Reveal Modified Properties Shortcut in After Effects

Managing complex timelines in Adobe After Effects often requires quickly finding keyframes and adjusted settings without expanding every layer manually. This guide explains the essential keyboard shortcuts used to instantly reveal animated keyframes and modified layer properties, helping streamline your motion design workflow and keep your timeline organized.

Reveal Properties with Keyframes: Press U

The primary shortcut to view all animated properties on a layer is the U key.

  1. Select one or more layers in your timeline.
  2. Press U on your keyboard.
  3. After Effects will immediately reveal only the properties that have active keyframes (such as Position, Scale, or Effect Controls).
  4. Press U again to collapse the properties and clean up your timeline view.

If no layers are selected, pressing U will reveal all keyframed properties across every layer in the composition.

Reveal All Modified Properties: Press UU (Double-Tap)

If you need to view properties that have been altered from their default values—even if they do not have active keyframes—use the double-tap shortcut.

  1. Select the desired layer(s).
  2. Quickly press U twice (UU).
  3. This displays all modified properties, including changed transform values, added effects, adjusted mask paths, and custom layer settings.
  4. Double-tap U again to hide the properties.

Additional Keyframe and Property Shortcuts

To refine your timeline navigation further, After Effects includes several dedicated single-key shortcuts for individual properties:

  • P: Reveals Position.
  • S: Reveals Scale.
  • R: Reveals Rotation.
  • T: Reveals Opacity (Transparency).
  • A: Reveals Anchor Point.
  • E: Reveals applied Effects.
  • M: Reveals Mask Paths.
  • Shift + [Shortcut]: Holding Shift while pressing any property shortcut allows you to reveal multiple specific properties simultaneously (e.g., pressing P then Shift + S displays both Position and Scale).