Help! Recorded action not removing background for WebP

[Cédric31799117ba43]

Hello,

I created a simple action in Photoshop to go from a TIFF file, merge the layers, create a selection the included path and inverse it, delete the background, convert to RGB, and then save as WebP file.

When I do the process manually, everything is fine. But once I play the action, either on one file or in a batch, it doesn't remove the background. Which is weird, because it works when I record the action. I have no idea why the action itself doesn't work. I have a lot of files to transfer to WebP, so I don't want to do this manually for each of them since it would be so time-consuming.

Any idea what the problem could be?

[Stephen Marsh]

Post a screenshot of the action with ALL steps expanded/disclosed so that the details are visible.

[Cédric31799117ba43]

The Delete action is the one that doesn't seem to register. Tried removing all the action after Delete and running the action, and it doesn't work.

[Stephen Marsh · Accepted solution]

@Cédric31799117ba43 – Record adding a layer mask from selection rather than delete.

[Bojan Živković]

Is there a checkmark on the left side of the delete step? Just checking.

[Cédric31799117ba43]

Yes

[r-bin · Accepted solution]

If the path is selected (highlighted), then the Delete command will delete the path and not the pixels in the selection. If so, you must insert the Deselect Path command before deleting.

[Cédric31799117ba43]

The path isn't highlighted after the selection is made, but you're right, the path is what ends up being deleted. Though that doesn't happen when recording the action. No idea how it switches from deleting the layer information to deleting the path just because of the action.

[r-bin]

The path isn't highlighted after the selection is made, but you're right, the path is what ends up being deleted. Though that doesn't happen when recording the action. No idea how it switches from deleting the layer information to deleting the path just because of the action.

By Cédric31799117ba43

You can see that the path is specially selected at first "Select path Path1". Then you create a selection. The operation of creating a selection from a path via ctrl+click or via the drop-down menu "Make selection..." deselects the path. This moment (deselection) is not recorded in the action, only the moment of creating the selection. This can lead to the fact that everything can go wrong. Perhaps this behavior is a bug.

[Stephen Marsh]

The Delete action is the one that doesn't seem to register. Tried removing all the action after Delete and running the action, and it doesn't work.

By Cédric31799117ba43

Following up on the post from @r-bin – I too think that the issue is that you need to record the "deselect current path" before delete:

[Bojan Živković]

If your files consistently contain Path 1, then do not select a path before converting to a selection. Instead, use Ctrl + click on the path's thumbnail to load the selection while recording; it should work without any issues. I believe you always have Path 1 in your files because there isn't an Insert Path step.

Here is how action should appear from the outset:

[Stephen Marsh]

While on the general topic of batch saving to WebP, I have a batch script that can run an action here:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/export-many-files-at-once-in-webp-for...

Another option would be to add WebP to the following script from @willcampbell7 

https://www.marspremedia.com/software/photoshop/batch-web-images

EDIT:

I have updated William's script to include WebP and have created a repository here:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/MarshySwamp/Batch-Web-Images/refs/heads/main/Batch%20Web%20Images....