Can't Save Project Files - After Effects 22.4 and 22.5

[Justin_at_law]

Build:

iMac 24-inch, M1, 2021

8GB Unified Memory

macOS Monterey 12.4

Problem: None of the AE "Save" functions work including:

- Save

- Save As...

- Save a Copy as XML...

- Save a Copy as 18.X...

- Save a Copy as 17.X...

- Increment and Save

- Auto-saving

- Keyboard shortcuts for any of the above

The options are not greyed out in the menu. When I select/click them they become highlighted and respond as normal as if the AE recognizes the input but there is no resulting action. No save. No save window. No error prompt. Autosave is enabled but it doesn't do anything.

When attempting to close an unsaved project AE does the normal "would you like to save?" prompt. But selecting yes/save just closes the save window and project without actually saving the changes made to the existing project file or creating a new one.

Attempted Fixes:

- Granted After Effects Full Disk Access in "Security & Privacy" System Preferences

- Updated AE to latest Version

- Uninstalled/Re-Installed AE

- Uninstalled/Re-Installed Creative Cloud

- Enabled Read & Write Privileges for ALL USERS in /Library/Preferences/Adobe/After Effects/22.4 and applied changes to all contained subfolders/files (this is not necessarily recommended but I thought if there was a permissions hang up anywhere then this would open it up)

- Deleted AE Preferences

Deleting AE Preferences game me SOME new information.

After deleting the preferences and creating a new project everything SEEMED to be working properly again. But as I quickly discovered if you close After Effects the fix is gone the next time you open it.

I can "fix" it again by deleting my preferences again but this is obviously not a sustainable solution as it just repeats every time you close/reopen AE.

[Jefrin23419213v1qs]

If you delete preferences log file in library/Abode/After effects(version) it will work for a  while temporarily and  the issue is arising again i have also tried giving full disk access, but the issue repeats in a day , there is some proble with the preferences auto settings. please fix it

[camilaq45422111]

At this time I also have problems saving my files, is there still no solution?

[Jefrin23419213v1qs]

If we give this settings also it will work for a while and the issue repeats again and again,  I have been facing this issue for 2 months, please fix it, Preferences log  file issue or some other issue please do something..

[Kyle Hamrick]

Just to eliminate a possible variable, do you have any other software running that might be stealing the shortkey key's behavior? One of my video capture apps, for example, annoyingly steals my CTRL+S while it's running, meaning I'm always accidentally taking camera screenshots instead of saving in AE. 😄 

[taya_stdnk]

Files are not saved not only with command+s, but also through “save as” or “save as a copy”.  So not an option. 

[defaultexlzhz68fdgh]

I'm using After Effects on a new iMac, 12.4 OS, plenty of storage etc.

After I've been working on something then hit command + S it doesn't save. So I go to File and save and something File is unresponsive and doesn't open and if it does and I hit save there then that doesn't have any effect either. It's quite easy to do lots of work and then stumble upon this.

Yesterday however it was fine, but today it's decided not to save. Anyone else encountered this?

[davidarbor]

It sounds like there could be a permissions issue where you don't have Write permissions for the folder you're trying to save to. As a test, can you try doing a Save As to the Desktop? If it works then you should check the permissions on your the entire drive that you want to save your project to (if it's an external one as opposed to your internal one) or the folder if it's your internal drive.

[defaultexlzhz68fdgh]

Hi David, thanks for your reply.

I just did a save as to desktop (first up on starting up) and carried on there and then encountered the same problem: cmd + s is unresponsive and when selecting 'save as' from File that's unresponsive too!

Your idea sounds good but I'm not computer savvy and not sure how to be dealing with Write permissions entails. 

This issue wasn't a thing yesterday, now today it's deciding to crop up. This is a new thing having been using AE for the past 6 months with no issue

[davidarbor]

If saving to the Desktop is also causing problems then I would recommend trashing your preferences and trying again. You can find instructions here: https://community.adobe.com/t5/after-effects-discussions/faq-how-to-reset-trash-preferences-in-after...

[defaultexlzhz68fdgh]

Thank you, this seems to have worked... fingers crossed

[davidarbor]

Glad it worked. Unfortunately, sometimes preferences can get corrupted and cause all sorts of weird issues. Trashing them is an easy fix, but it also means you lose your keyboard shortcuts, workspaces, and other settings. I take screenshots of each tab of my preferences and workspaces so when I have to go through this process I can quickly recreate everything.

[Jefrin23419213v1qs]

This Situation is frustrating I have tried deleting preferences log and it is working for few minutes and then the same issue arises, I have also given full disk access in settings. Its really frustating, can't able to work, please fix this issue for m1 macs. paying money and run into these kind of cheap issues is frustrating, loosing valuable time, it is happening in lot of m1 macs. my friends to say the same. please fix this issue

[nishu_kush]

Hi Jefrin23419213v1qs,

We've got your back.

What happens when you try to save? Do you see any error messages? Could you share a screen recording that shows the problem? It'll help us to report the issue.

Let us know, we're here to help.

