FX Console in After Effects: what it is, install and shortcut

What is FX Console in After Effects?

FX Console is a free plug-in from Video Copilot that gives After Effects a quick way to reach effects and presets. Video Copilot's post lists the version 1 features as:

• access FX and presets quickly
• create FX shortcuts
• create FX overrides
• export a snapshot as PNG
• an automatic snapshot tool and gallery

V1.0.1 added a way to tab across to presets in the search results, so one search covers both effects and presets. In After Effects, animation presets are how you reuse work: Adobe describes them as configurations of layer properties and animations that you create and reuse.

The official post is short. It gives the feature names, the change list for each version, the requirements and the download links. It does not describe each feature step by step, and it gives no default shortcut and no install folder paths. Where the post is silent, this page says so and does not guess.

A disclosure before going further: we make mouzeclick, a mouse app plus a set of Premiere Pro and After Effects panels. It comes up later in two sections that are labelled as ours. The first covers putting FX Console's shortcut on a mouse button, and the second covers our own effect search. FX Console has no connection to us.

Which After Effects versions and systems does FX Console support?

FX Console supports After Effects CC and above, CC2014 included, on both Windows and Mac. CS6 is not supported. Here is what Video Copilot's pages showed when we checked them on 3 November 2026.

The post's date and its change list don't match. It is dated May 2018, but it mentions AE2026 and macOS Catalina. Go by the version number, not the date: if the page shows V1.0.7, that is the build to install.

How do I install FX Console in After Effects?

Download the Windows or Mac build from Video Copilot's FX Console post, install it and open After Effects. The post's text gives no install steps or folder paths, so we don't print a path here either.

1. Check your After Effects. It must be CC or later. CC2014 works and CS6 does not.
2. Open the official post. Use Video Copilot's FX Console V1.0.7 page. It has separate download links for Windows and Apple.
3. On a Mac, take the newest Mac build. V1.0.7 is the release that adds macOS Catalina support, and its notes say to install the latest version of the Mac plug-in.
4. Install it. Video Copilot's post doesn't publish the steps or the folder. If you aren't sure what kind of file you're holding, our explainer on plugins vs scripts vs extensions covers the .aex, .jsx and .zxp file types. Our guide to installing After Effects plugins covers the general routine.
5. Open After Effects and set the shortcut. The post doesn't state a default key, so choose one yourself. The next section covers how to pick one that won't clash.
6. Export your settings once it works. V1.0.1 added import and export of a settings file. Save it somewhere safe, so a reinstall or a new computer doesn't cost you your setup.

FX Console runs only inside After Effects. If you're also comparing other free tools, our summary of free After Effects plugins from Reddit threads covers the wider field.

What is the FX Console shortcut, and how do I change it?

The FX Console shortcut is whichever key you assign to it. V1.0.1 added a custom shortcut key, and Video Copilot's post does not state a default in its text. If a forum post or video quotes a key, check it on your own install rather than treating it as official.

Three things make the choice easier:

• Avoid keys After Effects already uses. Check the combination against our list of After Effects keyboard shortcuts before you commit. If you'd rather free up an After Effects key for FX Console, our guide to changing keyboard shortcuts in After Effects walks through it.
• Avoid keys other apps grab. A launcher, a screen recorder or a chat app may hold the same combination system-wide, and then pressing it in After Effects may do nothing visible.
• Write the key down. Export the FX Console settings file too. The post doesn't say exactly what the file holds, so keep a note of the key as well.

Adobe has a Mac warning for anyone who edits After Effects' own keyboard shortcuts file by hand. On Mac OS X 10.9 or later, editing that file in TextEdit causes an error the next time After Effects starts. Adobe's fix is to disable Smart Quotes.

What else can FX Console do besides search?

Besides quick access to effects and presets, Video Copilot lists four more features: FX shortcuts, FX overrides, PNG snapshot export, and an automatic snapshot tool with a gallery. The post names them without step-by-step detail. Here they are by release:

• V1: access FX and presets quickly, create FX shortcuts, create FX overrides, export snapshot with PNG, automatic snapshot tool and gallery.
• V1.0.1: custom shortcut key, import and export of a settings file, tab to presets in search results.
• V1.0.4: IME support for Japanese, Chinese and Korean in the OSX version, and better gallery performance.
• V1.0.7: more UTF language support for AE2026, and macOS Catalina support.

The snapshot tools and gallery go beyond plain search. The post doesn't explain how FX shortcuts and overrides behave, so try them in a test project rather than relying on a description here. For how FX Console sits among other plug-ins editors talk about, see our summary of After Effects plugins Reddit recommends.

Why is FX Console not working in After Effects?

Start with the After Effects version, then the Mac build, then the shortcut key. Work down this list in order.

