Pull and Push
Design Mode edits a local copy. Pull reads layers from After Effects onto the canvas, and Push writes your changes back. Between the two, After Effects does not change.
| Button | Pulls |
|---|---|
| Pull all | Every shape layer, mask and text layer in the active comp |
| Pull selected | Only the shape layers, masks and text layers selected in the timeline |
- Only layers that exist at the current time come across.
- Masks come with the layer they belong to, on any kind of layer.
- Text layers need After Effects 2024 or newer.
- A large pull builds on the canvas as it arrives, with a progress bar in place of the Pull buttons. Press Escape to stop it and keep what you had before.
- Pulling over edits you have not pushed asks Replace the canvas? first. Pull anyway discards them.
Push writes back only what changed, to the same layers, as one After Effects undo step. Shapes drawn in Design Mode are created on a new shape layer.
- A clean push shows Pushed to and the comp name, then fades. If it has notes, it stays up as a card listing them.
- Anything After Effects would not take is listed under Some edits did not land, with the reason. Everything else still lands. If nothing landed, the card reads Nothing was pushed.
- Locked layers are unlocked for the write and locked again after.
- Some structural changes (splitting layers, reordering them) take more than one After Effects undo step, and may ask you to pull before pushing again.
If layers were added, removed or reordered in After Effects since your pull, The layer stack changed in After Effects asks what to do: Push anyway, Push as new, or Cancel.
Push as new
Section titled “Push as new”Push as new creates everything on the canvas as new layers at the top of the comp and never touches an existing layer. Use it to keep the originals, or to send artwork to a different comp.
It carries the artwork’s appearance only, not the originals’ effects, keyframes, expressions or parenting. The message afterward names anything it could not carry over. Design Mode then pulls the new layers so the canvas matches them.
A canvas that was drawn on without ever pulling pushes as new automatically.
Keyframes and expressions
Section titled “Keyframes and expressions”- A keyframed property shows a diamond at the right of its Properties row: hollow when it has keyframes, filled when one sits at the time you pulled. Editing it adds a keyframe at that time.
- A property driven by an expression shows its value in red and cannot be edited in Design Mode.
- An Animated line at the top of Properties lists keyframed properties that have no row of their own, such as a layer’s Position or a path.
Design Mode reads the current time once, at the pull. Move the playhead and pull again to work at another time.
Recovering unpushed work
Section titled “Recovering unpushed work”Design Mode saves your canvas and its undo history as you work. If After Effects or the panel closes before you push, the next launch asks Recover canvas edits?:
- Restore draft puts the canvas back. It never changes After Effects.
- Discard deletes the draft.
- Closing the dialog keeps the draft for later.
After an After Effects restart, a restored draft shows Draft restored. Push is paused. Open the same saved project and comp, then click Reattach to push again. If the project has changed or was never saved, use Push as new instead.