Using action palette to automate Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop lets you automate tasks by grouping a series of commands into a single action. For example, you can create an action that applies a series of filters to reproduce a favorite effect or combine commands to prepare images for online publishing. Actions can be grouped into sets to help you better organize your actions. Using the example above, you could create a set of actions, where each action applied a different series of filters. You can use an action on a single file or on a batch (multiple files in the same folder).

You use the Actions palette to record, play, edit, and delete actions. It also lets you save, load, and replace action sets.

To display the Actions palette:

Choose Window > Show Actions.

A. Toggles command on or off B. Toggles modal control on or off C. Set D. Action E. Recorded command F. Stop Playing/Recording G. Record H. Play I. New Set J. New Action K. Trash

You can display actions in the Actions palette in either list view or button view. In list view, sets can be expanded to display actions, which in turn can be expanded to display individual commands. Commands can then be expanded to display recorded values.

To display actions as buttons:

Choose Button Mode from the Actions palette menu. Choose Button Mode again to return to the list view.

To expand and collapse sets and commands:

Click the triangle to the left of the set or command in the Actions palette.