Recording Menu Items in an Action

Even though we can do a ton of things with actions, there is always one thing that stumps peopleinserting or recording certain menu items. For example, if you try to record the View>Show>All command (this shows all extras that may be included in a Photoshop file, such as guides, rulers, smart guides, etc.), Photoshop will not play that step back when you run the action. There's an easy fix, though; you just need to know where to look.

Step One

We're going to record an action that sets up an open image to make it easier to work with. This action will fit the image onscreen, turn snapping on, and show all information and extras that may be inside of a Photoshop fileall of which are functions under the View menu that just can't be recorded by using the menu in an action. Now, you could always press Command-Shift-; (PC: Control-Shift-;) to turn snapping on, choose View>Show>All, and then press Command-0 (PC: Control-0) to fit onscreen, but that's a pain in the neck. An action is much better. So, let's get started by opening any image. Create a new action, name it "Document Setup," and click Record in the New Action dialog to start recording.

Step Two

Go ahead and choose View>Show>All. Take note of the Actions palette as you do this. You will notice that no step is inserted into the action when you make this choice. That is because Photoshop didn't record it.

Turbo Boost

When the Actions palette is in Button mode, clicking a button executes the entire action.

Step Three

To make this work, from the Actions palette's flyout menu choose Insert Menu Item. You'll see the Insert Menu Item dialog appear showing that no menu item has been selected yet.

Step Four

Now this sounds odd, but to use this dialog you actually don't do anything with it. Instead, go to the menu bar and choose View>Show>All again. The dialog will then update with the Menu Item you've picked. Click OK to close the dialog.

Step Five

If you now look in your Actions palette, you'll see that the Document Setup action has been updated with a new step.

Turbo Boost

If you haven't figured it out yet, you can't use the Move tool in an actionit simply won't be recorded. To get around this, go into Free Transform mode first by pressing Command-T (PC: Control-T) and then move your object.

Step Six

Follow Steps Three and Four to add the menu commands for View>Snap and View>Fit on Screen to your action. Click the Stop Recording icon to finish your action. From the Actions palette's flyout menu, choose Actions Options and set the action up with a shortcut key (which can also be done when you first create the action). Now, every time you want to see all of the extras inside of your Photoshop images, you can just press that shortcut key.

Turbo Boost

To play part of an action, select the command from which you want to start playing, and click the Play Selection button at the bottom of the Actions palette, or choose Play from the palette's flyout menu.