Known Participant

Custom Action not listed in File > Automate > Batch; after workaround Batch fails with "command not currently available"

Forum|Forum|1 day ago
September 7, 2026
4 replies
29 views

A custom Action (created in the Actions panel) does not appear in the Action dropdown of the File > Automate > Batch dialog.

Workaround to make it appear: open a document, select the Action in the Actions panel, then close the document — after that the Action shows up in Batch.

However, when running Batch with this Action, Photoshop returns the error: "The command '[command name]' is not currently available" — i.e. Batch cannot find a command recorded inside the custom Action. The same Action runs without any issues when played manually from the Actions panel (Play).

Steps to reproduce:

Create a new Set and Action in the Actions panel, record several steps.
Open File > Automate > Batch — the Action is missing from the dropdown.
Open a document, select the Action in the Actions panel, close the document.
Open File > Automate > Batch again — the Action is now listed.
Select a Source folder, run Batch.

Srishti Bali

Community Manager

Hi @artur_0832

Thanks for reaching out. This happens when your newly created action is not part of any of the action sets (groups) shown in the screenshot above.

In the Actions panel, click the folder icon to create a new set. Once the set is created, add your action to it.

Then go to File > Automate > Batch. You should now see the newly created group listed under Set. Once you select the group, your action should appear under Action.

Hope this helps!

Thanks, Srishti Bali | Community & Engagement Strategist, Digital Imaging | Adobe

artur_0832Author

Known Participant

Hi Srishti,

Thanks for the reply — but it only addresses the first half of the report, and I had actually already described that part myself: the Action does show up in Batch once you select it in the Actions panel and close the document. So the listing issue has a workaround, even if a clunky one.

The core problem is the second half, which your answer doesn't touch: once the Action is listed and selected in Batch, it doesn't run. Photoshop stops with "The command 'Image Size' is not currently available" (screenshot attached). Image Size is a standard command, the Action is in a proper Set, and the very same Action plays fine manually from the Actions panel. This happens in both the current stable release and the Beta.

So there are really two issues here: a UX one — a custom Action that has to be "activated" by opening and closing a document before Batch will list it is hard to see as intended behavior — and a functional one, where Batch simply can't execute a recorded command. Could you please have someone look into the second part specifically? Happy to provide the .atn file, logs or a screen recording if that helps.

Thanks again for picking this up.

Srishti Bali

Community Manager

Thank you for sharing these details, Arthur. Could you please share the Action file (.atn) with us? You can save/export the Action, upload it to a cloud storage service such as Dropbox or Google Drive, and share the link here.

Also, could you please confirm whether the issue is specific to this particular Action or if it occurs with all custom Actions? This will help us reproduce the issue and investigate it further.

Thanks, Srishti Bali | Community & Engagement Strategist, Digital Imaging | Adobe

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