After Effects Reset · macOS only

Clear After Effects cache, fix crashes, and repair broken previews on your Mac.

After Effects can quietly fill your disk, slow your Mac to a crawl, and crash during renders when its cache and preferences become corrupted. This reset tool safely clears AE's disk cache, temp folders, and prefs, then resets the app into a clean state without you hunting through hidden Library paths.

View All Reset Tools

macOS only · fully signed and notarised

What After Effects Reset can fix

  • Renders failing or hanging partway through
  • Preview not playing, stuttering, or showing blank frames
  • Disk cache using tens or hundreds of gigabytes
  • Crashes on launch or during heavy compositions
  • Corrupted preferences and broken workspace layouts

You pick how deep to go — from a cache-only clean to a full After Effects reset.

Why After Effects breaks on macOS

After Effects is one of the most demanding apps Adobe ships. It writes huge cache folders, temp renders, and preview data, and depends heavily on GPU, CPU, and disk performance. When its caches or preferences get corrupted, you see crashes, missing previews, or renders that never finish.

Disk cache overload

AE's disk cache can silently grow beyond 100 GB, filling your drive and causing constant frame re-rendering, dropped previews, and slow performance.

Corrupt cache and temp folders

Broken cache files and temp renders stop previews from generating correctly or trigger repeat errors in the render queue.

Bad preferences and workspaces

Damaged preference files or workspace layouts can cause AE to crash on startup or fail when opening certain projects.

GPU and preview issues

AE uses GPU acceleration for previews and effects. When GPU settings or cache are corrupted, you get glitches or blank frames.

Leftover files from old versions

Upgrading AE without cleaning older versions often leaves behind stale caches and config files that interfere with new installs.

Note: A deeper reset will remove After Effects cache, temp renders, preference files, and workspace layouts. If you rely on custom presets, export or back them up first.

How After Effects Reset works

It’s a signed macOS installer package that runs a clear, auditable post-install script. No extra binaries, no background services, and nothing phoning home.

1

Stop After Effects and related processes

Force-quits After Effects and Adobe helper processes so cache and preference files can be deleted safely.

2

Clear disk cache and temp renders

Deletes AE's disk cache, preview cache, and temp render folders that waste space and break previews.

3

Reset preferences and workspaces

Removes corrupted prefs and workspace files, forcing AE to rebuild them cleanly on the next launch.

4

Final cleanup and restart

Cleans up log files, old cache folders, and obsolete directories before relaunching Finder for a fresh start.