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A great many production-oriented tasks are based on repetitive commands. Whether adjusting common color flaws, creating drop shadows, or converting a series of images to a different color mode, a large percentage of your work can be condensed to a routine sequence of steps. Photoshop's Actions automate the commands you apply to an image. Now, you can record a series of commands to play back with a single mouse click or keystroke. When used properly, it is one of Photoshop's most powerful and time-saving features. In this exclusive excerpt from Chapter 23 of Photoshop in a Nutshell, we'll take a look at the controls for the Actions palette, and offer some tips for using the palette effectively.

Actions Palette Strategies

The following sections offer advice on how to efficiently use the tools of the Actions Palette, as well as how to avoid some of the most commonly encountered pitfalls.

Strategic Recording Tips

Recording an Action is a straightforward process. Recording a complex Action that performs correctly the first time may take some practice.

Several commands and techniques are not recognized when you record an Action. While this may be confusing at first, there are workarounds and solutions for most problem areas. The following items are not included in a recorded Action.

Tools

You cannot record any edit made with one of Photoshop's tools. This includes painting, drawing selections, and changing the values in a tool's Options Palette. The only exceptions are changes to the foreground or background color.

As a solution, insert a stop in the Action at the point you wish to use a tool. This way, you can run an Action, have it pause while you make manual edits, then continue the Action. See Insert Stop under the Actions Palette Submenu.

Non-Image-Altering Commands

Mostly, these are commands from the View Menu and Window Menu -- zooming in and out, opening the image in a new window, and so forth. They also include panning and activating other images.

As a solution, most of these can be added using Insert Menu Item from the Actions Palette menu. If they cannot, you must insert a stop and apply the command manually. See Insert Menu Item under the Actions Palette Submenu.

Layer: Transform Commands

These include any command that uses a transform box: scaling, skewing, rotating, distorting, adding perspective, and applying a free transform. The problem is that the box needs to be adjusted manually. An Action containing a Transform command brings up a transform box, but it does not apply any changes. It tries to run the remaining commands without removing the box, which brings up an alert stating, "The selected command is not available."

As a solution, insert these commands into an Action by choosing Insert Menu Item from the palette submenu. After inserting a Transform command, insert a stop immediately afterward. Otherwise, the Action attempts to run the remaining commands while the Transform box is still active.

Incremental Movement

You cannot record any movements made with either the Move tool or the arrow keys.

As a solution, apply Layer: Transform: Numeric Transform to perform the movement while recording the Action.

Avoiding Image-Specific Commands

You may not be able to apply an Action to other images, depending on the methods used to record its commands. This defeats the purpose of Actions altogether. Following are some of the most common problems and some recommended solutions:

Selecting Layers

If a specific layer is selected while recording, the Action looks for that layer whenever it's run on another image. Problems arise when the Action cannot find a layer of the same name. When this happens, either part or none of the Action is performed.

As a solution, use menu commands or keyboard shortcuts whenever possible. For example, instead of manually selecting the bottom layer in the Layers Palette, type (Option-Shift) [Alt-Shift]-[ (the keyboard shortcut for selecting the bottom layer). This way, the shortcut is recorded instead of the manipulation of a particular layer.

Resetting Image Dimensions

By entering measurements in the Image: Image Size and Canvas Size dialogs, the results are absolute. This means the exact same values are applied to every image, regardless of their original dimensions. This can result in unintended image cropping, or images that are too large or small to perform the Action.

As a solution, use percentages when resizing whenever necessary. This keeps the changes proportional.

Avoiding Undesirable Save Commands

When you record a File: Save As or File: Save a Copy command, do not enter a new file name. If you do, that act is recorded, and every image that Action is applied to is saved under that name. If it's applied to a batch process, you could reduce hundreds of images to one single file -- the last one processed.

As a solution, leave the file name alone when recording a Save command. Simply save the file under its current name. All images affected by the Action will retain their original names as well.

Actions Control Buttons

The Control Buttons are found at the bottom of the Actions Palette, when the palette is in List view. The first three are labeled with the same symbols for Stop, Record, and Play found on most tape recorders and VCRs. In fact, their function is almost identical.

1. Stop:
   This button is only available when an Action is recording or playing. Click it to stop the current function. The Stop button has the same effect as choosing Stop Recording or Stop Playing from the palette submenu. Key equivalents include pressing the Escape key or (Command) [Control]-Period.



2. Record:
   Click this button to record additional commands into an existing Action. New commands are inserted after the currently selected item. If the Action itself is selected, new additions are placed at the end of the current list of commands. The Record button has the same effect as choosing Start Recording from the palette submenu.



3. Play:
   The effect of this button depends on the selected item.
   
   If an Action is selected, click this button to execute its sequence of commands. This is the same as choosing Play "Action Title" from the palette submenu.
   
   If a single command is selected from within an Action, click this button to execute the sequence from that point onward. This is the same as choosing Play From "Command Title" from the palette submenu.
   
   To play only the selected command, hold down the (Command) [Control] key while clicking this button. This is the same as choosing Play Only "Command Title" from the palette submenu.



4. New Action:
   Click this button to access the New Action dialog, similar to choosing New Action from the palette submenu. See New Action, later this chapter, for more info.



5. Delete:
   Click this button to permanently remove the currently selected item. An alert appears, asking if you want to delete the Action or command. Click OK to continue. To bypass the alert, hold down the (Option) [Alt] key while clicking Delete, or drag the item and drop it on the button.

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