I'm having trouble using actions.

[terry lee martin]

I have been using actions in Photoshop since they were added as a feature but something has happened that I don't understand. 

I have brought 24 photos into Photoshop to edit.

All I am trying to do is to create an action which will save the photo I am working on while replacing the original, and then close that file and bring up the next one I want to work on.

Let me give you an example. I have the folder open on my desk top and I drag and drop 24 files into Photoshop. Lets assume those photos are named DSC00252 - DSC00271. I'm working on DSC00254 in Photoshop. After adjusting this file I run an action that was created to save the finished photo I was just working on, close that file, thereby bringing up the next one to work on in Photoshop. I'm watching the folder where the saved photo has been directed to be placed. It is the same folder it original came from when I placed it into Photoshop. The original file DSC00254 is left untouched and exactly where it was originally located before I started working on it. However, now I find that my DSC00267 file is no longer in my folder. That number is still there but the image of DSC00267 has been replaced with the image of file DSC00254.  

I've attached a screen shot of my folder to make it very clear what I'm talking about. I've got 3500 photos to process and I'm hoping to find an answer to this problem before beginning that task. Thank you.

[JJMack]

Posting your Folder does not help us see what has taken Place. Please expand your action so all steps and their recorded setting can be seen.   Then post a screen caprure of the Action se we see what has been going on.

[terry lee martin]

Hello JJMack,

Here is the action and the result. DSC00253 was brought into photoshop and the action to save and close was initiated. The result was that it replaced DSC00254. There are only two steps. If there is a way to display more of what the details of the action are I'm not sure how to do that. Perhaps you can help me with that?

Here is what it looks like when I expand those two steps.

[r-bin]

If the "In:" line contains a file name, you need to overwrite the action so that only the folder name is present. To do this, save any file to this folder but do not change the name.

[JJMack]

I ask you to fully expand your action so we can see all your steps and  their recorded  setting you expanded only a save step and your palette is sized narrow  so the step recorded settings are truncated. 

[jane-e]

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@JJMack wrote:

you expanded only a save step 

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Both steps are expanded, JJ, but there is nothing to see in the last step.

~ Jane

[JJMack]

It is also marrow and truncated so the setting can not be seen.

[terry lee martin]

Thanks for your help JJMack. I'm sorry, I didn't notice part of the address was being cut off in the save part of the action. The close portion of the action is opened and expanded but there isn't any info there. Unless I'm doing something wrong.

I had worked on DSC00253 image. You can see that it overwrote image DSC00254 and removed that image all together and left the original file alone.

[JJMack]

The step will always save that file you recorded a file name in the step.  If you look at the step in my action you will see I showed there is no file name on the step.  Photoshop will default the name to the document's  name that is being edited.

You should Read what is recorded in you Actions make sure setting are what you want them to be.   Do you want absolute number of Pixels, or a unit like inches  or a relative percentage recorded.  Read what you record....

[terry lee martin]

JJMack, I just noticed something. I had been using "Ctrl s" to save and "Ctrl w" to close. Many of my photos needed no changes to the image after I made the global changes in Camera Raw. I decided to try to go to file, then down to save, instead of the "Ctrl s" method. I found that the save option was dimmed out. So when I was using "Ctrl s" to create the action Photoshop must have interpreted that as something I didn't expect. 

Now when I create the action I use the file - save method, and everything works perfectly. 

It would also work now with "Ctrl s" if there had been a change to the file I was using to create the action. That would have undimmed the Save function and created an effective action. Thanks for all the help. 

[JJMack]

Ctrl+S is Save that has no settings.  However, if you  have added layers to a flat jpeg file's document  and you user Crtl+S  Save will switch to  to Shift+Ctrl+S Save As to give you the opportunity to save a layers file like a PSD.   If you are recording an  action  a Save As step will be recorded not a Save step.

Here is a test.  I brush a jpeg to make a change  I then recorded an action  Ctrl+S Save and it recorded as Save. I then used Ctrl+Shift+Alt+N add layer. Then recorder Ctrl+S  however Save Switch to  Save As I saved over the Jpeg and a Save AS was recorder  with no file name recorded in the step. I brush a stroke then clicked the Close X icon and replied no to save. You need to read what is recorded into actions you record....

 ]

[terry lee martin]

JJMack, I very much appreciate your patience with me in attempting to help me solve my problem. I hope I will not be trying your patience just a bit more but I'm still a little confused and could use your advice. 

May I trouble you to help me by first allowing me to explain step by step what I'm attempting to do? And then secondly, would you please show me step by step the procedure to create an action to acomplish this? I'm certain that will clearly show me what I am doing incorrectly.

I have a folder of several hundred jpg photos. Totally I will be using this action to complete the processing over over 2500. I want to be able to run them through Camera Raw and make several individual adjustments to them. I want then to open them all into Photoshop. Here I will be doing sevearal different things depending on the image. For some I will be replacing the sky, and for others I'm be removing people, or trash, or other things from the image. I most likely will also need to do some dodging and burning adjustments.

At some point I will have all the needed adjustments made to my image. There will most likely be several Photoshop layers for many of the images. This is the point where I would like to make an action. I want the action to ---
1. flatten the image in Photoshop.
2. Save the jpg image to the same folder while replacing that original file with this altered image as a jpg.
3. Close that image in Photoshop.

