Two Actions Questions

Hi,

I have hit two speedbumps regarding Actions in Photoshop and looking for some guidance.

1) I wrote an Action for my mother--she is using cs5 and I'm using cs6. It is pretty straightforward--a few channel mixer adjustment layers, a hue/saturation toning layer, a curves layer and a top layer with a vignette. I emailed it to her, she downloaded it, and then I walked her through over the phone how to load the action and play it. She pressed play and got an error message saying something like the action can only be played on the platform where it was recorded, or something along those lines. I have cs6 on my work computer (PC) and on my home computer (Mac) and I create and transfer Actions all the time back-and-forth between computers. Not sure why this one wouldn't work for her.

2) My new black and white Action I wrote for myself involves duplicating a layer to convert it to LAB mode, then extracting the Lightness channel and pasting it into the original image as a layer. The last step of the action is that it deletes the duplicate LAB copy. This was working all well and good, until I ran the Action with an existing document already open (a different image). It ended up closing that image without saving, because the step in the Action reads simply, "Select next document," and then "Close without saving." So how do I record it so that it selects a specific document to close, and not just the ambiguous "next?"

1) Are you using anything that was changed or newly added in PS CS6? Got an older version of PS? All of my actions created in PS CS4 work in CS6, not sure about the other way around…
If you can post (a link to) the action, others might be able to test it.

Also, this might help: http://www.mcpactions.​com …not-work-how-to-fix-them/

2): Maybe duplicate the document with a specific name ("LAB temp" or so), so that you can target the specific document in the action? Otherwise a script might work better.

René Damkot wrote in post #15975804
1) Are you using anything that was changed or newly added in PS CS6? Got an older version of PS? All of my actions created in PS CS4 work in CS6, not sure about the other way around…
If you can post (a link to) the action, others might be able to test it.

Also, this might help: http://www.mcpactions.​com …not-work-how-to-fix-them/

2): Maybe duplicate the document with a specific name ("LAB temp" or so), so that you can target the specific document in the action? Otherwise a script might work better.

1) Not that I know of--channel mixer, curves, and hue/saturation adjustment layers is pretty much the extent of the action. I'll post a link to the action when I get home--what do I have to do, upload to a file hosting site?

2) I actually do have the duplicate uniquely named in the action (which I thought would prevent any issues initially). It's called "LAB Source" if my memory serves me correctly. The only thing is, when you click on a different document in Photoshop it does not register to the program like when it's a layer, i.e., "Select layer 'Contrast Curve". It registers in the action as "Select Next Document" which causes problems as I obviously ran into.

1) either that, or zip it and attach it here.

2) Ah, yes. True. This might help (last post)
http://forums.adobe.co​m/thread/474641
But it would be quite a workaround.

Side note: In a lot of cases, it might be a better option to use "next/previous layer" (or first/last layer (shortcuts: Alt+(shift)+[and]) when building an action (unless you are calling to a layer that has been created in the same action). Helps for instance when using actions in two versions PS in a different language: "Layer 1" is different from "Laag 1" or "Ebene 1" to PS…

René Damkot wrote in post #15981831
1) either that, or zip it and attach it here.

2) Ah, yes. True. This might help (last post)
http://forums.adobe.co​m/thread/474641
But it would be quite a workaround.

Side note: In a lot of cases, it might be a better option to use "next/previous layer" (or first/last layer (shortcuts: Alt+(shift)+[and]) when building an action (unless you are calling to a layer that has been created in the same action). Helps for instance when using actions in two versions PS in a different language: "Layer 1" is different from "Laag 1" or "Ebene 1" to PS…

I came up with my solution: add a stop at the very end of the action that says, "Now delete the LAB duplicate."

How's that for simplicity? One more question, though--when the action has finished running its course, one layer group is showed collapsed and another is shown fully expanded. They both have active, visible layers on--do you know how to collapse/uncollapse? And curiously, why would one be one way and another the other way? Thanks for your help so far--the scripts and everything is just too involved for the level of simplicity I was aiming for with deleting a duplicate document.

-Randy

Nice and easy solution as long as you don't want the action to run unattended

Group: Not entirely sure.
An action will open a collapsed group if a specific layer name inside it is called in the action, that's for sure.
If you move through a layer stack using "previous/next layer", it will move over a closed group like a layer, but without entering it.

If you select a bunch of layers, then put them in a group (Shift (+Opt) click on the group icon), the group will be created closed.
If you create a group first, or with just one layer in it (Shift click with one layer highlighted), it will be created opened.

I think the opening of closing of a group is recorded, but wouldn't know of a shortcut.
Edit: Nope, it's not. Only way to get an action into a closed group, is to call a specific layer name inside that group.

Don't know (but would like to know) a way to collapse / expand a group, since it can really mess up an action if a group is expanded while it's supposed to be collapsed and vice versa.