Is there a good shortcut for batch processing images in Adobe Photoshop?
Dear Seeking,
I know how important it is to get a good night’s rest. When you use actions and droplets in Photoshop, you’ll have time for a long lunch hour, too.
An action is a set of tasks that you record once and then play whenever you need to apply those tasks to another image. A droplet takes an action one step further: Use it to make changes to a file without even opening it. You can easily process hundreds or thousands of images at once.
The first step is to create your action. First, spend a minute planning the tasks you want to record. Then, choose Window > Actions to open the Actions palette. You’ll see a bunch of actions that come with Photoshop; you may even find one for the task you need to perform.
Choose New Action from the Actions palette menu. Give the action a name that describes it, and when you’re ready, click Record. The Record icon at the bottom of the palette becomes red.
Photoshop records everything you do in Photoshop—from opening a file to changing settings—until you press the Stop icon at the bottom of the Actions palette. To test the action you recorded, open a different image, select your action in the palette, and click the Play icon at the bottom of the palette.
Now that you have an action, create a droplet. Choose File > Automate > Create Droplet. The Create Droplet dialog box can be a little intimidating. If you’re not sure what each option means, check out Photoshop Help for detailed information. Basically, though, you’re telling Photoshop where to store the droplet itself (often, the desktop is convenient), which action to play (such as the action you just created), what to do with the file after playing the action (for example, saving it to a new folder), and what to do if it runs into any errors.
To use your droplet, just drag a single file or an entire folder of files onto it. You don’t even have to have Photoshop open. It starts automatically and processes the files, leaving you free to snooze in the other room. Or use that extra time to explore hundreds of actions other Photoshop users have shared at the Adobe Studio Exchange.
