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Voice typing in Adobe After Effects

Motion projects are handed over with comp names as the only documentation. Typally types what you say straight into Adobe After Effects — hold a key, talk, let go — so you can dictate anywhere Adobe After Effects lets you type.

Written by the team behind Typally. Adobe After Effects's own features are described as accurately as we can — check them yourself before switching anything.
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In short

  • Adobe After Effects's own dictation: None. Comp names, comments and notes are typed.
  • What Typally does instead: types into the focused window, so it works in Adobe After Effects and everywhere else you write.
  • Best used for: comp and layer naming

Does Adobe After Effects have built-in dictation?

None. Comp names, comments and notes are typed.

Why dictate in Adobe After Effects at all?

An After Effects project with two hundred layers named 'Shape Layer 43' is unusable by anyone else, including the person who made it three months later. Naming and commenting is the documentation, and it is skipped under deadline.

In practice people use it for: Comp and layer naming, project notes, client revision replies, and expression comments.

How to dictate in Adobe After Effects

Because Typally types at the system level rather than plugging into Adobe After Effects, setup is the same everywhere:

1

Get Typally running

Install, sign in, and it waits in the tray.

2

Open Adobe After Effects and click where you want the text

Make sure Adobe After Effects has the cursor in the intended field; that is the only thing that decides where words appear.

3

Speak with the key held down

Push to talk, say your piece, release to transcribe.

4

Read it before you move on

After Effects shortcuts are single-key and destructive in places. Be certain a text field is active.

What Typally adds in Adobe After Effects

Typally types into project notes, comment fields and your email, so the documentation that makes a project reusable gets written at handover rather than never. Mind the shortcuts — with no text field focused, After Effects reads keystrokes as commands.

What this looks like in practice

A motion designer comments the six expressions driving a template. The client's in-house team makes their own updates for a year instead of paying for every text change.

One habit that makes it work better

Comment your expressions. An expression with no comment is the thing nobody dares change, which means the whole comp becomes untouchable.

What to watch out for in Adobe After Effects

After Effects shortcuts are single-key and destructive in places. Be certain a text field is active.

Frequently asked questions

Does After Effects have dictation?

No. Its fields are typed.

What should be documented in a project?

Expressions and anything driven by them. Those are invisible in the timeline and terrifying to touch.

Can I dictate client replies?

Yes, and revision correspondence is where an editor's typing time actually goes.

Try it in Adobe After Effects

Free plan: 100 minutes of dictation a month, no card. Pro is $7.99/month if you want more.

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Also dictate in: Adobe Premiere Pro · DaVinci Resolve · Figma · Camtasia · Vimeo · see all apps