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Troubleshooting
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Fixed and known issues
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- Unable to allocate memory | After Effects
- Error (21::31) starting After Effects after editing the keyboard shortcuts file | Mac OS 10.9 and later
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Fixed and known issues
Menus are disabled and Render Queue window is open in After Effects
Last updated on
Feb 2, 2026
Learn what causes menus to be dimmed in After Effects and how to resolve the issue.
Menus dimmed in After Effects
When you launch Adobe After Effects, most menu items are dimmed, and the only open panel is the Render Queue, which is full screen.
Reasons
You have launched After Effects in the After Effects Render Engine mode by doing one of the following:
- You selected the After Effects Render Engine icon instead of the normal After Effects application icon.
- There is a file named ae_render_only_node.txt in your documents folder as described in this article.
Solution
To resolve the problem, either launch After Effects using the normal application icon or remove instances of the ae_render_only_node.txt file.
Additional information
The ae_render_only_node.txt file can be in one of the following locations:
- macOS:
- /Users/[user name]/Documents/
- /Users/Shared/Adobe/
- Windows:
- C:\Users\[user name]\Documents
- C:\Users\Public\Documents\Adobe
Create stunning 3D animations in After Effects
Animate characters and illustrations, add motion to text, and more.