I'm obviously doing something wrong, so if you can lay out the steps I need to follow, I would very much appreciate it. Thank you JJMack

[JJMack]

With  legacy Save AS you can save both a layered version and a Flat Jpeg version of your document.  Flattening the document to save the Jpeg version is not requited  the jpeg file will be a flatten background jpeg file. Save your layers if you may want to edit the image in the future preserve you current work it will be easier to edit the layered  document than the modified flatten imaged. If the Jpeg was the originals file save as will ask if you want you replace it.  Normally is not a good Idea to replace file in an actions.  If something did not go correctly in that action you destroy your source image.

Though I know how to use save and save as  in Actions I can not say that  I use actions that have save steps for actions do not have the ability to save files as well as scripts  can.   I would highly recommend that you do not use save steps in actions.  Create your Actions without saved steps and have a script  like the Processor Pro  use your actions to process your image files and have the script save the output file you want.  Even if you make a mistake  Image Processor Pro will not destroy any existing file saving over it. If the output file exist it it for the current document the script will not replace it.  Image Processors  scripts will only write new output file. They will add a suffix number to the file name if there  is that filetype and file name in the output folder.  Do not shoot yourself in the foot.

Crafting Actions Package UPDATED Aug 10, 2014 Added Conditional Action steps to Action Palette Tips.
Contains

• Action Actions Palette Tips.txt
• Action Creation Guidelines.txt
• Action Dealing with Image Size.txt
• Action Enhanced via Scripted Photoshop Functions.txt
• CraftedActions.atn Sample Action set includes an example Watermarking action
• Sample Actions.txt Photoshop CraftedActions set saved as a text file.
• More then a dozen Scripts for use in actions

Example
Download]

[terry lee martin]

Thanks again JJMack. Lots of information and I'll be going through all of it. I appreciate the warning against working on originals and saving back to the same folder. I did learn that less the hard way several years ago and since then I never work on originals. I create a copy of all the photos, put them in a separate folder, and work on them from there. I'm always going to leave my originals untouched. 

I usually work only on Raw files. This trip my wife took her camera along and it is just a point and shoot camera and saves only as jpg. When I work with Raw files I don't have the problem I'm trying to solve right now. The originals are in the folder as a ARW file. When I create an action the final result saved is a jpg and I still have the untouched ARW file.  Thanks much.

I did find a simple solution to my problem with the help of you and the community. I wasn't aware of the feature in Photoshop to "save a copy." All I needed to do was to set up a separate folder, and when creating the action, I simply instruct the action to send the saved photo to this separate folder. Problem solved. Later I can then combine those completed files now identified as a copy in with my originals and have the same result as I get when working with my Raw files. The original and processed files together in the same folder. 

[Bojan Živković]

Can you enlarge Actions panel to see what else is recorded in your Save step? It seems you are saving in OneDrive synced folder? When recording action do not touch file name, file name should not be recorded in Save step (In:path without actual filename).

[terry lee martin]

Thanks for offering to help Bojan. Please see the reply I just sent to JJMack above.

I noticed that the action changed the file number. I didn't mention the file number at all when creating the action. Somehow the action decided to do that by itself. Or I'm doing something I shouldn't be doing. But I definitely didn't mention the file number at all when creating the action.

When creating the action I used the "Ctrl s" keystroke method to save the file, and to close it I used "Ctrl w".

[Stephen Marsh · Accepted solution]

Were the JPEG files previously saved by Photoshop, or are they saved directly from a camera or other software than Photoshop?

If the originals are JPEG from Photoshop, and you are saving over the top of them as JPEG with the same filename, then remove the recorded save step and use the action insert menu item command to simply record save. The files will be saved with the same name and location and JPEG settings.

If an action has a recorded filename, it will always use this name when running the action from Photoshop with a manual command on a single image. Using a Batch command offers the ability to "overwrite action save as command" which will ignore the recorded filename in the action.

[terry lee martin]

Hello Stephen,
The photos were all downloaded into a folder on my hard drive when we returned from this trip. I pulled them into Bridge in order to get them into Adobe Camera Raw and make some standard adjustments that I make to all my photos before going in and doing individual photo editing, and placed them into a separate folder away from my originals. When I began the individual photo edits is when I noticed what was happening.

I understand. It is the "save" step that is causing the problem. I just couldn't understand why. I agree with you, the simple answer is to just hit the Ctrl s keystroke combo. Thank you Stephen

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Terry Lee Martin

Stephen, you helped solve the problen. When creating the action I used the "Ctrl s" keystroke method to save the file, and to close it I used "Ctrl w". The problem turned out to be that when I was creating the action and using the "Ctrl s" method to save the file, I wasn't actually doing that. I was creating an action on a file that had not been modified at all. Therefore the  file -"Save" function was dimmed out. When I hit the Ctrl s keystroke combo, I didn't see that. When I went to file - Save, I immediately saw that it was dimmed out. Creating an effective action wasn't possible and apparently caused Photoshop to create this unexpected result of replacing another file in the bunch. Thanks for you help.