Can't open After Effects project (possible Dynamic Link issue)

Report · Aug 27, 2018

I have an After Effects project that I am unable to open. When trying to open the file, After Effects freezes with the "Open Project" dialogue box, but nothing happens. This started happening today, after using Dynamic Link to link a Premiere Pro project with the After Effects project. There didn't seem to be any issues (I was able to incorporate some of the Premiere Pro clips into the AE project) until I closed the project and later tried to open it again. Now it won't open at all (AE freezes). Unfortunately, the auto-saves don't help as I can only open ones from the day before (which means a lot of work is lost). I tried creating a new project and importing the problem project there, but AE freezes when I try to do that as well. It also didn't help having the Premiere Pro project opened first, then opening the AE project.

This is the first time I've had this issue, and also the first time I've used Dynamic Link in an After Effects project. Some web searches show that others have also experienced this issue when using Dynamic Link to link a Premiere Pro project from within an After Effects project, but I didn't find any solutions (besides the ones I mentioned trying above). Any suggestions would be welcome. Thanks!

** If it helps **

Using the latest versions of After Effects CC 2018 and Premiere Pro CC 2018 (no updates for either according to the Adobe CC app)

Windows 10 Home

Processor: Intel Core i7-4710MQ CPU @ 2.50Ghz

Ram: 16 GB

System type: 64-bit operating system

Report · Aug 28, 2018

UPDATE: I have now been able to open the project. Not sure why it wasn't working before (though I suspect it was related to the Dynamic Link). Some additional details I neglected to mention above:

* I originally closed the program because I noticed the Premiere Pro clips were not updating, after making some changes, despite using Dynamic Link in the AE project (and even with PP open). After closing the program, I tried opening the project again, and that's when it wouldn't open.

* I did also try restarting my computer, clearing the cache, etc., none of which helped.

* After almost 24 hours, and no other actions (besides what has already been mentioned), the project finally opened.

I will update here if this happens again.

Report · Aug 30, 2018

I had the same problem today. I did contact the customer support. I recieved an instruction to clean up after effects on my system. After 2 hours of doing this procedure it worked again.

1h later (closing AE for some reason), same error. Cant open project anymore.

In my situation these are just AE projects which have a linked Adobe Premiere Project (imported).

Was it the same on your system?

Report · Aug 30, 2018

Yes, for me it was also just an AE project that had a linked Premiere Pro project that wouldn't open. So far, the same issue hasn't recurred. I can open the AE project now, though the Dynamic Link to the Premiere Pro project isn't working well (doesn't seem to update).

Report · Aug 30, 2018

Thanks for the input. You are right it seem to be a dynamic link issue.

I renamed the premiere project and now when after effects cant find the project its offline and the after effects project can be opened.

well, at least I can continue to work on it, even though not with the premiere sequences.

A workaround at the moment.

Report · Aug 12, 2020

Thanks so much for the tip! With this workaround I was able to rescue and fix my project.

For me, I'm pretty sure the issue was that I accidentally created a loop where the Premiere sequence was a (hidden) layer in the AE comp, and the AE comp was a layer in the Premiere sequence. Once I deleted the Premiere sequence from the AE and reloaded the comp in Premiere, everything was fine. First time using dynamic link between Premiere and AE so... oops.

Report · Aug 12, 2020

Try opening up memory preferences and set 8 and 8 or 12 and 4 for other apps. Sometimes setting memory allocation to multiples of 4 GB will solve Dynamic Link problems.

Report · Jun 25, 2021

Wow... this worked for me. It's super hacky, but I'm not complaining. Thanks for your intricate knowledge Rick!

You'd think that software this old wouldn't be so quirky.

Report · Apr 12, 2021

are there any new solutions? I have the same problem now. I can't cound how often I already reinstalled ae and pp, renamed the file. cleaned up everything with cc cleaner. I can't open that ae file anymore....

Report · May 17, 2021

I have encountered the same problem today.

Has anyone found any solotions to this?

Report · Jun 17, 2021

Hey Guys, I saw here that people still are having this trouble, here a little tip that worked for me.

I got to the Task Manager and closed all Creative Cloud-related apps, I started both projects - from the premiere and after effects - then the project opened fine.

