Scripts in actions with no open documents

[Doug A Roberts]

hello all,

Might be rather a niche question but hopefully someone's in the same boat. I use a script every day that opens an AI file and embeds JPEGs in it, so i was rather hopeful that when Adobe announced they'd fixed the bug involving scripts in actions surviving restarts I'd be able to use an f-key for this.

when i access the script from the file menu it doesn't matter if any files are open or none, the script runs as expected. however, recorded as an action (with Insert Menu Item) I get the message:

'The object "ScriptName" is not currently available.'

unless there is already an open document.

Does anyone use this method to run scripts that either open documents or otherwise shouldn't require an open document? Have they worked or generated errors?

edit: uservoice link. Please visit and vote if you also have this issue:

https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447-illustrator-bugs/suggestions/32234404-playing-script...

[Silly-V]

Does it do this any time there is no open document, or just before you open the first document after a restart?

[Doug A Roberts]

any time. i open a doc (or start a new one), it runs. I close all open docs, no go.

[Silly-V]

How unfortunate. A good find. I guess the only thing to try at this time would be to incorporate opening a particular file with your action and see if this lets you run the script following that. At least with script you can logically tell that this is your designated dummy file and therefore it can be ignored or closed.

While completely not the same, this does remind me of MS Office products where their macros actually live inside documents, and to have a collection of macros you've got to have a special workbook always open in Excel which contains the code.

[Disposition_Dev]

can you set your action to create a blank document before it runs the script? then close that document at the end?

not exactly ideal, but it may work.

[Doug A Roberts]

Thanks chaps. that would be a workaround, but it's not worth the trouble right now. i reported it on uservoice, please vote if you're at all interested:

Playing scripts via action with no open documents – Adobe Illustrator Feedback

[jackary333]

I'm having this problem as well.

[Doug A Roberts]

Did you visit the uservoice link I posted above and vote?

[jackary333]

Yup I sure did 🙂

[Doug A Roberts]

I'm afraid with only two votes this one may be at the back of the queue.

[jackary333]

I know, it really sucks. That's why I've just caved in and I have my action opening a new doc before running script every time. I have to close new doc manually cuz i can't figure out how to close it with action or script instead of closing the template I had the script open.