Photoshop .ATN question

[stevekwiz]

Someone on this forum posted a link to an automated batch feature to turn a color photo into black and white. The file has an .ATN suffix. I have the file but am not sure which subdirectory to put it into so that Photoshop CS can use it. Would appreciate help. :?

[Bytes U]

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop CS\Presets\Photoshop Actions\

*if you took the default install paths*

[evilenglishman]

or go to the actions pallette and click load actions

[MrKickalot]

Am I correct in saying that these can only be used on CS, not element? If they can be used on Element, how do I use them?

Thanks

[slin100]

In general, Elements can run only run actions that use operations that are found in Elements. There are some exceptions because there are a lot of hidden features in Elements that can be indirectly accessed. There's a book called "Hidden Power of Elements 2" that reveals a lot of these features. In fact, one old trick was to download the Photoshop 6 demo from Adobe and use it to generate .ATN action files and use them in Elements. This enables access to some of the "disabled" commands, like Curves.

I'm not at my home computer right now, so I forget exactly where the action files go in Elements, but it's not too hard to figure out. Just look for the directory where .atn files appear. Hmm, now I seem to remember that you can't access the action files directly. You need to access them thru some indirect way, like editing an HTML file. The Welcome screen is written in HTML, for example. I believe the Hidden Power book details instructions on replacing the Welcome screen file with another file you customize to run new actions. You can go to the website (http://hiddenelements.com) to download some of the tools to do this without buying the book. That's what I did. Also try a google search on "photoshop elements actions". You'll find quite a few tips and much more detail on the limitations.

I went through all the hoops to get this working but I have to be honest and admit that I eventually migrated to CS because there were too many actions that still wouldn't run. As far as the B&W action you're interested in running is concerned, I haven't seen it, but if it's more than something really simple, I'm gonna bet that it won't work. Most sophisticated B&W conversion techniques involve the use of Channels and/or the Channel Mixer, both which are not available to Elements.