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The following sections describe the Preferences dialog box and the various tasks that can be performed using this menu. The Preferences dialog boxTo open the Preferences dialog box, go to:
Use the following keyboard shortcuts to open the Preferences > General menu:
Reset preferencesRestore the default preference settingsTo restore the default preference settings, press and hold the following keys while the application is starting.
Restore default keyboard shortcutsTo restore default keyboard shortcuts,
Reset background preferencesTo reset background preferences, follow these steps:
Watch this video to learn how you can reset preferences in After Effects.
Reveal preferencesPreferences, including keyboard shortcuts and workspaces, are stored as files in the following locations:
To reveal the preferences in After Effects, go to:
It is recommended that you do not modify the files in this directory manually; use the Preferences dialog box to modify the preferences. For information on modifying keyboard shortcuts, see Modify keyboard shortcuts and Workspaces and Panels for managing workspaces. The following list briefly describes the different options listed under the Edit > Preferences menu, especially those options that are not self-explanatory. General preferences
For more information, see Creating layers and Precomposing, nesting, and pre-rendering. Previews preferences
Display preferences
Import preferences
Output preferences
Grids & Guides preferencesLabels preferencesYou can use labels (colored boxes in the Label column) in the Project panel and Timeline panel to organize and manage compositions, footage items, layers, and keyframes. By default, different label colors indicate different kinds of footage items, but you can assign label colors to indicate whatever categories you choose. Rename label groups to help you to organize and categorize layers and footage items. To see label names in the Label column, widen the column to greater than the default width.
You can mark a layer as shy and then use the Hide Shy Layers composition switch at the top of the Timeline panel to hide all shy layers in the Timeline panel layer outline. Making layers shy is useful for making room in the Timeline panel to show the layers and layer properties that you want to adjust.The icon in the Switches column indicates whether a layer is shy or not shy .Shy layers are still rendered, both for previews and for final output. To exclude layers from previews or final output, use the Video switch or make the layer a guide layer. By default, the panel label colors do not respond to the Brightness control in the Appearance preferences. To make the Brightness control affect panel label colors, select the Affects Label Colors option in the Appearance preferences. Media & Disk Cache preferences
Video Preview preferencesAppearance preferences
New Project preferencesYou can create a template with your preferred project settings such as color management and folder structure, and use it as a foundation for every new project that you create. The New Project command provides you the option to open a project based on a template if you enable the New Project Loads Template option under Preferences > New Project and choose a template project. The template project can be an After Effects template project file (.aet), After Effects project file (.aep), or an After Effects XML project file (.aepx). For more information, see Save and backup projects in After Effects Auto-Save preferencesYou can use the Auto-Save feature in After Effects which automatically saves a copy of your project while you work. You can set the frequency of how often After Effects saves your work, and also the number of copies of the project it saves. Use the following steps to enable the Auto-Save feature:
Once enabled, After Effects creates a folder named Adobe After Effects Auto-Save in the same directory as your project file. To view an return to a previous saved version of your project, select File > Open in After Effect > saved version. For more information, see Save and back up projects in After Effects. Memory preferencesAudio Hardware and Audio Output Mapping preferencesSync SettingsThe Sync Settings feature enables you to synchronize preferences and settings through the Creative Cloud. For detailed information, see the Sync Settings article. Migrate settings from previous versionsAfter Effects prompt you to migrate settings from a previous version if it finds a preference folder from a previous version and no preference folder for the current version. This occurs when you start After Effects for the first time and when you delete the entire preferences folder. If you want to migrate settings from your previous version of After Effects, see the Migrating your settings from a previous minor version of After Effects section. |