Module 6 • Lesson 3⚙️ Actions, Batch & Droplets

The Module 6 finale, and the "speed" half of the Advanced tier. Generative tools make hard edits easy; automation makes repetitive edits vanish. Record what you do once, and Photoshop will do it to a hundred files while you get a coffee.

📚 What You'll Learn

Record, play, and edit an Action
Run an Action across a folder with Batch
Resize and convert a whole shoot with the Image Processor
Turn an Action into a drag-and-drop droplet

⏱️ Estimated Time: 45 minutes

🎯 Project: Build an Action and batch-process a folder of images into consistent, watermarked, web-ready files. This is the Advanced tier's automation deliverable.

In This Lesson

🗂️ The Goal: One Click, Whole Folder

On the right, a folder of raw exports: different sizes, no watermark, inconsistent. On the left, the same folder after one batched Action: every image resized to a square, tinted consistently, and watermarked. Drag the handle:

After Before

Twelve files, one Action, zero repetition. Batch applies the same recorded steps to every image in a folder.

Illustrated stand-in representing a processed folder.

🧠 Mental Model: Record Once, Replay Forever

An Action is a recording of the steps you take in Photoshop. You press record, do a task once (resize, convert color, add a watermark, save), and press stop. Photoshop remembers every step. Now you can replay that whole sequence on any image with one click, or on a thousand images with Batch.

The mindset shift is the lesson: whenever you notice yourself doing the same steps to more than a couple of files, stop and record an Action instead. The five minutes you spend recording pays back the moment the second file arrives.

🧠 Automate the boring, keep the creative

Automation is for the mechanical parts: resizing, renaming, format conversion, watermarks, consistent exports. It frees your attention for the creative decisions, the grading, retouching, and composing that actually need a human. Speed on the routine buys time for the craft.

flowchart LR R["⏺ Record: do the task once<br/>(resize, watermark, save)"] --> A["An Action<br/>(saved steps)"] A --> ONE["▶ Play on 1 image"] A --> MANY["📁 Batch on a whole folder"] A --> DROP["💧 Save as a droplet<br/>(drag files onto it)"]

Figure 1: One recording, three ways to replay it: on a single file, across a folder, or as a drag-and-drop droplet.

🎛️ The Actions Panel

Actions live in Window ▸ Actions. You record into a set, and each step is listed so you can replay, reorder, or delete it. Here it is as a diagram:

Actions

Figure 2: An Action named "Web JPG 1200" with five recorded steps. The red dot records, the square stops, the triangle plays the selected Action.

🛠️ Guided Build: Record & Batch

Put a handful of test images in one folder, and make an empty "processed" folder beside it.

Step 1: Record the Action · 8 min

Open one image. In the Actions panel, make a new Set ("Export Web"), then a new Action ("Web JPG 1200"). Recording starts automatically.
Do the task once: Edit ▸ Convert to Profile ▸ sRGB, then Image ▸ Image Size to 1200 px on the long edge, place your watermark, then File ▸ Save As a JPG into the processed folder, and close.
Press Stop. Every step is now saved.

Step 2: Test on one file · 3 min

Open a different image, select your Action, and press Play. Watch it run the whole sequence by itself.
If a step misbehaves, delete just that step and re-record it. Actions are editable.

⚠️ Record relative, not absolute

Actions can record specific values that do not fit every image. Prefer steps that work on any file (convert profile, resize to a fixed long edge). Where an exact position matters, record on a typical image and test on an odd one before trusting the batch.

