Change settings when playing an action

Last updated on Oct 27, 2025

Learn more about inserting modal controls in Adobe Photoshop actions to pause playback and adjust settings for specific steps.

You can insert a modal control to pause an action and change settings for a specific step. This allows you to adjust the options of a command while the action runs.

In the Actions panel, locate the command you want to pause for.

Select the box to the left of the command name to enable modal control.
The modal control button is highlighted in the Action panel.
Toggle on or off modal button to allow to change default settings.

When the action pauses, adjust the settings in the dialog box that appears.

Press Enter (Windows) or Return (macOS) to continue playing the action.