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Latest articles

Web Design Tutorials

Using Batch function in Photoshop CS3

Did it ever happen to you that you had large number of images which need to be renamed resized to one dimension?

This short tutorial will explain how to use Photoshop´s build in function to handle any batch operations.

To start with we will create a new action where we will record the image resizing process.
Open Photoshop CS3 and on the right hand side choose the Actions button to open Actions panel (Fig. 01).

Fig. 01

Now in the lower part of the top right corner click on the arrow down (Fig. 02)

Fig. 02

and from the list of options choose New Set to create a new set in which we´ll be storing our custom actions (Fig. 03).

Fig. 03

In the New Set window type the name of your new set – I called mine "My new set" – and click OK to create new action set (Fig. 04).

Fig. 04

You should now be able to see your new Action Set in the Actions panel (Fig. 05).

Fig. 05

Now open any image in Photoshop and from the menu in the Actions panel choose New Action (Fig. 06).

Fig. 06

In the New Action window choose the name for your action (I called mine resize_100w) and assign it to our new set (Fig. 07).

Fig. 07

Click Record to start recording your action.
With image selected go to Image > Image Size (Fig. 08).

Fig. 08

In the Image Size window choose the new dimensions for your image and click OK to apply them to your image (Fig. 09).

Fig. 09

You should now see your image being resized and you can press the Stop button to terminate the recording session (Fig. 10).

Fig. 10

You can now close the image.

Go to File > Automate > Batch (Fig. 11).

Fig. 11

In the Batch window choose our new set (My new set) and the action which we would like to apply to a batch of images we are about to process (resize_100w) (Fig. 12).

Fig. 12

From the Source dropdown menu choose Folder and specify the location in which your original files are located by clicking Choose button and navigating to their folder.
Leave check boxes unchecked (Fig. 13).

Fig. 13

From the Destination dropdown menu choose Folder and specify the destination folder for the new files by clicking Choose button and navigating to the folder. Doing this we will keep our original files untouched and we will create the new ones in the destination folder (Fig. 14).

Fig. 14

Now it´s time to define the new name for our files. In the first field (dropdown menu) type in the first part of the new name of your file – I called mine "thumbnail_" – in the next field you can define whether you want just extension or anything else – I want to have two digits which will define the number of the new file and lastly I want to have the original extension of the file in lower case.

We can also specify the Compatibility by selecting systems with which our new files should be compatible and lastly decide what we want to happen when error occurs (Fig. 15).

Fig. 15

Now just click OK and the action Batch automation will do the whole job for you – creating a new copy of each files from the Source folder as well as resizing and renaming them (Fig. 16).

Fig. 16

That´s all there is to it.

Prepared by Web design tutorials – Sebastian Sulinski.