How to Make and Use Photoshop Actions

This tutorial will teach you how to create and use Actions in Photoshop. Photoshop Actions allow you to automate a series of clicks or behaviors in Photoshop, so that you can us them repeatedly. This is extremely useful when you want to create, for example, a series of buttons with the same specific styles. By using Actions, all you need to do is click Play Action, and you can create the same button style instantly, instead of doing the same thing again and again.

Now let's go ahead and get started. First go to File and open a new file in Photoshop. Now enter your the dimensions you would like to use. If you look over to the right side of Photoshop, you will see that there is a panel with two tabs. One of these is history, and the other is actions. Click the Actions tab. You will see that there are six little buttons down at the bottom of the action panel. They are for Stop Action, Record Action, Play Action, Create New Set, Create New Action, Delete Action).

Next, you should click the Create New Set. A pop up window will appear. In it, give a name for your new set and then click ok. You should next click the Create New Action button. Another pop up window will appear. Fill in a name again. It should be something that lets you know what the action does. Now click Record.

After you have clicked Record, Photoshop will record as part of the new action absolutely anything you do from now on. For this reason, you would be wise to have planned out ahead of time exactly what you want to happen during the action.

Now you need to save your action so you can use it in the future. Go to the actions panel, and again click the little arrow button on the right-top, select save actions and save the action. Afterwards if you want to load it, go to Load Actions. And that does it; you have now created and saved your Action, and it is now ready to use. Now whenever you want to use the Action on an image, just Load the Action and hit play action button. The Photoshop Action feature has an endless number of uses, and once you start using it, you will wonder how you ever got by without it.