Creating Droplets

Droplets are actions that you trigger by dragging and dropping files onto special icons, so they’re great for running actions on images without actually opening the images. Droplets can do things like change file formats, image size, convert images to black and white, or apply an overall color boost. As self-contained mini-applications, they can live outside Photoshop on your desktop, as aliases (pointer or shortcut files) in your Dock (taskbar on a PC) or on someone else’s computer.

It’s easy to create a droplet from an action; just follow these steps:

  1. Trot over to the Actions panel and choose an existing action.

    You can’t put the cart before the horse! To make a droplet, you’ve got to record the action first.

  2. Choose FileAutomateCreate Droplet.

    The resulting dialog box looks kind of like the Batch dialog box shown back in Figure 18-4. Click the Choose button to tell Photoshop where to save your droplet, and then set the other options according to the advice on Running Actions on a FolderRecording Actions.

  3. Click OK and you’re finished.

    Your droplet (which looks like the one shown in Figure 18-9, top) magically appears wherever you specified.

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