KeyframeSelectionBundle 🔑

Four tiny After Effects scripts that select keyframes by time — after the playhead, before it, on it, or inside the work area. Built to live on hotkeys.

What's inside

Script	Selects
SelectFollowingKeyframes.jsx	Every keyframe after the playhead
SelectPreviousKeyframes.jsx	Every keyframe before the playhead
SelectKeysAtCurrentTime.jsx	Every keyframe sitting on the playhead
SelectKeysInWorkArea.jsx	Every keyframe inside the work area

                    playhead
                       │
  Position   ◆    ◆    ◆    ◆    ◆
  Opacity              ◆  ◆
  Blurriness      ◆         ◆
             └─ previous ─┘│└─ following ─┘
                        current

All four work the same way:

• Selected layers, or all of them — with layers selected they only touch those; with nothing selected they run on the whole comp.
• Every property, not just transforms — effects, masks, shape contents, text animators and Puppet pins are all walked. Separated X/Y/Z position is handled.
• Clean selection — keys that don't match are deselected, so you get exactly the set you asked for (see ADD_TO_SELECTION to change that).
• One undo step, no dialogs.

Great for: sliding the rest of an animation later to make room, deleting everything after a cut, easing every key on a beat at once (F9), or copying just the keys inside the work area.

Installation

As Regular Scripts

• Place the .jsx files in your Scripts folder and run via File → Scripts:

  Windows: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe After Effects [version]\Support Files\Scripts\
  macOS:   /Applications/Adobe After Effects [version]/Scripts/
  

As Hotkeys (recommended)

• Keep the .jsx files anywhere and trigger them from your hotkey tool of choice, e.g. AutoHotkey:

  run, "<path-to-AfterFX.exe>" -r "C:\path\to\SelectFollowingKeyframes.jsx"

Usage

1. Open a composition. Optionally select the layers you care about.
2. Move the playhead (or set the work area).
3. Run the script. The matching keyframes are selected — move, ease, copy or delete them.

Options

All four files are the same script with a different MODE. The config block at the top:

Option	Default	What it does
MODE	per file	"following", "previous", "current" or "workarea"
INCLUDE_PLAYHEAD	false	Following / Previous: also take a key sitting exactly on the playhead
ADD_TO_SELECTION	false	true = keep already-selected keys and add to them
SKIP_LOCKED	true	Leave locked layers alone

Notes

• "On the playhead" means within a quarter of a frame, so sub-frame drift doesn't matter.
• The work area range is inclusive at both ends.
• Nothing happens if no composition is active.

Requirements

• Adobe After Effects (tested on 2026 / 26.3)

Credits

The at current time and in work area ideas are long-time favourites from Zack Lovatt's zl_Scriptlets — go grab his collection, it's great. The scripts here are an independent implementation.

License

MIT