Step 3: Batch the whole folder · 6 min

File ▸ Automate ▸ Batch. Choose your Set and Action, set Source to your input folder and Destination to the processed folder.
Click OK and watch Photoshop process every file automatically. What took minutes per image now takes seconds for the whole set. 🏆

✅ Project Completion Checklist

☐ An Action is recorded with clear, general steps
☐ It plays correctly on a single test file
☐ Batch processed an entire folder into the destination
☐ Outputs are consistent (size, color, watermark)
☐ Originals are untouched (batch wrote copies)

🧰 Image Processor & Droplets

Two close cousins finish your automation toolkit:

Tool	What it does	Best for
Image Processor File ▸ Scripts	Resize and save a folder to JPG, PSD, or TIFF at once, optionally running an Action	Quick "make web copies of this shoot" jobs, no recording needed
Batch File ▸ Automate	Runs any Action across a folder with full control of source and destination	Anything your Action can do, at scale
Droplet File ▸ Automate ▸ Create Droplet	Saves an Action as a little app on your desktop	Drag files onto it to process them, no Photoshop menus at all

💡 The droplet trick

Make a droplet for your most common export, and keep it on your desktop. Drop a folder of images onto it and they process instantly. It is the fastest possible handoff: no opening Photoshop, no menus, just drag and done.

🧗 Now You: Solo Variation

🌟 Your challenge

Record a second Action for a different output (say a 2000 px print JPG) and batch the same folder to compare.
Turn your favorite Action into a droplet and process a folder by dragging it on top.
Use the Image Processor to make sRGB web JPGs of a shoot without recording anything, and note when it is quicker than a full Action.

Going further: add a masked Curves grade or a Generative step to an Action where it makes sense. Even some AI edits can be baked into a repeatable pipeline.

🍳 Recipe Card: Automate

Record once, run everywhere

Actions panel: new Set → new Action → it records
Do the task once (convert, resize, watermark, save), then Stop
Test Play on one file; edit steps if needed
File ▸ Automate ▸ Batch across a folder (set Source + Destination)
For handoff, Create Droplet; for quick resizes, Image Processor

Mantra: if you do it more than twice, record it.

📓 Learning Journal

Add to your journal after this lesson:

Key concepts you learned
Techniques that clicked for you
Questions or confusion points to revisit
Ideas you want to try
Your progress and feelings about learning this

✍️ This lesson's prompt: List three repetitive tasks in your own workflow that an Action could eat. Which one, automated, would save you the most time this month?

📝 Module 6 Summary

🎓 Key Takeaways

An Action records your steps so you can replay them with one click.
Batch runs an Action across a whole folder; the Image Processor handles quick resize-and-save jobs.
A droplet is an Action saved as a drag-and-drop app.
Automate the mechanical work; save your attention for the creative work.

🎉 What You've Accomplished, Across All of Module 6

You added the Advanced tier's two superpowers: generative editing (add, remove, and expand by describing) and automation (record once, run on everything). Together they mean you can do bolder edits and deliver them at scale, which is exactly what turns a hobby skill into a professional one.

❓ Common Questions at This Stage

My batch broke on some files.

Usually an Action recorded something too specific, or hit an unexpected file type or color mode. Re-record with general steps, and in Batch enable "Suppress color profile warnings" and error logging to a file so one bad image does not stop the run.

Can an Action include Generative Fill?

Some generative steps can be recorded, but results vary per run and need the cloud, so they are less predictable in a batch than deterministic steps like resize and convert. Test carefully before trusting them at scale.

Actions vs scripts: what is the difference?

Actions record UI steps and are easy for anyone to make. Scripts (JavaScript) are code and can do logic Actions cannot, like "if landscape, do X." Start with Actions; reach for scripting only when you hit their ceiling.

🔭 Looking Ahead

This is the last tutorial-style module. Module 7 is the Capstone: no new tools, just you. You will choose a brief, plan it, and build a portfolio piece end to end using everything from fixing your first photo to generative edits and automation, then present the decisions behind it.

✅ Before the Capstone

Build one Action you will actually reuse, and a droplet for it.
Skim your Learning Journal from Module 0 onward; notice how far you have come.
Start collecting ideas for a capstone piece you would be proud to show.

📚 Additional Resources

🌟 Encouragement for the Journey

You have now met every major capability Photoshop offers, from the humble crop to generative AI and automation. The tools are no longer the hard part. What is left is taste and practice, and those you build one project at a time. The Capstone is where you put it all together.