Using The Actions Palette; Recording Actions - Adobe PHOTOSHOP 6.0 Manual

CHAPTER 15
394
Automating Tasks

Using the Actions palette

You use the Actions palette to record, play, edit,
and delete individual actions. This palette also lets
you save and load action files.
In Photoshop, actions are grouped into sets—
you can create new sets to better organize your
actions. (See "Organizing sets of actions
(Photoshop)" on page 404.) In ImageReady,
you cannot group actions into sets.
To display the Actions palette:
Choose Window > Show Actions, or click the
Actions palette tab if the palette is visible but
not active.
By default, the Actions palette displays actions in
list mode—you can expand and collapse sets,
actions, and commands. In Photoshop, you can
also choose to display actions in button mode
(as buttons in the Actions palette that play an
action with a single mouse click). However,
you cannot view individual commands or sets in
button mode.
To expand and collapse sets, actions, and commands:
Click the triangle ( ) to the left of the set, action,
or command in the Actions palette. Alt-click
(Windows) or Option-click (Mac OS) to expand
or collapse all actions in a set or all commands in
an action.
To select actions:
Do one of the following:
Click an action name to select a single action.
•
Shift-click action names to select multiple,
•
discontiguous actions.
Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click
•
(Mac OS) action names to select multiple,
contiguous actions.
To display actions as buttons (Photoshop):
Choose Button Mode from the Actions palette
menu. Choose Button Mode again to return to
list mode.

Recording actions

Keep in mind the following guidelines when
recording actions:
• You can record most—but not all—commands
in an action.
• You can record operations that you perform with
the marquee, move, polygon, lasso, magic wand,
crop, slice, magic eraser, gradient, paint bucket,
type, shape, notes, eyedropper, and color sampler
tools—as well as those that you perform in the
History, Swatches, Color, Paths, Channels, Layers,
Styles, and Actions palettes.
In ImageReady, you can drag a command from the
History palette to the action in the Actions palette
in which you want the command recorded.
You cannot drag italicized commands from the
History palette to the Actions palette. (Commands
in italics are nonactionable.)