Contact Sheets in Action

Now, if you're adventurous, you can record an action to automate this procedurewith a couple of provisos:

You are working with no more than the maximum number of images in the Contact Sheet II command (in our example, 15 images).

AND

The images must be in a folder (you cannot run this using Bridge).

Here are the steps to record a custom action, assuming you have already created your template and saved it in a "permanent location." (In this example we'll add a stroke to the thumbnails, but that step is optional.)

Step One.	Click on the Create New Action icon at the bottom of the Actions palette and call it something like "my contact sheet" in the resulting dialog. Then click on the Record button.
Step Two.	Use File>Automate>Contact Sheet II, choose Folder from the Use pop-up menu, click on the Browse button to choose a source folder, and change the size to 7x9" with your printer's resolution. Choose the number of rows and columns you need and make sure Flatten All Layers in unchecked. Click OK.
Step Three.	Once the automated command is finished, click on the Background layer, and then press Option-] (Right Bracket) (PC: Alt-]) to select the next layer up. Note: Do not click on the thumbnail's layer to select it, as that will record the name of the layer.
Step Four.	Go to the Layer menu and add the Layer Style>Stroke. For this example, I used a 1-point black stroke set to Inside. Then return to the Layer menu and choose Layer Style>Copy Layer Style.
Step Five.	From the Actions palette's flyout menu, choose Insert Menu Item. With the Insert Menu Item dialog open , go to the Select menu, choose Similar Layers, and then click OK in the dialog.
Step Six.	From the Layer menu choose Layer Style>Paste Layer Style. Hide the Background layer by clicking on its Eye icon and from the Layers palette's flyout menu, choose Merge Visible.
Step Seven.	Open the contact sheet template you created and saved previously. Then click back on the contact sheet document (that was just created by the automated command).
Step Eight.	From the Layers palette's flyout menu, choose Duplicate Layer, and in the dialog, select <your template> from the Document pop-up menu in the Destination section. Click on the template document and hold down Command (PC: Control) as you click on the Background layer to make sure both layers are selected.
Step Nine.	From the Layer menu, choose Align>Vertical Centers and then Align>Horizontal Centers. Click the Stop Recording button in the Actions palette to finish your action. The action will always use whatever folder you chose while recording, so you'll want to click in the empty box to the left of the Contact Sheet II step to add a modal control. This will stop the action at that point so you'll be able to select a new source folder. Remember, you cannot move or rename your template document or the action will not work. Hopefully, your action will look like this: It may take a bit of tweaking, but in the long run this can save you a ton of time as you've automated the task of customizing the contact sheet.