About automating tasks using actions and scriptsGraphic design is a field characterized by creativity, but aspects of the actual work of illustration and page layout are anything but creative. When you think about the work that you do, chances are good you'll find that you spend most of your time doing the same or similar production tasks, over and over again. In fact, you'll probably notice that the time you spend placing and replacing images, correcting errors, and preparing files for printing and Web display often reduces the time you have available for doing creative work. Automating tasks provides an answer to this dilemma. Using actions and scripts, you can automate many of the boring, repetitive tasks you have to do, leaving more time to concentrate on the creative aspects of your work. An action is a series of tasks that are recorded while using the Illustrator application--menu commands, tool options, object selection, and so on. When you play an action, Illustrator performs all of the recorded tasks for you. A script is a series of commands that tells your computer to perform a sequence of operations. These operations may involve only Illustrator, or they may involve other applications, such as word processing, spreadsheet, and database management programs. Illustrator provides prerecorded actions and scripts to assist you in performing common tasks. Prerecorded actions are installed as a default set in the Actions palette when you install the Illustrator application; default scripts appear in the File > Scripts submenu. |