I just upgraded my PC and had to reinstall everything, but EVERY file on my hard drive was backed up. Now when I replaced the blank Photoshop Actions folder (in my new install) with my original Photoshop Actions folder (from the backup) tons of actions are missing! Since I was using the actions every time I opened Photoshop they must be saved somewhere, the entire C: drive was copied exactly to a backup folder. Anyone know where I could find them since they don't seem to have been saved as a .atn file? Thanks!

Are the actions are actually missing from the "Actions folder" ? [ or missing when you open Photoshop? (try and remember what the action was named and seach for it) other wise use the image provided as a guide. good luck

the action files seem to be missing, i replaced the whole folder, which means somehow they weren't saved as .atn files, they were just in Photoshop's memory or something, if i load actions i can load everything that is listed and they are nowhere to be found. but they are around somewhere lol, does photoshop save actions into memory somewhere or under a different extension perhaps?

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ oh, did you ever..? if not. I had a look into it.. I Made a new action set with out this procedure.. and thre was no "brand new actions" to be found. i'm confused, like you, as to how actions are available to use, yet not visable on the disk. even once you quit the program.

I don't understand the "blank" action folder from your new install...shouldn't be blank. Anyway all your actions are not in AdobePhotoshop?PresetPhotoshop Actions. The default actions (which sometimes your saved actions get into) are located in AdobePhotoshop?Required. If for some reason,you don't find the missing ones there...use Windows "Search" function for .atn, with "search system folders" and "search subfolders" checked (found under more advanced options). If they are still on your HD,that will find them....(trust me,I'm always losing stuff). SWAMP

I think there is a difference between recording actions and saving action sets.

I've searched for *.atn and that doesn't turn up anything. I had an action heading named "images" well under "images" in photoshop I had about 30 actions. NOW when i import the "images" action into photoshop it only has about 8 actions and it says it was last modified june 2003! when i had been adding actions in photoshop to it as late as last month. So its almost like the "images" action set time warped itself back a year somehow. I THINK this is what happened: The last time I actually did a "SAVE ACTIONS" was in june 2003; after that I created actions and just added them in photoshop under the "images" heading. They were available to use every time I opened the program, but somehow were not actually saved as a .ATN file.

Yeah, if you don't save them, they're not there. I found that out when I "Reset" actions in the Actions palette once, after I had recorded a bunch of additional actions without saving them. My advice: create a new set of actions and call it My Actions or something, and every time you record an action, put it under there and save it. EVERY SINGLE TIME, mind you. Just make it a habit to save My Actions whenever you add to it.

if they aren't there how does photoshop continue to open them?

Good question, but it's the same with brushes, patterns, swatches, gradients, etc. If you reset without saving, the new stuff isn't there.

i didn't "reset" though, all i did was move the entire photoshop directory to a safe place then reinstall somewhere else. i would think if they were saved into RAM or something they would be gone each time you re-open photoshop; this is really bizarre. in fact i just recorded a couple new actions, and the "SAVE" option is grayed out, as though recording by itself will save them; but they have not created a new action file in my photoshop folders.

So I guess simply moving the photoshop directory into a seperate folder somehow erases the actions. It still seems like they would have to be "saved" somehow (and thus somewhere on my harddrive for me to find) for Photoshop to remember them even after restarting, or rebooting the computer.

Or I suppose you could try opening up images.atn in a text editor and see if your actions are there. It's all gobbledy-gook script, but the actions are clearly labeled in English. My guess is that if you didn't save, though, then the actions you're missing won't be in there.

So I guess when you close and open photoshop the actions reappear by magic lol. I'm making new ones now and definitely saving as I go- I hope I can improve on the ones I lost at least.

testing testing... pity recording actions ( brushes, patterns, swatches, gradients, etc) seems so temparary at times, you can quit photoshop, and come back and they are there - but don't reset - they must be in a temporary preference code or something. wierd.

well with mine i could shut down the PC, and they were always back. i had a whole year of actions saved up that way.

Adobe claims .. Actions are automatically saved to the Actions Palette folder in the Adobe Photoshop 7.0 Settings folder. If this file is lost or removed, the actions you created are lost. You 'can' save your actions to a separate actions file so that you can recover them if necessary. You can also load a variety of action sets that are shipped with Photoshop. Note: The default location of the Adobe Photoshop 7.0 Settings folder varies by operating system. Use your operating system's Find command to locate this folder. To save a set of actions: 1. Select a set. 2. Choose Save Actions from the Actions palette menu. 3. Type a name for the set, choose a location, andclick Save. You can save the set anywhere. However, if you place the file in the Presets/Photoshop Actions folder inside the Photoshop program folder, the set will appear at the bottom of the Actions palette menu after you restart the application. Message edited on: 07/12/2004 11:02

damn, i dont have a "Actions Palette" folder or an "Adobe Photoshop 7.0 Settings" folder anywhere on my hard drive, even though I'm currently running PS7. I did find some palette files, even an "actions palette" file but that was in the Illustrator 9 folders, it isn't for photoshop.

Found the folder! for some reason it doesn't come up on search even though I have hidden files shown. i dug into my application data folders and that's where it was

OH YEAH!! The file named "Action Palette" in the application date/adobe/photoshop/7.0 settings folder was simply copied over the NEW Action Palette file that my new install of PS7 created, and poof all my actions were back. I also saved what I had created before do this, so now I have the new and the old. Thanks!! ;)

I found mine too! might as well save the action set/s just to be sure (means you can /load them if you reset the actions pallette) so , some thing cool we discovered - the actions that you record go straight to the "pallete" item. the actions / action sets you save have thier own folder, and are easier to re-establish.

Message edited on: 07/12/2004 12:42

Bummer. I don't have anything like that. I'm still on 6.0.