I used to use PS "actions" are they in PSE 8 for Mac?

Question

I have been using an old version of Photoshop for Mac. Under  the Windows heading there was an Actions option where I could "record" some actions to edit photos and the"play" it to perfrom the same actions on different photos.
In PSE 8 for Mac I see that under Guided Edit there is an Action player with 4 presets, none of which suit my purposes. It says that I can add (from where I don't know) or create my own actions sets by referring to the Help menu. When I search the help menu for " Create Action set" I get 15 topics and none of them seem to be about creating actions sets.
I'd like to be able to record a set of acttions such as OPEN FILE- SIZE IMAGE-UNSHARP MASK-SAVE-CLOSE- and then play it back.
Help appreciated.
thanks,
Rob

Answer 1

When you save an action from photoshop 7, you should be able to
choose the place for saving (i.e. desktop).
The default place for saving actions is very often in the ps7 application folders.
Something like: Applications>Photoshop 7>Presets>Photoshop Actions.
As far as what actions from ps7 work in pse8, try to record steps in your
action that are available in pse8. Something like unsharp mask will work,
but not a command such as convert to cmyk. There are alot of commands
that are not on the pse8 menus that do work such as a layer mask or trim.
It would be good idea to test your actions in pse8, before installing a whole bunch and
finding that half of them don't work.
You could make test action for this purpose. In ps7, record an action
such as Image>Trim.
Name this action set Test (you can name the actual actions anything you want)
and put it in your pse8 photo creations>photo effects folder.
Then delete (move to your desktop) the MediaDatabase.db3 and start pse7
(this will take a while to rebuild the effects panel).
The Test action should be visable in the effects panel after selecting
photo effects and show all. It wiil just be a black thumbnail named Test.
From now on when you want to test an action, just replace the Test action
with another action named Test, but with the action steps your testing
and no need to delete any files (database).
By testing your actions in this way, you avoid the hassle of making a
xml file and a png thumbnail for an action that may not work.
When installing actions that have been tested, you also need a xml file
and a png thumbnail file in addition to the action. (look at xml and png
files already in the photo effects folder for examples).
You don't have worry about the jpeg files, as elements generates these itself.
It's a good idea to delete (move to desktop) the the MediaDatabase.db3
and the ThumbDatabase.db3 anytime you install actions other than the Test action.
After you start pse8 and everything works, you can delete those files from your desktop.
There is also an action player in pse8 under guided edit>automated actions.
As tempting as it may be to test actions with the actions player, i would avoid that.
One very good reason is that some of commands that are in pse8 don't work with
the actions player, for example, any of the transform commands.
In addition to texaschicksblog mentioned above, you may also want to read this pdf:
http://www.camner.net/files/actions_in_PSE_8_for_mac.pdf
Hope some of this helps.
MTSTUNER