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Learning Outcomes: Automated Batch Process

Step 1: Open the first image
You need to manually perform the actions on at least one of the images, so Photoshop can see what you want to do to all the others.

Step 2: Open the Actions Panel

If it’s not on a toolbar, it can be found under Windows> Action

Step 3: Create New Action

I named my black and white conversion action “Black and White”, obscurely enough. Hit the “Record” button and . . .

Step 4: Make the Changes

All I’m doing for this process is converting a color image to grayscale, but you can do pretty much anything here. Apply filters, resize, whatever needs to get done. Remember that any changes made here will apply to every image in the batch. I find that recording a “Save As” action, and selecting the image type makes the automation run a lot smoother, so your not always having to hit “ok” on the save dialog box to continue to the next image.

Step 5: Stop Recording

On the bottom left. Yeah, right there.

The little square in the Actions window.

Step 6: Make it Happen!

File> Automate> Batch.

Select a source folder and a destination folder. Hit “Okay” and sit back and enjoy the fact that you just avoided a huge amount of mindless repetition!

Tags: Design, Learning Outcomes