"The command “Play” is not currently available." - an action within an action

[trulymeg2009]

I'm creating an action (which plays 4 different actions) to batch my sessions.

I can play all 4 of these individual actions separately, but when I record the "batchable" action with all 4 of these, I get the error message "The command 'Play' is not currently available."

-I'm starting on a background layer.

-The action that won't "play" is coming from a Set of actions that hasn't been removed or renamed.

Again, I can play this action and it works on it's own, but once loaded in with the other 3, the action will not play.

The strange part is I've created this action on my other computer and it works just fine. I've even tried to transport the action from the other computer to this one.
HELP!!

Thanks!!

[JJMack]

post your actions the Batch action and the four other actions.

[trulymeg2009]

At the risk of sounding like a complete idiot, where do I go to do that?

[trulymeg2009]

PECourtejoie​ JJMack​

[JJMack]

Save the Action sets upload the *.atn files to a file sharinf site post a link to the Action set or sets .atn  and identify the four action by name that yout havibng problems with.

[trulymeg2009]

Here is the link to a Dropbox folder of my action file:  PS Action Question​

JJMack​ PECourtejoie

​

[JJMack]

The answer is quite basic.  Actions have dependencies.  Often image content related.  If a document fails to meet some dependence a step will fail and other steps that depend on the result of the step that did not succeed will not currently be available for a requirement for using the command does not exists. Something like there is no selection and the command requites a selection. A missing layer so it could not be selected by name or a wrong layer was selected for there  are layers with duplicate names you may have played an action twice and created layers with a names that exists and  has different content.   It is best when recording  actions to select layer relative to other layers like top or bottom layer you select the correct layer on add a layer in the stack one its proper spot..  You actions are selecting layer by name all over the place

It is very easy to make your action fail.   Add a layer to your document play your action. It will quickly fail when that new layer is Photoshop target.   You need to be careful what is targeted when you play your action and when you action fails you need to determine why the step current in the action failed to work.

Your Actions are creating layers and naming layers and  selection layers by name all over the place.  There  can be problems when you do that.  Play you action twice targeting the bottom layer.   How many duplicate layer names do you see.  Target any layer not the bottom does your action play then.

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

[trulymeg2009]

Thank you, JJMack​ ...  I stripped it down and ran the 4 actions without the creating layers, naming layers and selecting by name... it still doesn't work.  I'm just so confused because I have another Mac with the same actions, same Photoshop version, and I was able to create this action to batch with.  ???  I'm so frustrated with it.

[JJMack]

When the Action fails, it should be stopped in the failing step; you should be able to see the steps in the action before the failing step, and the current state of the document, what is targeted, if there is a selection or path active, and analyze why the action step failed.

You can also Single step through actions.

Playing other actions in an action may throw a wrinkle stepping through an action.

I do not know if you step on a Play action step if the action to be played will be stepped through.

I have not stepped through action that plays another action, I normally debug the other actions, then create an action that plays known working actions.

Action depends on things. Most actions will fail if some document has some structure or state the action will not work on.

May be because of document mode in index mode or cmyk, 32bit color depth etc.

Operations have requirements.

It is hard to craft an action that will work on every document possible.

Photoshop is also not without its share of bugs; I have found bugs in Photoshop.

If you are adding adjustment layers the problem may be Adobe's.

In CS4 Adobe Added the Adjustment Panel and it has a fly-out menu that has two options that work more like preferences.

If you change these option from Adobe's default setting, actions that add adjustment layers may fail to work correctly the way you intended when you recorded them.   Adobe acknowledged these bugs but does not seem to care to fix them.

I skipped CS4 so I did not report the bugs till CS5.

The bugs are in all version of Photoshop after CS3.

The have been other bugs in Adobe's action feature that have been fixed.

Photoshop behavior has changed over and actions that use to work on most documents fail to work on simple jpeg files.

The Background layer behavior changed and a layer that was created is no longer created because of the behavior change.

Still as far as I know Adobe distributes a couple of them.

I have stopped tracking actions that Adobe installs I do no use them. It was easy to fix them in any case.

[PECourtejoie]

Hello, on a pc, hit the print screen button, then open a document in Ps, then Paste the image, save it a medium sized jpeg. Go to this discussion on forums.adobe.com, and look at the buttons as you reply to this discussion, there is one to attach an image.

[PECourtejoie]

Hello, yes, could you also simply post a screenshot of the action panel with the meta-action?

[PECourtejoie]

Hi, another user reported an issue when he had the Scripts Events Manager active/open, are you currently using it?

[andycannon]

4 years too late, but you probably renamed the folder, the one in photoshop itself, the actions were stored in

[melissap63974182]

can you eleborate more on this. I am having the same issue with no idea how to get my actions to batch play because i keep getting "play isnt available but i can play them individually by pressing play.

[Stephen_A_Marsh]

@melissap63974182 

Post a screenshot of the action panel with the action steps expanded with the panel wide enough to view all action steps. Or upload the saved action set .atn file to a file sharing service.

[Bojan Živković]

Actions that invoke other actions have a fixed location and name for the action to be executed. This can cause issues if you move, rename, or have duplicate names for your actions. The only way to verify this is to have the actions accessible on your machine. Delete all the irrelevant action sets and keep only the essential ones. Then, test them yourself or upload them somewhere so we can test them on our end.