Resize Action

If you're like me, then you'll have photos of everything. And I mean absolutely everything. That's fine, but what about when you want to share them with the entire web? Nobody wants to see a 3000px wide image of a toe... (Ok some people may, but most won't). So you need to resize the image and save it. Great. But what if you have hundreds or possibly thousands of images you need to resize at once? Easy. Create an action in Photoshop and let it do the toe, er, leg work for you!

I frequently format my computer and always forget to save the little things like Photoshop Actions and I've had to create them from scratch each time. And each time I forget how I made it in the first place. So I've written this tutorial (mainly for my forgetful nature, obviously) but also for you lot. Because someone must find this stuff useful, yeah? If you have any questions, please just contact me and I'll do my best to help.

Tutorial #1 Creating a Resize and Save Photoshop Action

Step 1: Open Photoshop (I use CS2 so this tutorial is aimed around this version). Open an image you wish to resize.

Step 2: In the Action tab (Window > Actions or ALT + F9 if it's not already open on your screen), click on the 'Create new action' button.

(Step 1 image)


Give the action a descriptive name, something like 'Resize'. By default, it should be set to save in the 'Default Actions' folder, but change this if you wish. Giving it a function key and/or colour is up to you, it won't affect the result of the action. Click on 'Record'.

(Step 2 image)


Your action is now saved in your actions list at the bottom. It is recording which means anything you now do in Photoshop will be recorded and used in the action, so be careful!

(Step 2.1 image)


Step 3: We now need to resize the image. I use 1200px width and a proportioned height on most of my photos, but you can choose what you wish. With the image open, go to: Image > Image Size > Enter size settings > Ok.

(Step 3 image)


Step 4: The image should now be resized. The last part of the action is the save part. Go to: File > Save as > Enter save settings > Save.

Step 5: Time to stop recording the action. Press the 'Stop playing/recording' button on the actions tab. Your action is now saved and complete.

(Step 5 image)


But now what? That was only one image. What about the resizing of thousands of images I promised? Read on!

Step 6: The hard part is done. Once you've done the above, you won't have to do it again (unless you delete it stupidly as I do). Close the resized image from before.

In Photoshop, go to: File > Automate > Batch
> Select 'Default Actions' if this is where your action is saved
> Select the Action: 'Resize' (if this is what you called your action)
> Set Source to: Folder
> Click on Choose; find the folder where all your images are you wish to resize
> Set Destination: Folder
> Click on Choose, find the folder where you want all your resized images to go (you'll probably need to create a new folder somewhere)
> Tick the 'Override Action "Save As" Commands
> Ok.

(Step 6 image - Click to open)

Don't panic. What should be happening now is that each image in the source folder should be opening, resizing and then saving individually into the destination folder. This could take some time if you really do have thousands of images selected, so go make a tea or something. If there are any problems, you can press esc at any time and cancel the action.

That's all there is to it. In future when you wish to resize photos, all you'll need to do is open up a batch (Step 6) and apply the correct action. If you wish to use different image sizes, you can either create a new action using steps 1 - 5 or edit the existing action.

You can also change the file names of the images you are creating. By default, they will save with the existing file names, but you can give them new ones. Play around with the 'File Naming' section in the batch settings to achieve desired results.

Lastly, if you don't wish to create a new set of resize images but prefer to overwrite the existing images, then set the Destination to Save and Close instead of Folder. Although I'm fussy and prefer to keep the original image and the smaller version. If you have any questions about this tutorial, please contact me. I'll do my best to help.