SelectLayersByPlayhead ⏭️

Two tiny After Effects scripts that select layers by where they sit relative to the playhead — everything after it, or everything before it. Built to live on a pair of hotkeys.

What they do

Park the playhead, run one of the scripts:

Script	Selects
SelectFollowingLayers.jsx	Every layer that starts at or after the playhead (in-point to the right of the time cursor)
SelectPreviousLayers.jsx	Every layer that already ended at the playhead (out-point to the left of the time cursor)

Layers the playhead is sitting inside are left out by default, so you get a clean "everything from here on" or "everything up to here". Your old selection is replaced, locked layers are skipped, and it's one undo step.

                 playhead
                    │
  ████ A            │                 ← Previous
        ██████ B    │                 ← Previous
             ███████│██████ C         ← straddles: neither (by default)
                    │███████ D        ← Following
                    │      █████ E    ← Following

Great for: pushing the rest of an edit down the timeline, deleting everything after a cut, or recoloring / precomposing a whole section in one go.

Installation

As Regular Scripts

• Place both .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\SelectFollowingLayers.jsx"
  run, "<path-to-AfterFX.exe>" -r "C:\path\to\SelectPreviousLayers.jsx"

Usage

1. Open a composition.
2. Move the playhead to your split point.
3. Run SelectFollowingLayers or SelectPreviousLayers.

Options

Both scripts share the same config block at the top:

Option	Default	What it does
DIRECTION	1 / -1	1 = following (right of the playhead), -1 = previous (left). This is the only difference between the two files.
INCLUDE_STRADDLING	false	true = also take layers the playhead sits inside
ADD_TO_SELECTION	false	true = keep the current selection and add to it
SKIP_LOCKED	true	Leave locked layers alone (After Effects can't select them anyway)

Notes

• A layer that starts exactly on the playhead counts as following; one that ends exactly on it counts as previous (quarter-frame tolerance, so sub-frame drift doesn't matter).
• Nothing happens if no composition is active.

Requirements

• Adobe After Effects (any version with scripting support)

License

MIT