Manually Adding goodies to Photoshop Elements
Probablythe single most-sent email message I receive runs along these lines:
"Hey, Graffi: I have Photoshop Elements x.x and I like the actions in your blog. Where do I put them in Elements to make them work?" (The second-most received message I get usually goes something like "Hey Graffi: I downloaded the actions from your blog and put them in Elements but they’re not showing up – what can I do?").
Of course, my answer is to use the Add-O-Matic, which will automatically sort and place – along with a generic thumbnail & the required .xml file – the actions so they appear in the Effects palette and the new Actions Player in Elements. At around $11, it really is the simplest solution for adding Actions, Shapes, Styles, Brushes, .8bf-format plug-ins, and many more esoteric items like Color Swatches and Curve shapes.
To use the AOM, download the add-ons you want to install, make sure you’ve unzipped them, and drag and drop the files into the gray box of the AOM interface. It will build the list for you, and when you click "GO!" it will sort & place all the items in just a matter of seconds:
*Make sure you’ve unzipped your goodies before dragging them to the AOM! – check out the video below:
So, having said all that, there are a few steps to go through if you want to manually add actions (specifically) to your Photoshop Elements installation:
First, all of the stand-alone actions on my blog are PSE-compatible. To place them into Photoshop Elements, put the .atn file (& a .png thumbnail to represent it, named exactly the same as the action, and an .xml file to describe to Elements where to place the action in menus & palettes – also named exactly the same as the action) here (Vista & Windows 7 users, substitute C:\\Program Data for the first part):
C:\\Documents and Settings\\All Users\\Application Data\\Adobe\\Photoshop Elements\\x.0\\Photo Creations\\photo effects
In addition, you can run the action by using the Action Player in PSE – drop the action (without thumbnail or .xml file) here:
C:\\Documents and Settings\\All Users\\Application Data\\Adobe\\Photoshop Elements\\x.0\\Locale\\en_US\\Workflow Panels\\actions
and access it through Guided Edit>Action Player.
As I mentioned, though, the AOM will install actions with a click & a drop in about 2 seconds, so maybe that should be your first option !
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