Photoshop

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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 palette to make a snapshot of the image before recording the action.
  1. Open a file.
  2. In the Actions palette, click the Create New Action button , or choose New Action from the Actions palette menu.
  3. Enter an action name, select an action set, and set additional options:
    Function Key
    Assigns a keyboard shortcut to the action. You can choose any combination of a function key, the Ctrl key (Windows) or Command key (Mac OS), and the Shift key (for example, Ctrl+Shift+F3), with these exceptions: In Windows, you cannot use the F1 key, nor can you use F4 or F6 with the Ctrl key.
    Note: If you assign an action the same shortcut that is used for a command, the shortcut will apply the action rather than the command.

    Color
    Assigns a color for display in Button mode.

  4. Click Begin Recording. The Begin Recording button in the Actions palette turns red .
    Important: When recording the Save As command, do not change the filename. If you enter a new filename, that new name is recorded and used each time you run the action. Before saving, if you navigate to a different folder, you can specify a different location without having to specify a filename.
  5. Perform the operations and commands you want to record.

    Not all tasks in actions can be recorded directly; however, you can insert most nonrecordable tasks using commands in the Actions palette menu.

  6. To stop recording, either click the Stop Playing/Recording button, or choose Stop Recording from the Actions palette menu. (In Photoshop, you can also press the Esc key.)
To resume recording in the same action, choose Start Recording from the Actions palette menu.