Creating a droplet from an action

Actions are the basis for creating droplets--you must create the desired action in the Actions palette prior to creating a droplet. (See Recording actions.)

In ImageReady, you can also create droplets with the Optimize palette, so that you can apply Optimize palette settings to single images or batches of images.

To create a droplet from an action (Photoshop):

1. Choose File > Automate > Create Droplet.
2. Click Choose in the Save Droplet In section of the dialog box, and select a location to save the droplet.
3. Select the desired set and action from the Set and Action menus.
4. Set Play options for the droplet:
• Select Override Action "Open" Commands if you want Open commands in the action to refer to the batched files, rather than the filenames specified in the action. Deselect Override Action "Open" Commands if the action was recorded to operate on open files or if the action contains Open commands for specific files that are required by the action.
• Select Include All Subfolders to process files in subdirectories.
• Select Suppress Color Profile Warnings to turn off display of color policy messages.
• Select Suppress File Open Options Dialogs to hide File Open Options dialogs. This is useful when batching actions on camera raw image files. The default or previously specified settings will be used. For information about using droplets to open camera raw image files, see Creating an action to open camera raw image files.
5. Select a destination for the processed files from the Destination menu:
• None to leave the files open without saving changes (unless the action included a Save command).
• Save and Close to save the files in their current location.

Note: If you selected the Save and Close option, you can select the "Override Action "Save As" Commands option." This option causes the droplet to override any action Save As commands and saves the file back to its original filename in its original folder.

6. Select Folder to save the process files to another location. Select Override Action "Save As" Commands if you want the Save As instructions from the droplet instead of the Save As instructions in the action. If you select this option, the action must contain a a Save As command, because the droplet will not automatically save the source files. This is useful for saving documents with options not available in the droplet (such as JPEG compression or TIFF options).

Note: No matter how you've recorded your action's Save As steps (with or without filename specifications), if this option is selected, the file is saved to the folder and the filename in the droplet.

Deselect Override Action "Save As" Commands will save the files processed by the droplet in the location specified as the destination in the Create Droplet dialog box.

Note: You can record an action that saves with a specified filename and folder. If you've done this, and have Override Action "Save As" Commands off, the same file will be overwritten each time. If you've recorded your Save As step in the action without specifying a filename, the droplet will save it to the same folder each time but will use the filename of the document being saved.

7. If you chose Folder as the destination, specify a file-naming convention and select file compatibility options for the processed files:
• For File Naming, select elements from the pop-up menus or enter text into the fields to be combined into the default names for all files. Elements include document name, serial number or letter, file creation date, and file extension. Starting serial number specifies the starting number for any serial number fields. Serial letter fields always start with the letter "A" for the first file.
• For Compatibility, choose Windows, Mac OS, and UNIX to make filenames compatible with Windows, Mac OS, and UNIX operating systems.
8. Select an option for error processing from the Errors pop-up menu:
• Stop for Errors to suspend the process until you confirm the error message.
• Log Errors to File to record each error in a file without stopping the process. If errors are logged to a file, a message appears after processing. To review the error file, open it in a text editor after the batch command has executed.

To create a droplet from an action (ImageReady):

1. For best results, make sure that the action contains at least one Set Optimization command. To add a Set Optimization command, adjust the settings in the Optimize palette, and then drag the droplet icon  from the Optimize palette onto the part of the Actions palette where you want to add that command. Or click the Insert Step button  at the bottom of the Actions palette and choose Add Set Optimization Settings.

If you do not add a Set Optimization command to the droplet, ImageReady will process files using the optimization settings in place at the time the droplet was created.

2. Create the droplet:
• Drag the name of the action from the Actions palette onto the desktop. The droplet has the same name as the action it was created from. You can rename the droplet as you do other desktop icons.
• Select an action, and choose Create Droplet from the Actions palette menu. Name the droplet, choose a location where the droplet will be saved, and click Save.

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