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archiemacmhor
Participant
February 16, 2022
Answered

Automation Tools Greyed Out

  • February 16, 2022
  • 3 replies
  • 3406 views

I have Elements 2022 on a Windows 10 PC.  Automate Tools is greyed out when in Expert Mode and when a photo is being worked on. Filter has no mention of any plug ins. Do I need a plug in and if so where can I access plug ins?

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer archiemacmhor

Thanks for your response. I have subsequently been able to scan and divide successfully up to six small images. most times it works well, with only the occasional hicup. All in all I am happy with the scanning/separating functions.

Thank you again.

3 replies

Greg_S.
Community Expert
Greg_S.Community Expert
Community Expert
February 17, 2022

@archiemacmhor said:

Divide Scanned Photos does work for me, but only for up to two images per file.

 

There is no limit to the number of photos on a scan that can be divided.  Here is an example I just made of 4 scanned photos that were accurately divided into 4 separate files.  In the past, I have had many more images on a single scan that can be divided accurately 90% of the time.  How accurate the division is depends on the quality of the scan, the spacing between each image and sometimes the content.  (Black and white photos sometimes have patterns or lines that may confuse the auto-division.)

 

A
archiemacmhorAuthorCorrect answer
Participant
February 20, 2022

Thanks for your response. I have subsequently been able to scan and divide successfully up to six small images. most times it works well, with only the occasional hicup. All in all I am happy with the scanning/separating functions.

Thank you again.

Greg_S.
Community Expert
Greg_S.Community Expert
Community Expert
February 16, 2022

Go to Image>Divide Scanned Photos.   It's not perfect, but works in most cases.

 

    A
    archiemacmhorAuthor
    Participant
    February 17, 2022

    Thanks for that suggestion. Divide Scanned  Photos does work for me, but only for up to two images per file. As I am not intending to scan a large number of photos it will be sufficient for me. But I do miss the old HP scanner software which would separate as many photos as you could fit on the scanner,

     

    Thanks again for your help.

    MichelBParis
    MichelBParis
    Legend
    February 16, 2022

    https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-elements-discussions/photoshop-elements-14-automation-tools-greyed-out/td-p/8773656

    and

    https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/file-gt-automation-tools-grayed-out-in-photoshop-elements-2018/td-p/11493413

     

    A
    archiemacmhorAuthor
    Participant
    February 16, 2022

    Thank you MichaelBParis for your quick response and the two links. I only wanted Automate Tools to automatically separate and crop a file with multiple images. It would appear that to do this I would need to download the Google Nik Collection and/or ON1. Each ON1 would cost £45.86, so for all the use I would have for it, it would not be cost justifyable. A simpler and cheaper option would be to buy readily available software that can separate multiple images just like my HP printer used to do before it was updated.

     

    I am puzzled as to why these greyed out menus are there if they cannot be used without additional software. It's like buying a new car fitted with windscreen wipers without the switch to operate them.

     

    Thank you again for your response.

    MichelBParis
    MichelBParis
    Legend
    February 16, 2022
    quote

    I am puzzled as to why these greyed out menus are there if they cannot be used without additional software. It's like buying a new car fitted with windscreen wipers without the switch to operate them.


    By @archiemacmhor

    The real problem is not that only some user are very interested with that option which give them a lot more editing power. It's that the name of the option is somewhat deceptive and lets users make asumptions about what kind of automation they may hope for. For instance, the option lets me use the very affordable Elements+ add-on with its huge number of useful scripts and recovered features from the full Photoshop.

    https://elementsplus.net/

     

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