PhotoShop Scripts

Using scripts

In PhotoShop, you can run a script by:

File > Scripts > Browse...
Open

To run a script on multiple PSD files:

create a new Action (call it something like toggle-text-layer-visibility) and record...
1. File > Scripts > Browse...
2. Find this script and open it
3. File > Save (command+s)
Then, use File > Automate > Batch...
1. Select the action
2. Select the folder of images
3. Don't override the save location, unless you want to save duplicates elsewhere

Scripts

toggle_visibility-text_layer.js

This script goes through the layers in the current document and toggles the visibility of text layers.

You must have a document already open to run this script.

PhotoShop script development – the basics

NOTE: this is pretty much all different as of April 2024. I don’t really know the current best way to develop, but one useful way to explore a document’s structure is by using the Adboe UXP Developer Tools. The scripts in this repo still work as of now, in Photoshop 2024 on an M1 Mac, but it seems fairly likely they won’t work in the nearish future, as the Adobe API seems to have changed.

You can code your script in any editor (e.g. VS Code, Atom, Sublime Text, etc), and save the .js file wherever. Then, in PhotoShop, you can run that script with File > Scripts > Browse....

console.log() / print to console

If you want log stuff during development (you probably do), you will need to install ExtendScript, then use $.writeln().

To install ExtendScript: in Creative Cloud, go to the menu item Creative Cloud > Preferences > Apps > Settings > Show Older Apps. This will then let you see and install ExtendScript in the list of CC apps.

Open ExtendScript. When you run a script from PhotoShop, log statements will show up in the console of ExtendScript. You can detach this console window and put it next to your main code editor & PhotoShop, and pretty much ignore the rest of the ExtendScript window.

$.writeln("hello world")

Getting stuff

To access the object model and do stuff, use app. To do stuff to the current document, use app.activeDocument. Make this faster by creating variables:

var currentDoc = app.activeDocument // get current doc
var artLayers = currentDoc.artLayers // get art layers
$.writeln(currentDoc, artLayers)

Doing stuff

See the PhotoShop JavaScript API Docs for a reference of the document object model and what you can do to those objects.

See toggle_visibility-text_layer.js for a simple example of a script that does stuff to PhotoShop documents.

thundernixon / photoshop-scripts