Editing a Batch of Images in Photoshop

Suppose you have 15 images you need to edit all in the same way. It would be tedious and time consuming for you to open and edit each image especially if the editing entails a lot of steps. Photoshop allows you record and save an action then apply this to a batch of images.

Creating an image export action

1. Open up the Actions palette by clicking on the Window menu > Action, and create a new set by clicking on the folder icon at the bottom of the actions palette. Call it "Batch Actions."

2. Then create a new Action by clicking on the new action icon at the bottom of the Action palette, and give it a descriptive name, for example, let's call it "AutoContrast-Resize".

Your Action should now be recording, so anything you do from this point on will be included as an Action step.

Do all the editing you want to record such as adjusting the contrast of the image, resizing it if you want all of the images to be of the same height or width, then save the changes. When you're done, you'll see this new command listed in the Actions palette. If you expand this command, you'll see all of the settings you've applied editing that photo.

After all the editing is complete, stop recording your Action by clicking on the stop icon on the Actions palette. Now you're ready to batch process.

Applying the Action to a batch

Now apply this batch to a folder full of images. In this case, make sure all of the images you want to apply this action to are all contained in one folder. Here's how that works.

1. Choose File > Automate > Batch.

2. At the top of the dialog that pops up, select your new Action from the list of available Actions.

3. In the section below that, set the Source to "Folder." Click the "Choose" button, and select the folder that contains the images you want to process for editing.

Check the following options:
* Suppress File open options dialogs
* Suppress color profile warnings
These will suppress warnings that would otherwise interrupt the batch process.

4. In the section below that, set the Destination to "None." This will allow you to use the destinations that you recorded in your Action, so that the photos will be saved in the same folder. (If, in the future, you want your images exported to a single folder, you can set the destination to "Folder," then choose the destination folder on the fly in the Batch dialog.)

When you choose "None" as your destination, all other options in that section will be grayed out.

5. Now hit the "OK," and Photoshop will begin processing your images.