After Effects Hotkeys

It's a comprehensive shortcut reference for After Effects: 748 shortcuts across 24 categories, ranging from timeline navigation and keyframe editing to 3D layers, masks, motion tracking, paint tools, and rendering. Both macOS and Windows are included.

Start with Time Navigation, Previews, and General - these get you moving through the timeline and playing back your work quickly. Keyframes and the Graph Editor and Layers come next once you're building animations. The more specialized categories like 3D Layers, Motion Tracking, and Paint Tools can wait until you need them.

It covers multiple work areas: the Timeline panel (keyframes, layer properties, markers), the viewer and workspace panels, the Effect Controls panel, Composition settings, and export and render shortcuts. Paint tools, shape layers, and text each have their own sections too.

The modifier key swap applies here as usual: Cmd on macOS, Ctrl on Windows. Some shortcuts involving function keys or numpad behavior can diverge more, especially in the Previews and Time Navigation sections.

Treat it as a lookup tool, not a reading list. Pick two or three categories relevant to your current project and start there. Most experienced users know maybe 30 to 50 shortcuts by heart; the rest they look up as needed.