Today’s Question: Is there a way to run a batch process to update Photoshop PSD files with the Maximize Compatibility option? After synchronizing a folder in Lightroom Classic I have 30-40 files with the message to Maximize Compatibility in Photoshop first.
Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, you can easily batch-process images to save as Photoshop PSD files with Maximize Compatibility turned on using the Image Processor feature of Photoshop.
More Detail: The Image Processor feature of Photoshop makes it easy to batch-process photos to save in a different file format or with different settings for the existing file format.
I recommend using Adobe Bridge to get started, as this makes it easier to locate and select the PSD files you need to process. You could, for example, browse multiple folders at once and set a filter to only show PSD files. Once you’ve located the PSD files you want to process, select them and then go to the menu bar and choose Tools > Photoshop > Image Processor.
The Image Processor dialog will then open automatically in Photoshop, and you can adjust the settings for processing. In section one you can keep the “Open first image to apply settings” checkbox turned on. In section two, choose the option to “Save in Same Location” (more on this in a moment).
In section three, turn on the “Save as PSD” checkbox, and turn off the checkboxes for JPEG and TIFF files. Under the “Save as PSD” checkbox, turn on the “Maximize Compatibility” checkbox. Make sure the “Resize to Fit” checkbox associated with the “Save as PSD” option is turned off.
In section four you can keep the “Run Action” checkbox turned off, and turn on the “Include ICC Profile” option.
Click the Run button, and Photoshop will open and re-save the images you had selected. Note, however, that the resulting files will actually be placed in a sub-folder below the folder where the source image is located. Therefore, you’ll need to move the photos from the PSD folder created by Image Processor back into the intended parent folder. You can either move the older versions of the PSD files in the parent folder to a backup folder first, or simply delete them once you’ve confirmed the new PSD files were saved properly.