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Save as actions use the same file name

Community Beginner ,
May 04, 2023 May 04, 2023

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Hi,

Please help me! I use save actions for files for 4 years now without issues and lately I installed newest Photoshop. First 2 actions were fine but then a problem occured. When I create "Save as" action with high resolution and PSB formats, Photoshop saves filename of currently saved image in action script. And then, this action always overwrites next files on that one file. I tried many times to find solution and repeat recording actions again and it seems that this is random - sometimes it doesn't add filename at the end of action script, but more often it does. And I never know. And then I loose my work. I need your help please.

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

New Here , May 25, 2024 May 25, 2024

I was having the same issue and it was driving me crazy having to go into the finder folder and change the name in between each set of actions (which needed to be repeated multiple times). I couldn't make it not record the file name - tried recording several times with all the fixes I could find. My fix in the end, was to was to switch from a save as action to a save a copy action. This fixes the issue for me since all my base files have a different name and the save a copy function adds the wor

...

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Explorer ,
May 04, 2023 May 04, 2023

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Heyo Agata2922245304nv!
It sounds like the issue might be with the naming convention used in your "Save As" action. When recording your action, make sure that you are specifying a unique filename for each image that you save. You can do this by either manually typing in a new name for each file, or by using the "Insert Menu Item" option in the Actions panel to insert a "Set Filename" command.

 

If you are already doing this and are still experiencing issues, try checking the options in the "Save As" dialog box to make sure that you have the correct settings selected for your file format and resolution. Also, make sure that you have enough free disk space available to save your files.

 

If you continue to experience problems with your "Save As" action, you may want to try resetting your Photoshop preferences. To do this, hold down the Alt, Shift, and Control keys (Windows) or Option, Shift, and Command keys (Mac) while starting Photoshop. A dialog box will appear asking if you want to delete the Photoshop settings file. Click "Yes" to reset your preferences.

 

If I misunderstood the question or you’re still running into issues, drop some more info on the situation and we’ll figure this out!

 

Highest regards,

 

-iDAC

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Community Beginner ,
May 06, 2023 May 06, 2023

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Hi IDAC, could you please let me know where can I find the option "Insert Menu Item" you've mentioned and which Actions panel you mean? 

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Community Expert ,
May 04, 2023 May 04, 2023

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The important thing is to avoid recording the file name in the action.

 

If the file name is highlighted in the Save dialog, it is recorded. If the file name is not highlighted, it is not recorded.

 

A simple trick to "un-highlight" the file name, is to click a different destination, then back to the destination folder you want. In my own experience, this always works (at least on Windows).

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Community Beginner ,
May 06, 2023 May 06, 2023

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Thank you, I will check this option for sure!

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Community Beginner ,
May 06, 2023 May 06, 2023

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I have Windows as well but sadly this option doesn't make any difference in my case. Highlighted or not, action still hard codes filename at the end of "in" line 😞

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Community Expert ,
May 04, 2023 May 04, 2023

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"And I never know. And then I loose my work. I need your help please."

 

You can know easily whether action saved hard coded name what will overwrite existing files with the same name. Expand Save step and take a look what is there, if you see filename at the end (it will contain and extension like .jpg, .png) thats what you want to avoid and you must re-record Save step.

action step expand.jpgexpand image

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Community Beginner ,
May 06, 2023 May 06, 2023

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Bojan - exactly, thank you, but still I cannot find info about how to make it disappear.

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Community Expert ,
May 06, 2023 May 06, 2023

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Do not touch filename field when saving while recording actions. You are doing something wrong without realizing, filename does not magically nor random appear.

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Community Expert ,
May 07, 2023 May 07, 2023

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We have had at least one other user with the same problem, they even provided a video and I couldn't work out why the filename was recorded, they didn't touch or change the filename, which is the common problem.

 

Have you tried resetting your preferences?

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New Here ,
Mar 15, 2024 Mar 15, 2024

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I have same problem like forever! And the name indeed MAGICALLY appering in my action "save as" path!

It worked few times with highlighted and not highlighted name of the file while saving. So not highlighted really wasn't leaving the file name trace in the photoshop action path. But just several times. And then it went back to wrong way. What i can see even if i click somewhere else or in the box with the name of the file to unhighlight the name (and i do it successfully) with my last step, pressing the button SAVE computer unprovokedly highlights name of the file in the last split of the second, and ruin my action. It is done by magic... I have no better explanation...

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New Here ,
May 25, 2024 May 25, 2024

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I was having the same issue and it was driving me crazy having to go into the finder folder and change the name in between each set of actions (which needed to be repeated multiple times). I couldn't make it not record the file name - tried recording several times with all the fixes I could find. My fix in the end, was to was to switch from a save as action to a save a copy action. This fixes the issue for me since all my base files have a different name and the save a copy function adds the word copy to the end of the file name so it wouldn't overwrite the original if you are saving in the same location as the original.

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Community Beginner ,
Jun 12, 2024 Jun 12, 2024

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Thank you for this. All of the sudden I noticed my actions were not working properly. I didn't change anything in over a year other than update PS. The unhighlighted name was being autoreplaced with the destination folder name... The save as a copy trick worked. Thank you for figuring this out and sharing it!

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Community Beginner ,
Oct 14, 2024 Oct 14, 2024

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Thanx Lexie! great solution!

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New Here ,
Feb 18, 2025 Feb 18, 2025

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This doesn't solve it if you are trying to save more than one document. The "_copy" document keeps getting overwritten instead of creating "_copy2", "_copy3", etc. Anyone else knows how to fix this? I'm trying to automate saving a large amount of files that hopefully will result in an image sequence labeled with crescent numbers. Thank you.

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Community Expert ,
Feb 18, 2025 Feb 18, 2025

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This doesn't solve it if you are trying to save more than one document. The "_copy" document keeps getting overwritten instead of creating "_copy2", "_copy3", etc. Anyone else knows how to fix this? I'm trying to automate saving a large amount of files that hopefully will result in an image sequence labeled with crescent numbers. Thank you.


By paulaa73368584

 

When using Batch, check the "override action save command" checkbox.

 

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/processing-batch-files.html#process_a_batch_of_files

 

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New Here ,
Feb 18, 2025 Feb 18, 2025

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It is ridiculous that Adobe hasn't come up with a script to fix this. Seems obvious, why are we using workarounds to such a basic function?

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