At least through Photoshop 7, using SFW in a batch operation is not only a PITA, but I can think of few circumstances when you would want to use it en masse.
That said, realize that the Batch dialog does not take over for file naming and destination options – this will be hard coded into the action itself.
When using SFW and Batch, the destination will be the folder you recorded when you created the action, and cannot be changed unless you want to go through the SFW dialog (which defeats the purpose of batching).
But if you MUST use SFW, you record your SFW action, then toggle it’s dialog to OFF. Then you can run that action on a folder.
File|Automate|Batch:
Action to run: SFW Action
Source: Folder
Choose: pick the source
Destination: Folder
Choose: pick the destination
Override Save As Information: CHECKED
You will not have any naming options even though it looks like you should from the Batch dialog – it’s a quirk of the SFW applet.
Each image will open, one by one from the source folder, the action will perform the prescribed steps, with a Save As step as the final event, then the image will close; rinse and repeat.
This cculd be a learning situation for me!
Next time, I’ll try it.
My understanding was that when you set the directory in SFW, it remains that way. So I always set my SFW action to my "batch results" directory. Then I go and move the resulting files later.
As part of my batched action, I always close the file without saving, preserving my original file.
That’s exactly how *I* would do it Mike, IF I used SFW in batch.
As part of my batched action, I always close the file without saving, preserving my original file.
No need to use a close command in your action at all when batching. They will automatically close, and if you have already set the destination folder in the action, there’s no danger of overwriting the original, for whatever that may be worth…
