Fixing missing fonts and the dreaded pink media

The missing-fonts dialog

After Effects lists every font it cannot find by name and family. Copy that list before you click OK, then install exactly those fonts. Partial installation still causes reflow, so install the whole list.

1. 1Screenshot or copy the missing-fonts list from the dialog.
2. 2Install each font from the source named on the item page.
3. 3Quit and reopen After Effects — installing while it runs does not refresh the list.
4. 4Reopen the project and confirm the dialog no longer appears.

Text that still looks wrong after installing fonts

Some foundries ship several cuts under one family name — Display, Text, Condensed. If the template was built with the Display cut and you installed Text, the family will be found but the widths will differ. Match the exact style name listed, not just the family.

Why media turns pink or shows “Media Offline”

Pink bars mean After Effects cannot decode a linked file. It is almost always one of three things: the file was moved or renamed, the codec is not installed on your machine, or the archive was extracted with a tool that broke the file paths.

1. 1Select the offline layer and check the file path in the Footage panel — it will show where After Effects is looking.
2. 2Relink to the correct file in your extracted folder (right-click → Replace Footage → File).
3. 3If the file exists but still renders pink, the codec is missing — install the codec or transcode the clip to ProRes or DNxHD.
4. 4If several files are offline at once, you probably opened the project from inside the zip. Extract it properly and reopen.

HEVC and some H.265 phone footage decode inconsistently on Windows. Transcoding to ProRes 422 before importing saves hours of grief on longer timelines.