Manage actions and action sets

Last updated on Oct 10, 2026

Rearrange, rename, duplicate, and save actions to keep them organized and available across projects.

Learn how to organize your actions and action sets to maintain an efficient workflow. Rearrange the order of actions, create custom sets for different projects, and save sets to transfer between computers.

Manage individual actions and commands

You can reorganize, duplicate, rename, and delete actions and individual commands within actions to keep your Actions panel organized.

Rearrange actions or commands

In the Actions panel, expand an action to view its commands.

Select and drag the action or command and drop it to its new location.

Duplicate an action, command, or set

Select the action, command, or set you want to duplicate in the Actions panel.

Drag the selection to the Create New Action option or choose Duplicate from the Actions panel menu.

Tip

Press Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS) while dragging to duplicate the item to a specific location in one step.

Delete an action, command, or set

Select the action, command, or set in the Actions panel.

Select the Delete icon in the Actions panel, or drag the selection to the Delete icon .

Select OK to confirm the deletion.

Tip

Press Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS) while selecting the delete icon to skip the confirmation dialog.

Clear all actions from the Actions panel

Choose Clear All Actions from the Actions panel menu.

After clearing all actions, restore the default set by following these steps.

Rename an action and change its options

Select the action from the Actions panel.

Select Action Options from the Actions panel menu.

Enter a new name for the action or change the function key combination or button color.

Select OK.

Tip

Select an action name in the Actions panel to rename it directly without opening the Action Options dialog.

Manage action sets

Action sets help you organize related actions for different types of work, such as print publishing, web design, or photo editing. You can create new sets, save them to disk, and transfer them to other computers.

Create a new action set

Select the Create New Set option in the Actions panel or New Set from the panel menu.

Enter a name for the set.

Select OK.

Create your action sets before creating new actions so the new set appears in the set menu when you create an action.

Save an action set to disk

Select one or more actions or an entire action set.

Choose Save Actions from the Actions panel menu.

Enter a name and choose a location for the file.

Select Save.

Action set files use the .atn extension. If you save the file to the Presets/Actions folder, the set appears in the Actions panel menu after you restart Photoshop. Photoshop 25.7 (April 2024 release) added the ability to export actions as text files. Press Ctrl + Alt (Windows) or Command + Option (macOS) when choosing Save Actions to export actions as a text file for review or printing. Text files cannot be reloaded into Photoshop.

Load an action set

Select Load Actions from the Actions panel menu.

Locate and select the action set file with the .atn extension.

Select Load.

You can also drag an action set file directly into the Photoshop interface to load it, or select an action set from the bottom of the Actions panel menu if it's installed in your Presets/Actions folder.

Restore the default action set

Select Reset Actions from the Actions panel menu.

Select OK to replace current actions with the default set or Append to add the default set to your current actions.

Replace all actions with a new set

Select Replace Actions from the Actions panel menu.

Select an action set file.

Select Load.

The Replace Actions command removes all current action sets from the Actions panel. Save your current actions before replacing them to prevent permanent data loss.

Rename an action set

Double-click the set name in the Actions panel or select Set Options from the Actions panel menu.

Enter a new name for the set.

Select OK.

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