Install Actions in Photoshop Elements 4 on XP

How to Install Actions/Effects in Photoshop Elements 4 on XP

Installation Path:

• Start Menu
• My Computer
• Local Disk (C:) (This could possibly be a different letter, but is usually C and most likely will be your computer’s root directory.)
• Program Files
• Adobe
• Photoshop Elements 4.0
• Previews
• Effects
• Image Effects (This folder is used for this particular example. Depending on the action, you might choose a different folder to store it in. This choice will affect the way you access the action in PSE 4.)

Installation Technique:

1. Download action files from source website to your desktop.
2. You should have one file ending in the .ATN suffix and one ending in the .PSD suffix.
3. If you have a .PNG file instead of a .PSD file, see the Gotchas section below.
4. Make a backup copy of the Image Effects.psd that is in the Image Effects folder.
5. Open PSE 4, open the action .PSD file and open the Image Effects.psd file that is in the Image Effects folder.
6. With the action .psd file active, right click on the background layer in the Layers palette.  Select Duplicate Layer and change the destination document to Image Effects.psd.  Select OK.
7. Activate the Image Effects.psd file and look for the image you just copied into it.  Change the name of this layer to the name of the action, exactly like it is named on the .ATN file (minus the .ATN suffix).
8. Move this layer until it is in alphabetical order (A’s are at the top).  Photoshop 4 associates actions with their thumbnails based on the order of the layers in this file, so it’s important that the thumbs are in the proper order.  Save and close both images, and close Photoshop.
9. Following the path above, copy the .ATN file into the Image Effects folder or folder of your choice.
10. Open PSE 4 and open an image.
11. Look at the Style & Effects palette, usually on the right side of the screen.  If this palette is not visible, go to the Windows menu and click on Style & Effects.
12. In the first drop-down list, select Effects.  In the next drop-down, select Image Effects.
13. You should see a new thumbnail that looks like the PSD file you copied into the Special Effects folder.  (You can always open this PSD 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.  If you can’t find the new action, see Gotchas section below.
14. To run the action, double click on the thumbnail.  Make sure an image is open and enjoy!

Possible Gotchas:

• If you have a .PNG file instead of a .PSD file, open the PNG in PSE as you would any other image. Go to the File menu, select Save As, and change the Format to Photoshop (*.PSD)
• New action is not in the Styles & Effects palette after restarting Photoshop:

1. Close PSE and re-open it while pressing the shift key.  Repeat steps 10, 12 and 13.
2. If the action still isn’t present, follow the path above to Previews/cache/effects cache.  Make a backup copy of the contents of this folder for your desktop, then delete the contents.  Don’t worry – Photoshop should rebuild it the next time you open the program.  However, it’s a good idea to copy the file to your desktop as a backup, just in case something crazy happens.
3. Re-open PSE 4.  It will open quite slowly this time as the database is being rebuilt.
4. If the new thumbnail still hasn’t appeared in the effects palette, restart your computer.

• If the thumbnail for the new action performs a differenct action than you expected, the thumbnail layers probably aren’t in the required order.
• Or, if the thumbnail does not work when you double click it and there is a blank thumbnail with the name of the action under it, the name of your .ATN file and the .PSD file are probably different. Go back to the folder where you placed the action and make sure that the names are exactly the same except for the suffix.