How to Use Photoshop’s NEW Actions Panel for Faster, Smarter Edits

AI is transforming photo editing in every possible way. Sometimes it pops up in fun tools that feel more like novelty than necessity. Other times, it has the power to reshape your entire workflow.

The new Actions panel in Adobe Photoshop falls strongly into the latter category.

Actions used to be a feature mostly for power users, but it’s now an intuitive tool that helps even beginners make general edits in Photoshop.

Thanks to a smart search tool and a powerful AI scan of your image, you’ll now find an Action that will enhance your image in no time. Complex edits and one-click yet editable solutions are all available in the new Actions panel.

Whether you’re a professional looking to speed up your workflow or a beginner who just wants great results without digging through dozens of menus, the new Actions panel is for you.

In this article, I’ll start by explaining what Actions are and how they work. This hasn’t changed, but I’ll cover it in case you’re not familiar with them.

Then, I’ll introduce you to the new Actions panel by showing you how to access it and what’s so revolutionary about it.

Let’s get started!

What Are Actions in Photoshop?

Photoshop Actions are recorded sequences that allow you to automate repetitive tasks. I know, it’s a mouthful, but it’s actually very simple – think of them as recipes where all the steps are ‘baked in’.

So, whenever you want to apply that recipe to an image, simply click play, and Photoshop will automatically go through all the steps to deliver you the final result.

You can find Actions included in Photoshop that cover some of the most common tasks, such as adding a vignette or converting a color image to black and white.

You can also buy or download Actions from creators or websites that you can load into Photoshop and use them whenever you want (following the terms of use, of course).

But you can also create your own Actions. Any time you do an edit that you know may be useful in the future, you can record it as an Action and use it later to streamline your workflow.

What Were Photoshop Actions Like Before?

Photoshop Actions are nothing new; they’ve been available since a very early version of Photoshop in the ’90s. Since the beginning, they’ve been a game-changing breakthrough for batch editing.

Actions in Photoshop have their own panel. Here, you have a series of Actions, each with an arrow and a folder next to it.

If you click the arrow, you’ll see all the steps that belong to that Action. To see the actual result, you need to click Play.

Once the Action is completed, you’ll see the edits applied to your image. You can also go to the History panel to see all the steps that have been run.

The Actions panel is also used to record new Actions. Once you click record, every edit you make will be included in the Action. Whenever you’re done, simply stop the recording and save the Action for future use.

Since their introduction in Photoshop, Actions have become part of professional editing, with a focus on stability over major updates. That is, until now.

What Are the New Actions in Photoshop?

Adobe is revolutionizing the way Actions work in Photoshop. As is often the case with new features, they test and improve them before officially including them.

This is why, for now, you’ll only find the new Actions panel in Photoshop Beta. This isn’t a special program for a selective few; anyone with a Photoshop subscription can use Photoshop Beta.

However, it is a separate application you need to download and install on your computer. Simply go to your Creative Cloud application and look for Photoshop Beta.

But, you’re probably wondering why go to all that trouble? Well, let me tell you what’s new in Photoshop Actions and why you should try them out.

And by the way, it’s always possible to toggle between the classic Actions panel and the new one without changing apps.

Suggested Actions

The first thing you’ll see in the new Actions panel is the Suggested area – this is something I really appreciate in this update.

Whenever you open an image in Photoshop, the AI analyses it and its unique characteristics to generate a list of suggested actions to enhance it in multiple ways.

This step happens in real time as you open the Actions panel, and you’ll notice it’s based on the information gathered from the photo, since it changes when you open another file.

For example, if you’re working on a portrait, you may get suggestions about skin tone and texture, while working with a landscape photo may result in suggestions to add drama to the sky, and so on.

It considers advanced AI edits such as removing the background and generating a custom one. Of course, it may also suggest general edits such as removing a color cast or brightening the subject.

If none of the suggestions inspires you, simply hover over the “Based on Your Image” title to see a Refresh icon. Click on it to get new suggestions.

Hover Preview

A big improvement over the previous version is the fact that you can see a live preview of what the action would do to your photo without applying it.

It’s important to note a couple of things. First of all, not all Actions have a live preview at this time – removing the background, for example, doesn’t have it.

Sometimes it depends on what the action does; if the action is to Delete Empty Layers, it’s clear that it doesn’t need a preview.

As you can see in the screenshot above, some actions have an icon on the right side that shows a rectangle with an eye; that means the preview is available.

The second thing to consider is that previewing complex actions may take a long time or even cause the program to freeze. So, it’s sometimes more convenient to actually apply the Action without the preview.

You might feel reluctant to do this because, in the past, it wasn’t easy to undo an Action, but that’s no longer a problem. Let me tell you about it in the next feature.

History – Single and Expanded

Before, all the steps included in an Action were singularly marked in the edit history. Now, this may be a good thing sometimes, but not always.

The most common example is that after applying a complex action, it can be very hard to revert to the state before the action if you don’t like the result.

Well, Adobe heard these concerns, and now you can choose whether to keep the expanded history, which includes all the steps, or compress it into a single step.

If you choose the latter, you can simply click Cmd + Z or click a step back in the History panel to remove the Action and try something else.

There’s a caveat: you need to select it before you apply the Action, and whatever you choose stays until you change it again. It’s a setting applied to the Actions panel that you can find in the Playback Options dialog box.

It’s important to mention that saving the history in a single step doesn’t make the action uneditable. You can still work on the layer created by the action, or modify an effect.

Apply Selectively

Another cool feature of the new Actions panel is the ability to choose where you want to apply the action. To access this feature, simply click on the three dots next to the Action name.

At this time, it’s limited to Apply on subject, Apply on background, or Play Action, which means it’s applied to the entire image.

With the amazing advances AI is making, I think it’s likely that Adobe will incorporate more smart masking options in the future. However, already having these two choices is very helpful.

Smart Search

The biggest change to the Actions panel is the new Search tool. You no longer have to scroll through endless lists of actions or spend time figuring out how to perform general edits.

Instead, you can simply type what you need in natural language – for example, “a vintage effect” or “make the subject pop.” Instantly, you’ll get a curated list of actions to help you achieve exactly that.

Because it’s a smart search tool, the words you type don’t have to match an action’s name exactly to appear in the results. You’ll see a range of relevant actions that could help, even if they’re labeled differently.

That said, the system still recognizes precise terms, including technical language or the names of your own saved actions — yes, custom actions are still fully supported.

Whether you’re unsure how to approach an edit and are using Actions as a guide, or you’re a pro managing a large library and relying on it as an assistant, the search feature is a real time-saver.