Making a conditional mode change

Photoshop lets you specify conditions for a mode change so the conversion can be successfully used in an action, which is a series of commands that you play back on a single file or a batch of files. When a mode change is part of an action, an error can occur if the file being opened is not in the same source mode specified in the action. For example, one step in an action can be to convert an image with a source mode of RGB to a target mode of CMYK. Applying this action to an image in Grayscale mode, or any other source mode besides RGB, will cause an error.

While recording an action, the Conditional Mode Change command lets you specify one or more modes for the source mode and a mode for the target mode. For more information on creating actions, see Recording actions.

To add a conditional mode change to an action:

1. Start recording an action.
2. Choose File > Automate > Conditional Mode Change.
3. In the Conditional Mode Change dialog box, select one or more modes for the source mode. You can also use the All or None buttons to select all possible modes or no mode.
4. Choose a target mode from the Mode pop-up menu.
5. Click OK. The conditional mode change will appear as a new step in the Actions palette.