Photoshop Action with save as unique name step - action

Question

I have a need to create an action that will:
1. copy a selected part (selected by hand) of an image in an already opened file
2. paste selection into new file
3. save new file as jpg file, but not with default file name of "untitled.jpg" - instead use a unique name or use a auto-increment suffix
Because the action will be run multiple times on different selections from the same image, saving each selection with a unique name or auto-incremented suffix would save the step of manually supplying the filename each time a different selection is saved.
I can create an action that gets to the save-as step, but don't know if it is possible to modify the default save as name as described above. Is it possible?

Answer 1

No. Tried it before with no success. You have to save manually.

Answer 2

Don't think this is possible with an action but you can write a script do to it.

Answer 3

I have created a script for similar work. It uses a technique to generate unique filenames and save the file.
/************************************************************************
* Author: Nishant Kumar
* Description: This script iterates through a template to create
* jpg images with id card numbers.
* Date: 08-03-2015
***********************************************************************/
//current id count
var id_count = 0;
//total no of id cards to produce
var total_id_cards = 42;
//no. of cards per sheet
var card_per_sheet = 21;
//Save path related to current file
var save_path = app.activeDocument.path;
//do an iteration, number the cards and save file
do{
//iterate 24 nos in each document
for(var i = 0; i<card_per_sheet; i++){
id_count++;
app.activeDocument.layers[i].textItem.contents = id_count;
}
//Create a jpg document with standard options
jpgSaveOptions = new JPEGSaveOptions();
jpgSaveOptions.embedColorProfile = true;
jpgSaveOptions.formatOptions = FormatOptions.STANDARDBASELINE;
jpgSaveOptions.matte = MatteType.NONE;
jpgSaveOptions.quality = 12;
//Save jpg with incremental file names (1.jpg, 2.jpg), make sure the path exists
jpgFile = new File( save_path + "/output/" + id_count/card_per_sheet + ".jpeg" );
app.activeDocument.saveAs(jpgFile, jpgSaveOptions, true, Extension.LOWERCASE);
}while(id_count < total_id_cards);

Answer 4

I know this is old, but still. You can use the following script.
How to use a script:
Copy the following script in notepad, and save it in directory similar to "C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS2\Presets\Scripts" with the extension JSX.
To run the scrip in photoshop, go to File > Scripts > "Your Script".
#target photoshop
main();
function main(){
if(!documents.length) return;
var Name = app.activeDocument.name.replace(/.[^.]+$/, '');
Name = Name.replace(/\d+$/,'');
try{
var savePath = activeDocument.path;
}catch(e){
alert("You must save this document first!");
}
var fileList= savePath.getFiles(Name +"*.jpg").sort().reverse();
var Suffix = 0;
if(fileList.length){
Suffix = Number(fileList[0].name.replace(/\.[^\.]+$/, '').match(/\d+$/));
}
Suffix= zeroPad(Suffix + 1, 4);
var saveFile = File(savePath + "/" + Name + "_" + Suffix + ".jpg");
SaveJPG(saveFile);
}
function SaveJPG(saveFile){
//Create a jpg document with standard options
jpgSaveOptions = new JPEGSaveOptions();
jpgSaveOptions.embedColorProfile = true;
jpgSaveOptions.formatOptions = FormatOptions.STANDARDBASELINE;
jpgSaveOptions.matte = MatteType.NONE;
jpgSaveOptions.quality = 12;
//Save jpg with incremental file names (1.jpg, 2.jpg), make sure the path exists
activeDocument.saveAs(saveFile, jpgSaveOptions, true, Extension.LOWERCASE);
};
function zeroPad(n, s) {
n = n.toString();
while (n.length < s) n = '0' + n;
return n;
};