I Hope, this helps someone 😄

Report · Feb 18, 2022

I've been having this problem too. I haven't found the magic formula, but I do a variety of the following tasks and often get lucky with the right combo:

1. Open after effects (not the project), empty the cache - empty cache in premiere too just in case

2. Change the name of my project(s) before opening

3. Activity monitor (mac): close dynamiclinkmanager

4. Instead of connecting my composition in Premiere via dynamic link, I drag and drop directly from after effects to premiere (I'm pretty sure it's the same thing, just a different procedure)

Good luck everyone ❤️

Report · Mar 23, 2022

Thanks so much for posting those troubleshooting techniques. Force quitting dynamiclinkmanager did break the link between my AE and Premiere projects, but it allowed me to open an AE project that otherwise just wouldn't... big relief!

Report · Sep 29, 2022

I was having this issue because I brought a Premiere file into After Effects and then brought that After Effects file back into Premiere. Then when I tried to re-open After Effects, it kept getting stuck. My solution was to move the Premiere file location. I moved it to my desktop. Then After Effects loaded and just said that it was missing a file.

Report · Jul 27, 2023

I've found a solution that also lets you re-use your files!

First, what causes the problem is a recursive Adobe Dynamic Link problem. I had a dynamic link from Aftereffects to Premiere, and then when I tried to link Premiere to my Aftereffects, the problem started occuring where the file wouldn't open. My assumption is that they're constantly trying to recursively open the other one(hence why if you open up the task manager, you'll be able to see ProHeadless eat up every single bit of your memory).

In order to solve this, we need to find the auto-save version of your latest Premiere project that has not created a dynamic link yet. I tried just deleting all the dynamic link clips, but that didn't seem to work either, but someone else might find a better solution there in terms of unlinking.

So:

1) Find the latest auto-save file of your Premiere project in your autosave file.
2) Move it to your main project folder.
3) Rename your current Premiere project to something else
4) Rename your auto-save file to your old Premiere project name
5) Open your Adobe Aftereffects Project! It'll take a little bit to figure itself out, but it should now work!

At least, this is what worked for me, and saved my project. Hope this is helpful for someone else!

Report · Nov 06, 2024

Reporting in from 2024! Just got this issue, no idea what happened but pretty sure it's dynamic link related (since I've had this issue before with dynamic link...) yet all the tips in this thread I tried, yet to no avail...

It just won't open! Always gets stuck at the exact same place in the loading process (28%, loading something called (Music), but I'm quite sure I don't have a sequence called Music, so not sure what the heck that is?)

Report · Mar 10, 2025

Hi there! I have been scouring for a solution to this problem, and I figured out another solution! Not sure if it's exactly what applies to you, but hopefully it's helpful for some people. For me, it was definitely Dynamic-Link-related.

I recently watched this YouTube video on how to keep your footage colors consistent between Premiere and After Effects (super helpful video), and in the video, it explains why you need to use Nested video clips for your Dynamic Links, to avoid "ending the universe" with an endless Dynamic Link loop. Well, I used the nested video clips, but I still had those nested clips in my original Premiere sequence. I think that's what was causing my Dynamic Links to start failing. Originally my Dynamic Links were working totally fine, but after closing and reopening Premiere and After Effects, Premiere showed "Media Pending" on all my Dynamic Links (with only a stalled screen when trying to relink), and the compositions just gave me the rainbow wheel of death on my Mac when I tried to open them in After Effects.

So my solution: since you don't actually use the nested clips as your final clip (rather, you drag the After Effects Dynamic Link into your Premiere project and use that per the YouTube tutorial), I simply deleted the nested clips within my main Premiere sequence, closed After Effects, and tried opening the compositions / relinking them in my Premiere sequence. Both worked! :party_popper:

Again, not sure if this is a super specific solution to a specific problem I was having, but I'm hoping it helps some people!

Report · May 11, 2025

I have one solution which works for me:

Force Quit Both Apps:
- On Mac: Press Command + Option + Esc, select After Effects (and Premiere Pro if open), then click Force Quit.
- Or use the Apple menu > Force Quit.
Open After Effects First (NOT via Premiere Pro):
- Launch After Effects manually from your dock or Applications folder.
- When it opens, create a new composition and save the project manually (File > Save As).
Open Premiere Pro and Use Dynamic Link Again:
- Now that the .aep file is saved and stable, open Premiere Pro.
- Use File > Adobe Dynamic Link > Import After Effects Composition, and select the .aep file you just saved.
  
  by doing this, it creates the dynamic link between these two bad boys (Ae & Pr), now you can import your files in premiere pro and then press on the "Replace with the After Effects Composition"

it works for me, I hope it will work for you as well 🙂