2 Create a droplet:

• Drag the droplet icon from the Optimize palette onto the desktop.

The droplet is named with a brief description of the compression settings, including file format and color palette or quality setting information.You can rename the droplet as you do other desktop icons.

•Click the droplet icon on the Optimize palette. Name the droplet, choose a location where the droplet will be saved, and click Save.

•Choose Create Droplet from the Optimize palette menu. Name the droplet, choose a location where the droplet will be saved, and click Save.

You can add optimization settings to an action by dragging the droplet icon in the Optimize palette to the Actions palette.

Using the Automate commands (Photoshop)

The Automate commands simplify complex tasks by combining them into one or more dialog boxes. Photoshop includes the following commands (third-party companies may provide additional commands):

•Conditional Mode Change changes the color mode of an image to the mode you specify, based on the original mode of the image. Record this command in an action to ensure that images use the correct color mode and avoid generating unwanted error messages.

•Contact Sheet produces a series of thumbnail previews on a single sheet from the files in the selected folder. (See “Creating contact sheets” on page 464.)

•Fit Image fits the current image to the width and height you specify, without changing its aspect ratio.

Note: This will resample the image, changing the amount of data in the image.

•Multi-Page PDF to PSD converts each page of a PDF document you select to a separate Photoshop file. (See “Opening and importing PDF files” on page 74.)

•Picture Package places multiple copies of a source image on a single page, similar to the photo packages traditionally sold by portrait studios. (See “Creating picture packages” on page 464.)

•Web Photo Gallery generates a Web site from a set of images—complete with a thumbnails index page, individual JPEG image pages, and navigable links. (See “Creating Web photo galleries (Photoshop)” on page 390.)

To use an automated command:

Choose File > Automate, and then choose any of the commands listed under it.

External automation

Photoshop supports some external automation using OLE Automation (Windows) or AppleScript (Mac OS). Using either of these methods lets you start Adobe Photoshop and execute actions externally.