Droplet wont open two files and process them

Question

Hi, I am relatively new to actions and droplets, but have made 3 actions that works perfectly within photoshop and want to make it into a droplet. The 3 actions are:

action 2 and 3: Copy and paste the vertical image onto the horisontal image, add a solid color layer, add a graduated mask, add drop shadow and frame to vertical layer and save as copy in same folder as origin. (these are 2 actions doing the same depending on whether the active document that are opened are vertical or horisontal in orientation.

action 1 is a conditional action only saying: If document is landscape, then run action 2, else run action 3.

Within photoshop this works perfectly (then I have 2 images loaded). But when I make a droplet of action 1 and add two images, I get the erromessage saying the command "IF" is not available.

I spent some time with adobe support yesterday, but they were unable to help. I am suspecting the issue is related to the open command...does the droplet open 1 image, then runs the action, and after action has run, opens the next image and so on? Or will it try to open both images first and then run the action? Anyone has experience with similar issue?

Stephen Marsh · Answer

I am suspecting the issue is related to the open command...does the droplet open 1 image, then runs the action, and after action has run, opens the next image and so on?

By @thomash46409394

Yes, however, it depends on whether you have a close step in the action as to whether the processed images remain open or not.

Droplets are closely related to the Batch command, they are both designed to open and process one image at a time. Other documents can already be opened and used as the source for other operations, however, depending on the operations performed. batch actions may sometimes get confused as to which document is which.

Batch:

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/processing-batch-files.html#process_a_batch_of_files

Droplets:

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/processing-batch-files.html#create_a_droplet_from_an_action

It sounds like you need a script, not an action.

Are the sets of two files in the same folder, or two different folders?

What criteria should Photoshop use to open each set of two images? Is this just a simple alpha-numeric filename sort?

A couple of examples, where 2 or moe files are opened and combined into sets of N quantity layers:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/script-to-automate-load-files-into-stack/m-p/13499068#U14928257

https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/script-to-open-files-and-layer-them/m-p/12532657#U14933502

I'm happy to make adjustments to one of my current scripts to help you batch 2 images at a time, I just need to understand your workflow and process.

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