How to best batch process an action that simply hides a watermarking layer in existing PSD files?

[jj_345]

I have a smart collection (specific keyword and rank > 1 star) of several hundred files (within a collection of 150k files) that reside in different direcotries that I'd like to run an action/droplet that simply hides an existing layer in the original PSD/TIFF files that contains a watermark.

I tried export to same directory with running an action as post processing with overwrite ON but it would not overwrite the original files.

Is there a simple way to solve this?

[john beardsworth]

Have you tried setting the droplet up as an external editor?

How did the post processing method not work properly?

[jj_345]

No I wasn't aware I could set up the droplet as an external editor- thanks for the suggestion, let me research that.

It didn't work as it would not overwrite the original file.  I assume it's because Lightroom was trying to protect the original not realizing the action was not destructive...

Exporting to another folder is not an option as I'm editing hundreds of files that are in several hundred different folders...  I want to maintain the original folder structure.  I'm just trying to remove watermarks layers...

[johnrellis]

Using a PS droplet as an external editor works fine in 8.0 for editing one photo a time. But when I try to do a large batch of photos, PS appears to get confused, sometimes showing an error and sometimes just failing to save the edited file.

So for batch changes with droplets, I use Export with the droplet as a post-processing action.  The export saves as a new file in the same folder as the original, stacked below the original.  When it's done, do Photo > Stacking > Collapse All Stacks, mark all the tops of the stacks as rejected, then delete the rejected photos, leaving the edited versions behind.

[john beardsworth]

Or just export to another folder, then make the original folder go missing?