FAQ: How to fix After Effects error: could not parse mask shape on clipboard

[nishu_kush]

It could be frustrating if you ever run into the "Could not parse mask shape on clipboard" error in After Effects.                                     

Why do I see this error?

You may see this error if your clipboard contains something that After Effects can't analyze. Users often report that they see this error message after using Illustrator. It could be a raster image, a complex shape, path, or link from Illustrator or any other application.

Solution:

Our community recommends the following solutions:

1. If you are working side by side in Illustrator and After Effects, copy a simple shape in Illustrator. If you are not using Illustrator, copy text from your browser or any other application. That will replace the data on the clipboard with the text you copied.
2. Restart your computer to clear the clipboard.
3. If the solutions above don't help, reset the After Effects preferences.
4. If nothing else works, reinstall After Effects and Illustrator but don't import preferences from previous versions.

[F9]

I copied a url from the browser.  That worked fine.

[nishu_kush]

Glad to hear that, @F9.

Thanks for taking the time to write.

Best,

Nishu

[lee Zack]

You genius !

[Boluwatife5E79]

This was helpful – Thanks

[lee Zack]

Genius !

[Irack23513870mgq5]

Thank you, i just copy one shape in Illustrator and vuala

[groovdafied]

This has to be the most annoying issue. I downloaded a vector from Adobe Stock, and when just moving things around by copy and paste to separate some stuff, Illustrator crashes with that error.

[Rafa Gatuzzo]

Obrigado!

[laura_8650]

so useful! i appreciate this info. Regards

[Lester 5EE1]

It's funny how After Effects and Adode has come this far, even integrating AI with its products.

And this error still exist, why cant your brilliant developers fix it and users have to come up with workarounds?