After Effects effects not showing

[defaulth8lujpuvs0ko]

Hello, 

I am very new to After Effects and seemed to be working well when I apply effects to a layer. I'm creating an overlay on a background. After I applied the effects, I must have clicked something that removed all effects from the layer preview... but according to the effects panel, the effects were still selected. What can I do to fix this?

Thank you!

[Andrew Yoole]

Totally guessing,  but sounds like you've double-clicked a layer, which opens the Layer View window, which by default will obscure the Composition Preview window.  Close the layer view, or go to Window/Composition:[YourCompName]

You'll have much more joy with After Effects if you spend some time learning the basics before you dive in too deep.  

https://helpx.adobe.com/au/after-effects/tutorials.html