@ c.pfaffenbichler:

Yes, I'm familiar with stops, but I'm afraid it doesn't really help me:

Any fill-type operation (magic eraser, fill, magic wand etc) in an action has an embedded cursor position (from when the action was recorded) - so the fill performed by the action will always be at that point in the image. If I insert a stop, it's true that I could then do the fill manually (including all the settings of the fill tool), but since my action is mostly a series of fills with different colours and settings, it rather defeats the point of having an action in the first place!

I was hoping there was a way of overriding the cursor position embedded in the fill command and replacing it with a manually-defined one for the current image, but I guess not.

Yes, it's true that Magic Wand isn't actually a fill operation - but what I meant was that it has similar tool settings (i.e, cursor position, tolerance, anti-alias, contiguous, etc).  Yes, I can run the operation manually, but that also means adjusting the tool settings manually.

My action is essentially a sequence of magic wand selections (at various tool settings) interspersed with Magic Eraser commands (also at different tool settings) and a couple of fill commands (yes, you guessed it, at different tool settings).  If I have to remove these steps from the action and do them manually, I have to change the tool values manually each time as well. Since the whole point of having the action in the first place was to automate the process, it rather defeats the object of the excercise!

I'd hoped there was some way that an action could take a user input for a cursor position, then carry on with (say) a fill at that position, but I guess that would be too useful.

Yes, that's a good thought.  By selecting the preset in the action, and then inserting a stop, I just have to position the cursor and click, then continue the action. I'll try it now.

Many thanks!

Well, it was good in theory!   Unfortunately, I get the error message "The command 'select' is not currently available". Maybe preset tool selection has not been implemented in CS6 actions yet.

Well, never mind.  Your suggestion has given me a useable workflow - I use multiple stops in which I choose a tool preset and click a location, and let the action do the housekeeping (copying layers, renaming layers, etc).  At least it's partially automated!

I had a brief look at scripting but have decided it's beyond my comfort zone at the moment!   Thanks again.