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After PS crashed the entire Action menu has been deleted
And there's nothing in the action folder
If the Action sets (folders) were saved from the Action panel menu, they can now be loaded from the panel menu. If the set was never saved, they are gone.
~ Jane
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If the Action sets (folders) were saved from the Action panel menu, they can now be loaded from the panel menu. If the set was never saved, they are gone.
~ Jane
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The thing is and I might be wrong i think that ppl mean the atn file itself keeps going missing. I did have over 60 actions saved on a folder called actions but they all go missing and I have to start again must be a reason for this ? Anyway thx for all help so far
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the reason is neglect. Adobe has neglected to fix this issue FOR DECADES.
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The .atn file is separate. What you see in the panel is the .psp file contents, which may or may not be saved to or loaded from an .atn file.
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use system backup: restore points in windows or time machine in macos
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Using a restore point may backup you Photoshop references in time if it does not you may be able to get your user ID old Photoshop if backup users Application data. They are in your user ID Photoshop preferences in a file named "Actions Palette.psp" On windows my path is
"C:\Users\(your User ID)\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop 2020\Adobe Photoshop 2020 Settings\Actions Palette.psp"
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Thank YOU sir for the windows path. Totally saved my day.
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I just had this hapen to me. I see the Actions Pallette in my folder view but if I go into PS, click load actions and go to that folder and try to load them the file isn't there. It acts as if it is not the correct folder type and doesn't show it. What am I doing wrong?
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Did you save the Set previously? Before you tried to load it? Action sets have a ".atn" extension. Try doing a search of your hard drive to see if you saved it in another location.
~ Jane
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If you are trying to load the .psp file into the panel, you can't. The panel loads .atn files.
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More here, however, I don't hold much hope... You just have to live and learn in this case:
https://prepression.blogspot.com/2017/01/photoshop-custom-action-file-backup.html
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I wrote a script to open the various preference file folders which may be hidden:
https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop/script-to-help-back-up-photoshop-settings/m-p/11517871
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Sadly, Adobe has refused to address this loooooooooong standing issue, leading to countless users losing countless hours of work. All that needs to be done is that Actions are autosaved to a folder where all the other settings in Ps are autosaved. That Adobe doesn't seem to care about this and the users who suffer from it just blows my mind. How many more decades do we need to wait before Actions are auto-saved (and synced/backed up to the cloud)?
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All that needs to be done is that Actions are autosaved to a folder where all the other settings in Ps are autosaved.
By @Earth Oliver
They are already.
In the Preferences folder there is a file called ActionsPalette.psp. All your actions are stored here. If you save out this file and wipe all your actions, you get them back by copying this file back in. I just tested this.
But that is obviously not the recommended method, partly because you can't tell what's in there, and partly because it doesn't safeguard against corruption. Like everything else in the Prefs folder, it is rewritten on every closeout, proper or irregular.
The recommended, and most practical/efficient way, is to save out as .atn from the panel.
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Well said, @D Fosse . And in addition to actions, everything that is customized needs to be saved: brushes, swatches, and gradients, to name just a few — but everything!
IMO, users have three choices:
Photoshop is 33 years old, and I suspect some of the staff were toddlers or unborn in 1990 when these decisions were first made. We don't know what they are working on or how hard it is to implement some of these changes to decades old code. But they do care. They care very much.
@Earth Oliver you might want to create a feature request following these guidelines: