For some strange reason I have a compulsion to get my new Photoshop Elements in perfect working order before I can actually start using it. That means that I needed to transfer my actions and brushes from PSE 6 into PSE 7. And boy, have I learned a lot! I thought I’d share my discoveries with you Moms (and others!) so that you can get up and running much more quickly than I did!
Actions in Photoshop Elements – Guided Edit vs. Full Edit
Photoshop Elements 7 has a new option for running actions. It’s called the Action Player, and you access it in the Guided Edit view. (The PSE 7 Guided Edit has quite a few more options than the Guided Edit from PSE 6, by the way.) It couldn’t be easier to use. You click on Guided Edit, then Action Player, then click on the action you want to run. Hit Play Action, and you’re finished!
It’s quite easy to install actions into the Action Player as well. Go to the installation path for the operating system you’re using PSE 7 on. When you get to the 7.0 folder, select Locale instead of Photo Creations. Then select Workflow Panels and Actions. Paste your ATN file there, restart Elements, and you’re finished.
So far, I’ve found a couple of drawbacks to accessing your actions here. First off, you don’t see the thumbnails you might be used to looking for with your actions. Also, I can’t figure out how to categorize my actions into groups. I think it’s possible though! I’d love to hear how you do it, if you know!
More importantly, I can’t find a way to make actions work if they require more than one click to use. For instance, with some of Graffi’s actions, you click the action, it does it’s stuff, and that’s it. So those work just fine in the the Action Player. But with the Coffeeshop Actions, among others, you have to input data and adjustments to make the actions work to their full potential. For these actions, you could run them in the Guided Edit, but then you would have to switch over to the Full Edit to access layer masks, adjust opacities, and things like that.
So, I think I’ll be running my actions from the Full Edit view, just like I’ve always done.
Categorizing Actions in Photoshop Elements 7
Foulwater from Flickr came up with a method for grouping actions in PSE 7 by category. Here it is! These categories are not necessary to make your actions run in PSE 7, but they sure do make finding them easier and save a lot of scrolling time.
Does anyone else have a different take on using actions in Photoshop Elements 7? I’m still learning. Please comment if you can teach me!
