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logan_mcnay
logan_mcnay
Inspiring
February 23, 2024
Answered

Can't 'Save' or 'Save As' in After Effects

  • February 23, 2024
  • 5 replies
  • 1223 views

Hello, I can't 'Save' or 'Save As' in After Effects.

 

I've tried ctrl+s, ctrl+shift+s, and then nothing happens. In the Adobe After Effects Auto-Save, it isn't saving new versions of the file. When I save, it runs the function but doesn't actually do anything & won't create a new version of the file. The auto-saves are a day old now, since I haven't X'd out of the project, hence they're not updating there either.

 

I've tried purging all memory & disk cache & it didn't work. 

I don't want to X out of the project to uninstall AE & reinstall because I'll lose a day of work.

I've tried "save as copy" and it didn't do anything either.

 

Thanks,

    Correct answer logan_mcnay

    I believe I found the solution to my issue, I have a composition that when I duplicate it, I am no longer able to save the file; it must have a bug in it, so I screenshotted the layers I needed, reopened the file, created a new composition from scratch, and rebuilt that particular comp, & now it saves just fine. Hope that helps lead anyone else in the right direction who has this issue

    5 replies

    logan_mcnay
    logan_mcnayAuthorCorrect answer
    Inspiring
    February 26, 2024

    I believe I found the solution to my issue, I have a composition that when I duplicate it, I am no longer able to save the file; it must have a bug in it, so I screenshotted the layers I needed, reopened the file, created a new composition from scratch, and rebuilt that particular comp, & now it saves just fine. Hope that helps lead anyone else in the right direction who has this issue

      A
      armand_8377
      Participant
      June 10, 2025

      Ran into a similar sounding issue earlier this week. Lost about 2 days of work because of it. It's a real sneaky one.
      Just posting what was the solution for me:

      I found myself unable to save my working file. This has happened to me for the third time in a week:
      As I Cmd+S save the file, the little pop-up box that indicates the saving progress —the one with the little blue bar— pops up, but doesn’t fill up completely. It got stuck on a certain percentage (last time 41%, this time 71%), but rather than giving an error message or anything similar, it just seems to abort the saving process and closes the box. It looked as if I had saved it, but I actually hadn't.

      I tried to remove all unused footage. Then all linked images/video/audio. This seems to bump the percentage of saving up from 71% to 75% strangely enough. Finally, when I deleted all layered Illustrator files (.ai), it managed to save again. These files were connected to an external server, but that connection was stable, and I could locate the files through right clicking > Reveal in Finder.
      This happened using After Effects 2025, v25.1.0 (Build 68), running on a November 2024 MacBook Pro with Apple M4 Max, operating on OS Sequoia 15.4.1.

        logan_mcnay
        logan_mcnayAuthor
        Inspiring
        February 26, 2024

        Hey Jenkmeister, 

         

        I went & uninstalled AE, reinstalled, updated to version 24.2.1 (Build 2), & I've continued to have this issue not being able to save or save as. I keep losing days of work, would you have any suggestions? 

         

        Also, other system specs are:

        AMD Ryzen Threadripper 5975 32 core

        256GB RAM

        SSDS

        2x NVIDIA 4090s

        Drivers have been updated, windows has been updated

         

        Thanks

          J
          Community Manager
          jenkmeister17177426Community Manager
          Community Manager
          February 23, 2024

          Thanks. There was an issue a year or so ago with a missing Save option but if you're on 24.1, then that's not the issue. A couple of ideas are below but as AE is not giving you any error messages, I'm not confident there is a path out of this that saves your work.

           

          Try going to the Creative Cloud Desktop app and see if you're still signed in. Just a thought that somehow AE thinks you're signed out. Don't sign out if you're not that, that could also cause AE to quit on you. 

           

          You could also try a File -> Dependencies -> Collect Files... and see if AE can generate a new project for you.

           

          If you do a Save As 23.* did that create anything for you? 

           

            logan_mcnay
            logan_mcnayAuthor
            Inspiring
            February 23, 2024

            Hello, I'm on version 24.1.0 (Build 78)

             

             

              J
              Community Manager
              jenkmeister17177426Community Manager
              Community Manager
              February 23, 2024

              What version of After Effects are you on? 

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