Resources for Actions

[Coldbby]

Hi community,

I need to make an action set for one of my projects. I didn't need to use actions before, because I had never need to use it. Action feature is just amazing. We can make many automations with it. But surprisingly, there are very few resources on the web. I want to learn it from scratch. Is there a good online tutorial(s) or course(s) for actions? I decided to open this topic because I didn't find much resources. Where should I start? Thank you for your helpful answers in advance. 🙂

[Kurt Gold · Accepted solution]

Perhaps it is not the answer you were hoping for, but I think the most promising resource is probably this forum. Here.

You may just describe a specific task that may be automated by actions. I'm sure that you then can get valuable hints and instructions. Or even ready-made actions (or scripts) which you can examine in order to learn how they work.

[Coldbby]

Hi Kurt_Gold,

Thank you for this kindly answer. Sorry for delay. And I'm very sorry for this "lazy" question. Normally, I do not ask a question like this, especially on this forum. Illustrator is world's number one creative software on the market. But surprisingly, I didn't find much resources about actions and scripts (I mean book, tutorial, course, etc.)

I'm trying to divide an object and move the pieces to specific X-Y coordinates on same artboard, with using basic keyboard shortcuts like clipping mask, copy, paste, undo, redo, etc. I need to automate this process. This is what I'm trying.

I thought I could do this with action(s). But I think it is not possible.

In addition, there are keyboard & mouse macro softwares on the web, like Ghost Mouse, ReMouse, Macro Recorder, etc. I also tried these but they are not 100% useful for working with Illustrator.

[Kurt Gold]

Based on your general description of the task you are going to automate, I'm not quite sure if you are right when you say that it is probably not possible by using an action.

You would just have to provide a very detailed description of what you are going to achieve. Ideally, share a sample .ai file with clear instructions. So far, you have just provided a vague idea of the desired procedure. That's fine, but usually more detailed infos are required to even think about a possible route.

[Coldbby]

I made a short video about the task. Is this possible to run this automation with action(s)? My main problem is, I don't know that what Illustrator can do / can't do on automation side. Is there a way to do this process without a script?

Example (Video)  

example.ai  

Kurt_Gold,

Oh my God! This forum is a gold mine. You are right. I just started to learn Java Script. I would like to thank you for opening my eyes. 🙂

[Kurt Gold]

I watched at least a part of your video that tried to explain your task and I think it was a very good explanation. Unfortunately, it is not available anymore (as far as I can see).

Therefore I'm not sure if your specific task has already been solved. Or not.

You may just ask if there are further questions about actions in this case or probably in more general cases.