Automating a multistep task
An action is a set of one or more commands that you record and then play back to apply to a single file or a batch of files. In this exercise, you'll see how actions can help you save time by applying a multistep process to the four images you'll use in this project.Using actions is one of several ways that you can automate tasks in Adobe Photoshop. To learn more about recording actions, see Photoshop Help.Opening and cropping the files
You'll start by resizing four files. Since this part of the task involves aesthetic choices about where and how much of the image to crop, you'll do these steps manually rather than record them with the Actions palette.
| 1. | Click the Info tab in the Navigator palette group to bring that palette forward. | | 2. | In the toolbox, select the Crop tool ( ). Hold down Shift to constrain the shape to a square, and drag around the pears. When you finish dragging, be careful to release the mouse button first and then the Shift key.Dragging and pressing Shift Cropped image | | 3. | Examine the width (W) and height (H) values in the Info palette. If you've drawn a perfect square, the pixel counts will be identical. | | 4. | If necessary, make any adjustments to the selection so that the pears are centered in the cropping marquee and fit fairly snugly inside it:If the width and height are not equal, drag a corner until the W and H values in the Info palette are identical. (Do not hold down Shift.)To move the marquee, click inside it and drag until it is positioned properly.To resize the marquee, hold down Shift and drag one of the corners to make the marquee larger or smaller. | | 5. | When you are satisfied with the crop selection, double-click inside the crop area, or press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS) to apply the cropping.Because you're working with a number of files, you'll rename the 12Start.jpg file with a descriptive name so that it will be easy to identify. | | 6. | Choose File > Save As, and save the cropped image as Pears.jpg in your Lesson12 folder. If a dialog box appears with options for image quality, click OK to accept the default settings. | | 7. | Repeat Steps 2 through 5 for the three other JPEG images in the Lesson12 folder: Leaves.jpg, Dandelion.jpg, and Sand.jpg, and then choose File > Save instead of Save As to save each of the files. (You don't need to rename them.) |
NoteIt is not necessary to make all the cropped images the same size. You will adjust their sizes again later in this lesson.   Cropped versions of the Leaves, Dandelion, and Sand JPEG filesLeave all the newly cropped files open for the next procedures.Preparing to record an action
You use the Actions palette to record, play, edit, and delete individual actions. You also use the Actions palette to save and load action files. You'll start this task by opening a new document and preparing to record a new action in the Actions palette.
| 1. | Click the Actions tab in the History palette group to bring the Actions palette forward, or choose Window > Actions to accomplish the same thing. | | 2. | At the bottom of the Actions palette, click the Create New Set button ( ). Or, create a new set by choosing New Set from the Actions palette menu. | | 3. | In the New Set dialog box, type My Actions, and click OK. | | 4. | Choose Window > Dandelion.jpg to make that file active. |
Recording a new action set
For this project, you'll want the images to be identical sizes and for each to have a narrow white border. You'll perform those tasks now on the dandelion image. You'll start by setting the image dimensions to a specific number of pixels, and then you'll apply a stroke to the image. As you work, you'll set up the Actions palette to record each step of the process.NoteIt is important that you finish all the steps in this procedure without interruption. If you become distracted and need to start over, skip ahead to Step 10 to stop the recording. Then, you can delete the action by dragging it onto the Delete button ( ) in the Actions palette, and start again at Step 1.
| 1. | In the Actions palette, click the Create New Action button ( ) or choose New Action from the Actions palette menu. | | 2. | In the New Action dialog box, type Size & Stroke in the Name field and make sure that My Actions is selected from the Set pop-up menu. Then click Record.NoteTake all the time you need to do this procedure accurately. The speed at which you work has no influence on the amount of time required to play a recorded action. | | 3. | Choose Image > Image Size. | | 4. | Make sure that both the Constrain Proportions and the Resample Image check boxes are selected at the bottom of the Image Size dialog box. For the Width, type 275, and make sure that pixels is selected as the unit of measurement. Then click OK. | | 5. | Choose Select > All. | | 6. | Choose Edit > Stroke. | | 7. | In the Stroke dialog box, make sure that the following options are selected, or select them now:Width should be 1 pixel.In the Color swatch, use white, or select it by clicking the swatch to open the Color Picker, selecting white (C, M, Y, and K = 0), and clicking OK to close the picker.For Location, leave Center selected.For Blending, leave Mode set to Normal and Opacity set at 100%. | | 8. | Then click OK to close the Stroke dialog box. | | 9. | Choose Select > Deselect.  Stroke dialog box settings and resulting border on image | | 10. | In the Actions palette, click the Stop button ( ) at the bottom of the palette to stop recording steps. Save your work. |
 Your action is now saved in the Actions palette. You can click the arrows to the left of the My Actions set, the Size & Stroke action, and beside each step of that action to expand and collapse them at your convenience. With these expanded, you can examine each recorded step and the specific selections you made. When you finish reviewing the action, click the arrows to collapse the steps.Playing an action on an individual file
Now that you've recorded the process of setting the image size and stroke characteristics for the dandelion image, you can use the action as an automated task. You'll apply the Stroke & Size action to one of the other three image files that you cropped earlier in this lesson.
| 1. | If the Leaves.jpg, Pears.jpg, and Sand.jpg files are not still open, use Adobe Bridge or choose File > Open and open them now. | | 2. | Choose Window > Document > Sand.jpg to make that image active. | | 3. | In the Actions palette, select the Size & Stroke action in the My Actions set, and then click the Play button ( ), or choose Play from the Actions palette menu.  The Sand.jpg image is automatically resized and given a stroke so that it now matches the Dandelion.jpg image for these properties. | | 4. | Choose File > Save. |
Batch-playing an action
Applying actions is a time-saving process for performing routine tasks on files, but you can streamline your work even further by applying actions to all open files. Two more files in this project need to be resized and given strokes, so you'll apply your automated action to them simultaneously.
| 1. | Close the Dandelion.jpg and Sand.jpg files, saving the changes if you're prompted. Make sure that only the Pears.jpg and Leaves.jpg files are open. | | 2. | Choose File > Automate > Batch. | | 3. | Under the Play section of the Batch dialog box, make sure that My Actions is chosen for Set, and that Size & Stroke is chosen for Action. | | 4. | In the Source pop-up menu, choose Opened Files. | | 5. | Leave Destination set as None, and click OK. The action is applied to both the pears and leaves images, so the files have identical dimensions and strokes. | | 6. | Choose File > Save and then File > Close for each of the two open files. |
In this exercise, you batch-processed two files instead of making all the same changes in each of them; this was a mild convenience. But creating and applying actions can save significant amounts of time and tedium when you have dozens or even hundreds of files that require any routine, repetitive work. |
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