Adobe Photoshop CC 2014 v.14.xx - Manual (Page 909)

Creating actions
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Note:
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Guidelines for recording actions
Record an action
Record a path
Insert a stop
Change settings when playing an action
Exclude commands from an action
Insert a non-recordable menu command
Edit and rerecord actions
Guidelines for 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 panels.
Results depend on file and program setting variables, such as the active layer and the foreground color. For example, a 3-pixel Gaussian blur
won’t create the same effect on a 72-ppi file as on a 144-ppi file. Nor will Color Balance work on a grayscale file.
When you record actions that include specifying settings in dialog boxes and panels, the action will reflect the settings in effect at the time of
the recording. If you change a setting in a dialog box or panel while recording an action, the changed value is recorded.
Most dialog boxes retain the settings specified at the previous use. Check carefully that those are the values you want to record.
Modal operations and tools—as well as tools that record position—use the units currently specified for the ruler. A modal operation or tool is
one that requires you to press Enter or Return to apply its effect, such as transforming or cropping. Tools that record position include the
Marquee, Slice, Gradient, Magic Wand, Lasso, Shape, Path, Eyedropper, and Notes tools.
If you record an action that will be played on files of different sizes, set the ruler units to percentages. As a result, the action will always play
back in the same relative position in the image.
You can record the Play command listed on the Actions panel menu to cause one action to play another.
Record an action
When you create a new action, the commands and tools you use are added to the action until you stop recording.
To guard against mistakes, work in a copy: at the beginning of the action before applying other commands, record the File > Save A Copy
command (Illustrator) or record the File > Save As command and select As A Copy (Photoshop). Alternatively, in Photoshop you can click the
New Snapshot button on the History panel to make a snapshot of the image before recording the action.
1. Open a file.
2. In the Actions panel, click the Create New Action button , or choose New Action from the Actions panel menu.
3. Enter an action name, select an action set, and set additional options:
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