Starting After Effects in watch-folder mode (Pro only)

You can start After Effects in watch-folder mode automatically. Simply save a project called Watch This Folder.aep. After Effects will watch the folder containing the project if you open that project. To start After Effects in watch-folder mode when you start your Windows or Mac OS computer, create a shortcut (Windows) or alias (Mac OS) to the Watch This Folder.aep project and move it to your Startup folder (Windows) or your Startup Items folder (Mac OS).

If you're running a Windows system, you can also launch After Effects in watch-folder mode using a command-line option. Choose Start > Run, type "C:\Program Files\Adobe\After Effects\afterfx.exe" -wf C:\temp. (adjust the application path as needed to reflect the exact folder name where you installed After Effects, and replace C:\temp with the path to your watch folder), and press Enter. You can also use this command line in batch files.