Custom actions don't appear in 18.5

[asharpe]

Hi folks,

I've used 18.02 and various beta 18.40 versions, and my (custom) actions were always there. Going to 18.5, however, my custom actions aren't listed. Where are they located?

[Eurgail]

Hi!

Works fine here.

[Martin Huber]

I've used 18.02 and various beta 18.40 versions, and my (custom) actions were always there. Going to 18.5, however, my custom actions aren't listed. Where are they located?

If you are on Mac OS, the custom actions are in ~/Library/Preferences/PhotoLine and are named "Actions.actions", but your old actions should load fine in 18.50 (no problem here on Mac OS 10.9.4). If your actions are not loaded correctly, please send them to use and we will examine the problem.

Martin

[Sergey Sorokopudov]

+1
I have the same issue. Mac OS 10.8.5
I used 18.0 with custom actions grouped into folders. Once updated to 18.5 - custom actions gone.
I have to restore 18.0 from TimeMachine, save action to a file, update to 18.5, load actions from file back to 18.5. As the result - in 18.5 I lost folders for my actions.
But it would be nice if I can restore my folders of actions in 18.5

In ~/Library/Preferences/PhotoLine I have only file Actions without extension. Should I send this file for troubleshooting?
The screenshot is from machine with 18.5 already installed.

[asharpe]

If you are on Mac OS, the custom actions are in ~/Library/Preferences/PhotoLine and are named "Actions.actions", but your old actions should load fine in 18.50 (no problem here on Mac OS 10.9.4). If your actions are not loaded correctly, please send them to use and we will examine the problem.

Yes, I'm on a Mac, Mavericks, and there is one file in Library/Preferences/PhotoLine called simply Actions. So far, it seems odd that you thought the file was called something else. I wonder... Aha! I copied the file to Actions.actions, and they now appear. So, it looks like you will have to look for Actions files with and without the extension, since obviously, at least some versions of the software was generating it...

[greenmorpher]

You "copied (the Actions) file to Actions.actions". How did you do this?

I ask because I lost all my actions in 18.02 but I do have Actions and an Actions.actions files in my PL prefs so maybe if I follow your procedure, I might get my old actions back. But I am not sure how to follow your procedure!

Cheers, geoff

[asharpe]

You "copied (the Actions) file to Actions.actions". How did you do this?f

I'm an old (emphasis on the word old) Unix engineer. So, I happen to like the command line interface on a Mac. All I did was:

$ cd ~/Library/Preferences/PhotoLine
$ cp Actions Actions.actions

I ask because I lost all my actions in 18.02 but I do have Actions and an Actions.actions files in my PL prefs so maybe if I follow your procedure, I might get my old actions back. But I am not sure how to follow your procedure!

Hmm. You have both an Actions file *and* an Actions.action file? I guess before you do anything, copy then somewhere safe. Then you can copy them around and rename them to your heart's content. If you screw it up, you can always move them back:

$ cd ~/Library/Preferences/PhotoLine
$ mkdir save
$ cp Actions* save

I'm going to assume that it is the older Actions file you want, not the Actions.actions file. You can move the current Actions.actions out of the way:

$ mv Actions.actions Actions.actions.old

And then rename the Actions file to Actions.actions:

$ mv Actions Actions.actions


You can always cp the versions you saved into the save folder back if something goes wrong.

[bkh]

You "copied (the Actions) file to Actions.actions". How did you do this?

If you don't want to use the Terminal, you can rename the file in the Finder – it's best to use the "Get Info" dialogue and make sure "Hide Extension" is unchecked.

Cheers

Burkhard.

[asharpe]

You "copied (the Actions) file to Actions.actions". How did you do this?

If you don't want to use the Terminal, you can rename the file in the Finder – it's best to use the "Get Info" dialogue and make sure "Hide Extension" is unchecked.

But you won't be able to rename it if you already have a file of the same name. So, he'll first have to rename Actions.actions to Actions.actions.old (and then have to deal with the Mac warning you about changing the extension), and then rename Actions to Actions.actions. This is much faster using the command line.

[greenmorpher]

That was interesting! I had three Actions files - plain Actions (4kb), Actions.actions (25kb), and DefaultActions.actions (4kb).

I renamed Actions.actions by adding .orig, and Actions by adding .actions. Launched PL -- no actions at all. I concluded that the 4kb file actually was empty.

So I deleted the .actions to return the Actions file to its original name. Fine. Then I tried to delete the .orig to return the Actions.actions file to its original name, but it told me that name was already taken.

I had to drag that file out of the folder, delete the suffix .orig, then drag it back in, at which point I got the familiar dialog about deleting an older file, so I said "right jolly ho, matey, go to it!" and it deleted the plain Actions file.

So I conclude that the actions I once had really have gone to god and I am back with the default actions. The actions lost are piffling really, anyway -- I will make them again when I want them.

Thanks for your help, Burkhard and Sharpy. Terminal? Shudder!

Cheers, geoff

[asharpe]

So I conclude that the actions I once had really have gone to god and I am back with the default actions. The actions lost are piffling really, anyway -- I will make them again when I want them. Thanks for your help, Burkhard and Sharpy.

Sorry you couldn't get it to work. However, Martin should fix this for the future by accepting the Actions file, as well as the Actions.actions file. And whichever is newer, use it. And possibly offer to import the old actions into the new file, in case structures have changed. Oh, and the name is Sharpe, not Sharpy.

[bkh]

So I conclude that the actions I once had really have gone to god and I am back with the default actions. The actions lost are piffling really, anyway -- I will make them again when I want them.

Maybe you can still recover the actions from a Time Machine backup? Probably, it's enough to find out when the file size (of either "Actions" or "Actions.actions" ) suddenly got smaller.

Cheers

Burkhard.

[greenmorpher]

My actions disappeared some time ago -- all actions. I can't remember the exact circumstances but in the end, it is not really important. As I said, they were simple actions, easily reconstructed when I need them. What concerned me more at the time was the loss of the default actions and one or two that had been posted on this forum.

I now have the new default actions and I will check through the forum and recover those I want.

Thanks for your help, tupela (as we say here).

Cheers, geoff