◆ Adobe After Effects

Clean up After Effects project files

This is real work, not a feature someone invented — it comes from real job ads and real questions people asked. Below are four ready AI prompts: get it done, make it easy for the next person to say yes to, work out the right move when you are stuck, and stop it coming back.

3prompts

The same task, four prompts

today's deadline · the next reviewer · the stuck moment · the pattern
AExecute — do the immediate taskGo through the 'Annual Conference Opener' project file and remove all unused layers,…+
Go through the 'Annual Conference Opener' project file and remove all unused layers, compositions, and footage items. Consolidate any duplicate assets and organize the remaining elements into clearly labeled folders before archiving.
when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed. Helpful?
BDecide — diagnose the stuck momentThis 'Corporate Anthem' project file is huge and keeps crashing, especially when I try to…+
A large project file is crashing frequently, and I suspect it's due to bloat or corruption, but I can't pinpoint the problem.
This 'Corporate Anthem' project file is huge and keeps crashing, especially when I try to render. I suspect it's bloated with unused assets or maybe even some corrupted elements, but I can't find the source. I need to get this rendered by tomorrow morning, and I'm worried that trying to clean it manually will just break it further. What's the safest first step to diagnose and clean this file without losing progress?
when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed. Helpful?
CBecome — change the patternI consistently find my project files becoming massive and disorganized as I work, slowing down…+
My project files always seem to become unwieldy and slow down my workflow over time.
I consistently find my project files becoming massive and disorganized as I work, slowing down my machine and making it hard to find things. This often leads to missed deadlines and frustration. What habit should I change to keep my project files lean and organized from the start, so they don't become a burden later?
when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed. Helpful?

Questions people actually ask

honest answers, no sign-up

Every task here was seen in the real world. Someone doing the job named it, a real job ad asked for it, or a lot of people asked about it online.

If nothing real showed a task, it is not on the page. That is the whole rule.

They are the same job approached four ways, because what you need depends on where you are.

Get it done today. Make it easy for the next person to say yes to. Work out the right move when you are stuck. Learn the pattern so the job stops coming back.

For most of these jobs it can carry the heavy thinking - draft it, sort it, check it, rehearse it with you.

It cannot sit in your chair, take the blame when a number is wrong, or notice what nobody wrote down. Let it do the first 80%. Keep the last 20% that is truly yours.

No. Copy any prompt and paste it into the AI you already use. No account, no score, no wall in the way.

Any of them. The prompts describe the work rather than naming a product, so they are not tied to one assistant.

That is also why they keep working when you switch.

Change it freely. Every prompt is a starting line, not a rule.

Put in your real numbers, your real names and your real deadline. The more you make it yours, the better the answer comes back.

The tasks come from real job ads, published job data and the questions people ask in public forums.

The steps come from Adobe After Effects's own documentation, with practitioner sources for the traps the manual does not mention.

Push once. Ask it to sharpen the weakest part and to say what it assumed.

Most wrong answers come from a missing detail rather than a bad prompt - tell it the thing it could not know.