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bsnyder175
Inspiring
August 9, 2010
Question

Any way to edit actions in a text/script editor?

  • August 9, 2010
  • 5 replies
  • 95675 views

I need to duplicate a very long action about 5 times and make file-name saving changes to each step, but going through the resaving process 75 times is a pain in the ass.  It's a simple action that shows, saves, and hides 75 different layers individually.  But the naming of these saved files will be different depeing on the photoshop file I'm using (about 5 different variances).  Batch Processing just takes too long to do what my action will do in 10 seconds, so it seems like I'm stuck with using actions.  My question is:

Is there a way to edit actions through a text/script editor vs using Photoshop?  I could copy/paste/replace text much quicker than going through the actual saving process 375 times.

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    5 replies

    Stephen Marsh
    Community Expert
    Stephen MarshCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    January 29, 2019

    A late reply for the OP:

    Modifying Adobe Photoshop Action (*.atn) Files  (I personally have not tested this unknown Java app, execute at your own risk)

    V
    VinayMote
    Participant
    August 28, 2015

    Try this utility which helped me to change folder names in 2 min....

    below utility from blinkenbyte.org

    Modifying Adobe Photoshop Action (*.atn) Files

    G
    getdawson
    Participant
    January 7, 2014

    i need to do the same thing!! did anyone figure out an easy way to do this?

    X
    xbytor2
    Inspiring
    August 9, 2010

    This will convert an action file to XML:

    http://ps-scripts.cvs.sourceforge.net/viewvc/ps-scripts/xtools/apps/ActionFileToXML.jsx

    You can edit this file with a normal text editor.

    This will convert an XML file to an action file:

    http://ps-scripts.cvs.sourceforge.net/viewvc/ps-scripts/xtools/apps/ActionFileFromXML.jsx

    There are a few cases where this does not work. But they are not very common.

      Monmart
      Monmart
      Participant
      October 14, 2013

      xbytor2 wrote:

      This will convert an action file to XML:

      http://ps-scripts.cvs.sourceforge.net/viewvc/ps-scripts/xtools/apps/Ac tionFileToXML.jsx

      You can edit this file with a normal text editor.

      This will convert an XML file to an action file:

      http://ps-scripts.cvs.sourceforge.net/viewvc/ps-scripts/xtools/apps/Ac tionFileFromXML.jsx

      There are a few cases where this does not work. But they are not very common.

      This looks good but are these version sensitive? This post is about 3 years old and the current version is Photoshop CC.

      G
      getdawson
      Participant
      January 7, 2014

      Looks like my last post was eaten. The scripts should work from CS3 through CC.


      i am using CC and the script From Action to XML works but when i run the Action From XML script i get the mac spinning wheel of death.

      any help would be great!!

      I tested it on a smaller Action and it works fine on CC.. Maybe my ActionScript is just too big or something.

      It also has commands to save out differnet files as is goes through the action. Maybe thats it.

      Would be really cool if this worked for me though.. save hours if not days in recording action scripts if i could just duplicate a set of commands and rename custom file names in the XML file..

      D
      dmpetri
      Participating Frequently
      August 9, 2010

      Ctrl + Alt (Cmd + Opt on Mac) while click on Save Actions from the Actions panel flyout will give you a txt file. The problem is that I do not know about a way to re-convert this into an atn.

        B
        bsnyder175Author
        Inspiring
        August 9, 2010

        I tried the command+opt solution first, which spit out a text file containing every every action (rather than the set I had selected) and that was fine.  I made the changes, but when I tried loading that text file back into Photoshop's Actions pallet, it was unrecognizable as an action.  Just to confirm that it wasn't any faulty scripting, I saved out another copy of my actions and immediately tried to reload them back with that text file (I made no modifications) and again, the text file was unrecognizable.  How do I load the text version back into the Actions Pallet?  I've tried the Load command from the Pallet and also tried dragging the file directly into Photoshop.  No dice.

        Xbytor, I visited your 2 links, but don't understand how I implement my action file into that system.  Is it something I download?  When I visited the links, they were just browser pages filled with what looks like script.

        B
        bsnyder175Author
        Inspiring
        August 9, 2010

        I did some searching and came across this:

        (Photoshop only) Press Ctrl+Alt (Windows) or Command+Option (Mac OS) when you choose the Save Actions command to save the actions in a text file. You can use this file to review or print the contents of an action. However, you can’t reload the text file back into Photoshop.

        So, it seems this doesn't provide a way to edit actions.  You would think they're be a way to edit actions in a text editor though...

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