Install Actions in Photoshop Elements 8 on Vista

Installation Path:

• Start Menu
• Computer
• OS (C:) (This could possibly be a different letter)
• Program Data (Program DATA is not the same as Program Files.  If you don’t see Program DATA, it’s probably hidden. Go to Start/Control Panel/Classic View/Folder Options/View and select Show Hidden Files & Folders)
• Adobe
• Photoshop Elements
• 8.0
• Photo Creations
• Photo Effects

Installation Technique:

1. Make sure PSE 8 is closed
2. Download action files from the source website to your computer. I usually download to my desktop and cut and paste the files to the Photo Effects folder.
3. You should have one file ending in the .ATN suffix and one ending in .PNG. Each file should have exactly the same name, except for the suffix. If the names are different, right click on one of them to rename to the name of the other.  (PSE 8 will automatically create a thumbnail JPG file from your PNG.  You do not need to provide any JPGs.)
4. If you have a .PSD file instead of a .PNG file, open the PSD in PSE 8 as you would any other image. Go to the File menu, select Save As, and change the Format to PNG.
5. Copy the files into the Photo Effects folder by following the installation path above, if you haven’t already.
6. Open PSE and open an image.  Look at the Effects Palette, usually on the right side of the screen.  If the Effects Palette is not visible, go to the Windows menu and click on Effects.
7. Click on the Photo Effects button (3rd from left under the word Effects).  In the drop-down list to the right of this button, select Show All.
8. Click on the icon to the right of the word “Effects” that has a down arrow next to three horizontal lines.  Click on Show Names in the resulting menu.
9. You might see your new action here now!  The thumbnail that you are looking for looks like the PNG file you copied into the Photo Effects folder.  (You can always open this PNG like any other image in Photoshop to see what it should look like in the Effects Palette.)  This thumbnail will have the name of the action below it.
10. If you don’t see your action, click on the Filters button, which is the first button on the left under the word Effects.  Then, click again on the Photo Effects Button.  It really should be there now.  If it is, stop now.  You’re finished!
11. If you still don’t see your action, navigate to the 8.0 folder in the path above. Rename the ThumbDatabase.DB3 to anything you choose. You could add today’s date or “version 1″.
12. Open the Locale folder that is in the same 8.0 folder. Open the en_US folder and rename the MediaDatabase.db3 file following the same method used in step 6. (Rather than renaming ThumbDatabase and MediaDatabase, you can actually delete them if you are comfortable with that, or cut them and paste somewhere safe until you know that PSE is working fine.)
13. Open PSE 8. The opening process will be quite slow as the two databases are being rebuilt. Open an image.
14. Click on the Photo Effects button (3^rd from the left under the word Effects). In the drop-down list to the right of this button, select Show All.
15. You should be able to find your new action now.  If you can’t, see Gotchas section below.
16. To run the action, double click on the thumbnail. Make sure an image is open and enjoy!

Possible Gotchas:

• If the new action is not in the Effects palette after restarting Photoshop, restart your computer.
• If the thumbnail for the new action does not work when you double click it and there is a blank thumbnail with the name of the action under it, the names of your .ATN file and the .PNG are probably incorrect. Go back to the Photo Effects folder and make sure that the names are exactly the same except for the suffix.
• If you get the error messages “Could not load the actions because the file is not compatible with this version of Photoshop.” followed by, “Could not complete your request because there is not enough memory (RAM).”, you probably have two thumbnails in your Photo Effects palette. One should work, but the other will produce these messages. To correct, navigate to the Photo Effects Folder. Look for two JPEGs associated with this action. One will be suffixed with .thumbnail and one will not. Delete the file that does not have .thumbnail in its name and repeat steps 7 – 14.  Note that Photoshop Elements will automatically create the file ending in .thumbnail.jpg and you should not need to add a JPG yourself.