Using Photoshop Actions to Resize Images

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I'm here in Adobe Photoshop and I want to resize the large images from my digital camera, so that they are all 300 pixels wide. I can do this manually 7 times, but instead I want to use the "actions" feature of Photoshop to automate this process.

To create an action I need to access the "actions" window. There are a few ways to do this, I can access the Windows > Actions, another way is to use the icon of a play button shown below.
action icon.

Once the action window appears I see a list of default actions, I am hoping for a resize action, but it is not included, so I will have to make my own. I click on the New action icon which looks like a piece of paper.

new

This causes a dialog box to appear where I can name my action. I name it "resize 300" and then click on the Record button. Now the record icon is red which indicates that Photoshop is now recording my actions.

record

I access the File menu > Save for Web and Devices. My original image appears, I select the Image Size tab, and change the width to 300. Since I have the Constrain Proportions box checked the height is automatically converted to 225 pixels. All of the images that have this action applied to them will be 300 by 225. Now I select the Apply button and I see the image at the left shrink dramatically.

I go up to the setting for Compression Settings, and by coincidence it has exactly the setting I want, HIGH and JPEG. If these were not the values you wanted for your action you could change them at this time.

I select the Save and a Dialog Box appears where I can identify where I want the images to be saved. I select the "yard-random" folder and select Save.

Now I need to select the "stop recording" icon to finish my action

stop

I see the "resize 300" action, and under it is a single "export" command. If I click on the arrow to expand the export listing I see all the steps involved in resizing and saving the image.

Now I want to apply this action to all the images in my "yard-originals" folder. I access the File menu > Automate > Batch. I see a dialog box for actions. The first Default Action of Vignette selections is displayed. I click on that setting and scroll to the bottom of the list where my "resize 300" is listed. The source images are in a folder, and I select the "Choose" button and then select my random folder > yard-originals folder > Choose button.

Next i select the Destination settings, I select Folder, and then Choose. I locate the random folder > yard-random folder > Choose button. Make sure the Override Actions Save As Command box is checked and off you go. Thank you Photoshop actions :->