Thanks,

Nishu

[Szalam]

Try today's update to AE. Several Mac and M1-related fixes in it: https://community.adobe.com/t5/after-effects-discussions/after-effects-22-5-is-now-live/td-p/1301977...

[merijnwip]

Hey,

I'm running After Effects 22.4.0 on my 13' MacBook Pro (2020) running MacOS Monterey 12.1.

When I try to save my project file trough Save As, the save dialog box opens, and I can choose a path to save my file. Then when I click save, the 'save progress' dialog box opens and quickly disapears (I can see it not reaching 100% but staying at . When I check the folder where I saved the file to, no new project files appeared.

Alternative saving methods I tried:

• Saving the file trough File > Save (or Cmd+S) (the project file is NOT being updated)
• Save As > Alternative saving methods
• Increment and Save
• Dependencies > Collect Files
• Closing After Effects and answering the dialog box
• Opening a different project file trough Finder, and then answering the dialog box
• Saving to a different folder (external hard drive or internal storage)

Conclusion: After Effects is not saving any file to any location trough any method

Please let me know if you have a possible solution! For now I'm leaving my MacBook on sleeping mode so that the project is not closed (I already lost a full day of work yesterday en today I spent the whole day recreating yesterday's work, so it would be really frustrating if I will lose my work again!

Merijn

[nishu_kush]

Hi Merijn,

Sorry for your issue.

Try providing full disk access to After Effects. Here's how: https://macpaw.com/how-to/full-disk-access-mojave

Do you have an Individual, Team, or Enterprise subscription? If the solution above doesn't help, try using After Effects with a different email id (it's fine to test with the trial version).

Let us know the outcome.

Thanks,

Nishu

[Stefano24579265sjzu]

When I open a project, at least half of the time, the project doesn't allow me to save, even clicking on "file" "save"/"save as" however the result is as if I didn't click anything

[Mylenium]

without any system info, details about your projects, save locations and so on nobody can tell you anything. You need to be much more specific. Start with the usual steps: Delete the preferences to reset them, clear the caches, check permissions on the relevant files and folders, reinstall AE.

Mylenium

[Rameez_Khan]

Hi all, 

Are you running into this issue in After Effects 22.5 too?

Let me know. I am working with the team on this and have bumped up the priority.

Thanks,

Rameez

[Justin_at_law]

Hi Rameez,

The issue persists in After Effects 22.5.0

Thank you,

- Justin

[JBriland]

UPDATE:
I have been in three sessions with different Support guys from Adobe where they were remote-controlling my computer for about eight hours in total (!). 
(Sort of frustrating when they all start with doing the same thing and don't really listen to what the actual issue is until they are done performing the standard 'fixes' about an hour into the session).

Anyway, the third person managed to fix the problem by navigating deep into the folders of AE, deleting the preferences from there and then something like making a copy of the whole folder structure.

This worked for a couple days and now I am back at square one, not being able to Save, Export, Import etc.

Anybody else who had any success?

[jamesd51323803]

After Effects projects keep breaking in the middle of my work. I will be creating compositions as normal and importing them into Premiere through Dynamic Links, saving and editing as I go, only for the "Save" function to stop working completely. I can click on Save in the dropdown menu, but nothing happens. Cmd+S also has no effect. I cannot Save As, and when I click to close project, I am also unable to save, even though it prompts me to do so. The compositions imported into Premiere will then stop working, and when I reopen the AE project, all the recent work is gone despite having been saved and imported into Premiere. It also affects the auto-save feature, sometimes not even saving there. The only work around I have is to export the compositions through Media Encoder, and work with the temp files. Not ideal!

I am using After Effects version 22.5.0 on two different Mac computers with the same results. An older desktop Mac and a new Macbook Pro with an Apple M1 Pro chip. But it doesn't seem to matter which I'm using.

This bug doesn't happen all the time, but is incredibly frustrating when it does. Is this a known issue or is there a way to fix it?

[Rameez_Khan]

Hi @jamesd51323803, 

Sorry for your issue! 

- Do you have a Creative Cloud Individual account or an Enterprise account? 

- Do you have a multi-monitor setup?

Many users have reported a similar issue, and the After Effects team is investigating it. Meanwhile, can you follow these steps and let us know if it resolves your problem?

- Reset After Effects preferences: https://community.adobe.com/t5/after-effects-discussions/faq-how-to-reset-trash-preferences-in-after... 

- Disconnect external monitors if you have them

- Resize and move the After Effects workspace to see if there are any other After Effects dialog boxes hiding behind the main window

Thanks,

Rameez

[jamesd51323803]

Thanks for the reply. It's a personal account, although supplied through my place of work. I don't work with any external monitors and have tried resetting my preferences. Will try looking for those hidden windows next time it occurs.

Thank you,

James

[HouHouHou]

I've been having these issues as well and wanted to underscore a detail the original poster said that I've also seen coinciding at exactly the same time as the saving problem. And that is the inability to Import files into a project. I have sometimes been able to instead drag and drop files into the Project panel, but most of the time, they don't stick. If they do, of course, it doesn't have any value beyond experimenting, since I can't save at that point.