All About Actions

What are actions?

Actions (.atn) create the automated steps needed for doing something (thus saving you lots of time). For example, you can create an Orb effect from scratch, one step at a time, or you can use an action which will do it for you. Actions can also be used to supply Elements with features available only in Photoshop. For example, Elements versions earlier than version 9 didn’t have a built-in layer mask. Then, you would install a Layer Mask action (such as the one in Grant’s Tools).

Do I need actions?

It all depends on your needs and interests. If you decide to venture into action "territory", you need to bear the following in mind.

1. Elements cannot create actions. Only the big brother, Photoshop, can.

2. Elements can use actions created in Photoshop provided they have been written specifically for Elements, i.e., if they use commands that this program "understands".

3. If you run an action in Elements which this program doesn't "understand", you will get an error message. Can you ignore it and click on the Continue button? Definitely! But the final results may not be what you had in mind.

Where can I find actions?

There are many websites which offer free and for-purchase actions; we provide a list of such sites in Actions in the Goodies board. We also have a few FREE actions available for download.

Dconsc's Layer Groups
Diana Day's Twirl

Fotofrank's Add Border
Fotofrank's Add Thin Border
Fotofrank's Dreamy BW 4 versions
Fotofrank's Extrude
Fotofrank's FAKE LensBaby Effect
Fotofrank's Glitch
Fotofrank's Hayes Island
Fotofrank’s Image Stacking
Fotofrank's Kaleidoscope
Fotofrank's Monochromatic Action
Fotofrank's Orton Effect
Fotofrank's Paint
Fotofrank's Pen and Wash
Fotofrank's Sepia
Fotofrank's Sharpen
Fotofrank's Skin Soften
Fotofrank's Watercolor

Grant's Tools

Sepiana's B&W Sketch
Sepiana's English Tea Can Painting
Sepiana's Hand-Coloring
Sepiana's Old-Fashioned Hand-Tinting
Sepiana's Orbs
Sepiana's Split Tone
Sepiana's Surface Blur Sharpening
Sepiana's Swirly and Twirly Orbs
Sepiana-Fotofrank's Color Sketch

Steve Rich's Twirl
Stinson's Detail Color Sketch

Hollywood Bowl Effect (Separate actions from VickiD and fotofrank )

How do I bring an action into Elements?

The process varies depending on which version of Elements you have.

PSE 10 and earlier versions:

Actions need to be installed in the appropriate folders(s) within Elements. Then, they are accessed via the Effects panel (Window>Effects). They can also be accessed via the Action Player (Guided Edit>Automated Actions>Action Player).

PSE 11 and above:

You just load the .atn file via either the Actions panel (Window>Actions) or the Effects panel (Window>Effects).


In these versions you can also do ONE of the following to bring an action into Elements.

- Double-click on the .atn file.
- Right-click on the .atn file and select Open with Photoshop Elements x.x Editor.
- Drag-&-drop the .atn file onto the Editor desktop shortcut.

One word of caution, . . . if you choose to load an action via the Effects panel.

There have been some confirmed reports that some actions won't work when loaded via the Effects panel although they work flawlessly when loaded via the Actions panel.

Can I load several actions to the Actions panel or to the Effects panel in one go? Or do I have to load one action at a time?

I would say the answer is NO if you are loading the actions via the Effects panel.

If you are using the Actions panel and you have an action which was created as a set, you just load the set. Ex.: I created a Split Tone effect action as a set consisting of 6 individual actions. All the six individual actions get loaded together.

Getting into the Action -- Split Tone