Adobe PHOTOSHOP 5.0 User Manual page 357

To create and record an action:
Open a file.
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In the Actions palette, click a set or an item
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within a set.
In the Actions palette, click the New Action
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button ( ) or choose New Action from the pop-
up menu on the palette.
Name the action, assign it to any combination
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of the Ctrl key (Windows) or Command key (Mac
OS), the Shift key, and the Function keys (for
example, Ctrl+Shift+F3), and choose a color for
its display in the Actions palette.
Click Record. The Record button in the Actions
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palette turns red.
To guard against mistakes, record the Save a
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Copy command at the beginning of the action.
As an option, if your action requires a file
to be in a particular mode, choose File >
Automate > Conditional Mode Change to
change the mode of the image based on its
original mode.
7 Choose commands as you want them recorded.
If the command you choose opens a dialog box,
clicking OK records the command, clicking Cancel
does not record it. If a chosen command is not
recorded, it must be inserted in the action. See the
section, "Inserting nonrecordable commands."
Important: When recording the Save As or Save a
Copy commands, do not enter a filename. If you
enter a filename, Photoshop records the filename and
uses that filename each time you run the action.
Before saving, however, if you go to a different folder,
you can specify a different location without having to
specify a filename.
Stop recording by clicking the Stop button.
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If you want to keep the action for use in future
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work sessions, save the action (see "Organizing
sets of actions" on page 357).
Recording paths
The Insert Path command lets you record a path as
part of an action. When played back, the entire
path is reproduced as part of the action.
To record a path:
Start recording an action.
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Select a path.
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Choose Insert Path from the Actions
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palette menu.
Inserting nonrecordable commands
The painting and toning tools, tool options, view
commands, and preferences cannot be recorded.
However, many commands that cannot be
recorded can be inserted into an action using the
Insert Menu Item command.
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