How to directly select any action with a Palette button

Here’s something we get asked about often: how do you assign a Photoshop action to Palette?

It makes perfect sense, really — both tools are made to save time and reduce inefficiencies when editing. Combining both? Even better. It’s easy to miss, however, as the setup is a little more complicated than assigning most functions to Palette.

In short, there are two main steps required to make this happen.

1. First, assign a keyboard shortcut to your desired action:

• Open Photoshop and expose the Actions panel. If you can’t find it, go to Window > Actions or press Opt+Fn+F9 (Mac) / Alt+F9 (Win)
• Select your desired action from the list (Fig. 1, left).
• Select the top-right menu from the Actions panel (Fig. 1, top). From the list, select “Action Options” (Fig. 1, right).
• Select your function key and modifiers. This is the keyboard shortcut that will trigger your PS action. 
  Note: As Photoshop uses some of the Function keys as shortcuts already, I recommend selecting the Shift and Command modifiers.

2. Next, assign your Action shortcut to a Palette button:

• Open the PaletteApp to your Photoshop profile and select your desired module. 
  Note: This works best with buttons, but can also be assigned to a dial press or turn.
• A module settings window will pop up. Select “Keyboard Mode” from the left (Fig. 2, upper left).
• Press the Action shortcut that you assigned in Step 1. Confirm that the PaletteApp shows the correct shortcut (Fig. 2, centre).
  Note: MacOS maps the Function keys to system controls by default. For F1, press Fn+F1.
• Remember to set a custom name and colour (Fig 2., lower left).

As always, please reach out to us at support@palettegear.com if you have any questions on using your Palette kit. You may also be interested in the following resources:

Custom Shortcuts in Photoshop (article)

Using Palette’s Keyboard Mode to Control Any Software (video)