Writing Actions in CS2 that work in older versions of photoshop

BH
Posted By
Bart_Hickman
Sep 29, 2006
Views
215
Replies
2
Status
Closed
I have some actions I wrote in CS2 that I’d like to share with others who have older version of photoshop, but some bugs are cropping up. Is there a way of figuring out why a CS2 action doesn’t work on an older version (other than actually owning the older version)? Or maybe a way of ensuring some degree of backward compatibility?

I think my problem stems from some changes over the years in the various ways you can make copies of layers or select layers or something like that, but I don’t know what those changes would be. Is there an archive of "what’s new" for each successive product upgrade?

Bart
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Y
YrbkMgr
Sep 29, 2006
That’s a tough one Bart because certain features have been added that don’t exist in previous versions. Indeed, the way some things have been accomplished in previous version (dating back to 4.0) have changed drmatically with each successive version.

As an extreme example, text warp was added with PS 7, and Text on a Path was added with cs/cs2. The ability to select multiple layers without grouping or linking them was added with cs/cs2.

So the task you’ve carved for yourself will not be easy unless you have each of the previous versions you wish to support and then tweak the actions by trial and error.

Peace,
Tony
DR
Danny Raphael
Oct 2, 2006
Bart…

New functionality changes obviously aren’t downward compatible. It’s when Adobe "changes existing functionality" that unexpected problems like the ones you’re reporting pop up. FWIW I’ve never seen documentation (from Adobe or anyone) on changes across versions that specifically address action downward compatibility.

As Tony noted, CS and CS2 handle command (alt + Layer > Merge visible…) differntly than previous versions. He’s also cited in CS, CS2 Automate > Batch (Source=Open Files) processes images in the opposite sequence as previous versions.

If you like e-mail me a representative sample of the troublesome actions (click my name above). I’ve got PS7 (holding out for CS3 🙂 ) and will do the best I can to give you a hand debugging them. [I’m pretty handy at action crafting.]

~Danny~

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