1. After Effects version. FX Console needs After Effects CC or later. CS6 is not supported.
2. Old Mac build. Catalina support arrived in V1.0.7, and the notes ask Mac users to install the latest Mac plug-in. Replace an older copy with the current download.
3. Apple silicon Mac. Video Copilot's home page says its plug-ins were updated for native M1 compatibility, with After Effects running natively on M1. It doesn't name FX Console, so on an M1 Mac make sure you have the newest build before anything else.
4. Shortcut does nothing. First check that a key is set at all, because no default is published. Then look for a clash with an After Effects shortcut or with another app on the computer. Choose a different combination and try again.
5. Non-Latin text in the search. Japanese, Chinese and Korean input methods are supported on Mac from V1.0.4, and V1.0.7 added more UTF language support for AE2026. Older builds may not handle this text.
6. Slow gallery. V1.0.4 improved gallery performance, so update if your copy is older.
7. Settings gone after a reinstall. Import the settings file you exported. If you never exported one, set the key again and export the file this time.
8. After Effects errors on start after a shortcut edit (Mac). If you edited After Effects' shortcuts file in TextEdit, Adobe says to disable Smart Quotes.

For problems with After Effects itself, Adobe keeps a system requirements page. Its actual minimums were not in the text we checked, so we don't quote them here.

How do I put the FX Console shortcut on a mouse side button?

This section is ours: we make mouzeclick. Record FX Console's key combination as a shortcut in mouzeclick's After Effects profile and assign it to Mouse 4 or Mouse 5. One press of the side button then sends that key. The mouse app, with its buttons, gestures and wheels, runs on Windows 10 and 11 and on macOS 12 or newer, on Apple Silicon and Intel.

1. Install and enter the key. On a Mac, allow the app once and turn it on under Accessibility and Input Monitoring. Our four-step Mac install covers this. Apple has not notarized the Mac app yet, so macOS asks you to allow it the first time.
2. Press each mouse button once. The settings page is then built around the buttons your mouse really has. Any mouse your computer sees works, whether wired, wireless or Bluetooth, with no driver.
3. Open the After Effects profile. Each app gets its own profile, and the editors come with ready-made ones.
4. Choose Mouse 4 (Back) and record FX Console's combination as your own shortcut.
5. Switch to After Effects and press the button. In other apps, Mouse 4 keeps whatever you've set there, and it changes the moment you switch windows.

Each button has eleven slots: tap, hold and move in four directions, a chord with another button, or hold and scroll. A tap can open FX Console while a flick up runs something else. If you've run out of buttons, put FX Console on the Options wheel instead. It holds 48 favourites per app on three rings of 12, 16 and 20, and opens with F8, Ctrl + right click or a side button. On a MacBook keyboard, use Fn+F8. For more ideas for spare buttons, see what mouse side buttons are for.

If the button does nothing, check these:

• mouzeclick needs an internet connection while it runs. If the connection drops, the shortcuts pause and the mouse acts as a normal mouse until it returns.
• On Windows, apps running as administrator ignore apps that aren't elevated. If After Effects runs as administrator, pick Restart as administrator in mouzeclick's tray menu.
• Ctrl+Alt+F12 stops mouzeclick at once on Windows, if you ever need it out of the way.

The trial is 3 days with no card, and every Premiere Pro and After Effects tool works fully during it. Prices are in the pricing section.

Is mouzeclick's Search effects an alternative to FX Console?

Partly. This is our own product, so read it with that in mind. Search effects is a panel that finds and applies every installed effect and transition, audio included, plug-ins too. It works in After Effects and Premiere Pro, on Windows and Mac. It has nothing like FX Console's snapshots, gallery, FX shortcuts or overrides, and we don't claim it searches presets.

In Search effects, exact and word-start matches come first, after your 12 most recent picks. Enter applies the effect. Shift+Enter applies it and pins it to the After Effects Tool wheel, which holds 114 tools in 13 groups. If you pick an effect from the wheel with nothing selected, the wheel makes its own adjustment layer. To set it up, press Install After Effects bridge on the app's Tool wheel page, restart After Effects, and open the panel from Window › Extensions. The Search effects feature list covers each tool, and the extensions page covers the other panels.

FX Console is the better pick in three cases: you search presets as often as effects, you use its snapshot gallery, or you want something free that does one job. Search effects makes sense if you also edit in Premiere Pro and want one search in both apps, or if you already use mouzeclick. FX Console has no Premiere Pro version; our page on what to use instead of FX Console in Premiere Pro covers that side.

One platform note: the After Effects workspace has its own search (press /). The workspaces are Windows only, and the Mac app does not include them.

Questions people ask

Sources

Checked on 2026-11-03. Prices and features change: each link goes to the maker's own page.

1. Video Copilot: FX Console V1.0.7 post (features, requirements, downloads), checked 3 Nov 2026
2. Video Copilot home page: native M1 compatibility for its plug-ins
3. Adobe After Effects product page: US single-app price
4. Adobe Creative Cloud plans (India price)
5. Adobe After Effects free trial: platforms, refund window, membership
6. Adobe Help: TextEdit and the keyboard shortcuts file on Mac
7. Adobe Help: Effects and animation presets overview

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