys" would affect function keys too.

Regardless, the snapshot shortcut (Shift + F5 or F6) did work with the non-Touch-ID keyboard, without any extra buttons. With a new Touch ID keyboard function is not the same anymore. I have to add an extra press with the "Fn" button, which makes the keyboard shortcut painful to use - trying to use both hands while holding the pen. No, not practical at all.

I would be very grateful if someone can fix this new limitation.

Cheers

[Rocketbottle]

Quick and dirty solution until the problem is solved: I mapped the two snapshot shortcuts to non-system F14 and F15 keys.

Easy-peasy.

[JohnColombo]

Apologies for the frustration @Rocketbottle. This has been a battle for me as well over the years with various Mac keyboards.

On my newer Mac with the keyboard matching yours, I use a utility called Fluor to dynamically switch the function keys per-app: https://github.com/Pyroh/Fluor. Another option is  https://karabiner-elements.pqrs.org/ but it feels way overpowered for something this simple and much more complex to set up. These apps aren't a perfect solution—I have to remember to hold the Fn key if I want to adjust volume or brightness when After Effects is in focus—but it keeps me fast in AE, which is my primary goal.

Cheers,

- John, After Effects Engineering Team 

[Rick Gerard]

I use the Function key below the Shift key to activate the Function buttons in AE. Don't know if that helps you or not.