Photoshop CC: The Missing Manual, 2nd Edition

Recording Actions

When you’re trying to decide on an action to record, start by thinking of any repetitive tasks you perform often. For example, back in Chapter 4, you learned that a simple one-pixel black border adds a classy touch to an image destined for a magazine, newspaper, or newsletter (Stroking (Outlining) a Selection). If you add those borders regularly, that process is an excellent candidate for an action. Likewise, adding a custom watermark to images that you want to post online is a great excuse to record an action.

Before you hit the record button, you need to create a new action set (think folder or group) for the new action to live in. Sets are just the ticket for organizing your actions into logical groups, and Photoshop requires you to use ’em: you can’t record an action without choosing an existing set or creating a new set. For example, you might put your sharpening and creative-border actions in a set named “finishing touches,” or create a set based on a certain project or client (your author has an action set named “missing manuals”). There’s no limit to how many sets you can create or how many actions you can add to each one. If you forget to create a set before you record an action, it’s no big deal—you can drag and drop the action into a set later. You can also copy actions between sets by Option-dragging (Alt-dragging) them.

Warning

Oddly enough, Photoshop doesn’t capture Undo commands when you’re recording actions. For example, if you mess up during the recording ...