Photoshop Actions

One of the great things about working on a Mac is the ability to customize and script almost every aspect of your daily routine with ease. This functionality extends to every application, either by inclusion within their code or by using AppleScript. Adobe has provided Actions within Photoshop for several versions now, but many artists I know do not use them to streamline their workflow.

One of the easiest ways to create an action is simply to record your process within Photoshop. Go to the Actions pane, under Window > Actions menu or the option+ F9 keys, to begin the process.



As you can see I use quite a bit of actions at work. Clicking the Create New Action button, at the footer or in menu, will bring up this dialogue box:



Name the action whatever you like, choose the Set it will become part of



and if you want it to have any function key or color. Once you are satisfied with your direction click Record and you will be able to make your Actions. Once you are done recording select Stop Recording and your Action will be available for use.

But suppose you just want to make a simple action for those menu items that have no key control. Well follow the steps to Record and immediately stop recording the Action. Now with the Action still selected in the menu pane, go the Action Menu and select Insert Menu Item.



Another dialogue box will open:



Now go to the menu item you want and select it, for sake of argument I chose Fill (even though it now has its own key command):



And click OK. You have now added this menu item to the Action and it will pop the Fill dialogue box whenever you call that Action. I have a multitude of Actions scripted for different projects ranging from Photography to Video and the Web. They streamline my workflow and making my sessions more efficient as well as provide the opportunity to batch script a series of images.

I hope you find this useful for your workflow. As always, your comments are welcomed.