Batch processing of images is often a necessary procedure in order to fulfill a certain task quickly and efficiently. The image processing software used to accomplish a batch manipulation process has essential effect to the final result. Recently we had a short tutorial on batch processing of images in Adobe Photoshop. In this short tutorial we'll go through the important steps of an image batch process in Adobe Fireworks. In Fireworks, the Batch Process sums to three simple steps.

In order to start a batch process in Fireworks select the File > Batch Process... command from the main menu (see Figure 1). This command will lead you through a step-by-step batch process wizard.

Figure 1: Starting a Batch Process

The first step of the batch process is files selection (see Figure 2). You can select files to be included in the batch process from your local drives, network etc. You can also include the files that are currently open in Fireworks by selecting the Include current open files option. The actions that you choose in the later step will apply to all files that you select in this step.

Figure 2: Including Files in the Batch Process

The next step is to select actions (tasks) that will be applied to the image files in the batch process (see Figure 3). There are a variety of available actions (see Figure 3), like the most used ones: Scale, Rename and Export; and some complex actions like: Find and Replace text (available only for files that have a readable text to Fireworks), Rotation, Invert Selection Color, Sharpen Selection, Export Flex Skin etc. Some of the actions are customizable. Customization is available in the bottom of this step's window. For instance, if you choose to apply Export action to the batch process you can select (edit) the export options in the Export window. Simply Add the Export action into the Include in Batch area on the right of the window, and select Edit in the bottom of the window. Bear in mind that actions are applied to the files in the Batch Process by the order they are entered. For example, if you add Scale and Rotate 90 actions to the batch process, the Scale action will be applied first and then the Rotate 90 action. So before you go to the next step make sure the batch actions are ordered properly.

Figure 3: Selection of batch process actions

The last step is the execution of the Batch Process (see Figure 4). Here, the available options are pretty straightforward. You can select a Batch output (location where to save the updated files). You can select Same location as original file or a Custom location. If you choose to save the files in the same location as the original ones make sure you don't loose something you don't want to. In such case it is advisable to make Backups of your files by selecting that option. It is also possible to save a script for the Batch Process so you can easily process your files next time you need it.

Figure 4: Saving files and batch process script

Hopefully, this tutorial will help you process you image files in a quick and effective manner. Image manipulation is required very often, and as you can see from this tutorial you can easily make a lot of changes to a lot of image files almost instantly.