How to Use Quick Actions in PhotoDirector
Let PhotoDirector read your photo and suggest only the fixes it actually needs.
Updated Aug. 19, 2026 · 4 min read
In a hurry? Use the Quick Actions quick guide instead.
Most editing tools hand you every slider they own and leave you to work out which ones matter. Quick Actions in PhotoDirector goes the other way: it looks at your photo first, then offers a short list of the changes that particular image would benefit from.
- Open PhotoDirector and choose Quick Actions on the launcher.
- Click Import Photo, or drag a photo in, and let it analyze the image.
- Work down Recommendations for this image and expand whichever ones you want.
- Drag Strength to set how far each change goes.
Steps to Use Quick Actions
Step 1: Open Quick Actions
It's the first option on the PhotoDirector launcher, ahead of the guided tools and the full workspace. That position is a fair reflection of what it's for: this is the mode you reach for when you want a photo improved without deciding in advance how.
Step 2: Import a Photo So It Can Be Analyzed
Drag a photo onto the empty panel, or click Import Photo. The wording on screen is worth noticing: it asks for a photo for analysis to receive feature recommendations. Nothing is edited at this point. PhotoDirector is reading the image so it can decide what to offer you next.
Step 3: Work Through What It Recommends
The left panel fills with Recommendations for this image, grouped so you can skim rather than read. Here's what came back for our photo, a girl standing on a street with overhead cables behind her:
| Group | What it offered |
|---|---|
| Subject | Exposure and Saturation, the two adjustments that affect the whole frame |
| Portrait | Retouch, Face Smoother, Concealer, Eye Bag Remover and Teeth Whitener |
| Background Blur | One control for pushing a busy background out of focus |
| Recommended Filter (Color LUTs) | Color grades chosen to suit this image, with See All for the rest |
| Wire Removal | A single toggle for clearing overhead cables out of the shot |
That list is built for the photo in front of it, so expect it to look different next time. The portrait tools appeared because there is a person in shot, and Wire Removal appeared because there are cables overhead. Nothing is applied until you open a group and act on it, so you can read the whole list before anything happens.
Step 4: Set How Strong Each Change Is
Expand any recommendation and it opens a Strength slider rather than switching itself on at some fixed amount. That's the part worth slowing down for, because the difference between a photo that looks edited and one that just looks good usually comes down to how far these went. Filters get their own Strength too, so you can take a color grade at a fraction of its full effect.
Changes stack as you go, and the preview updates with each one, so you can judge them together rather than one at a time. Clear All at the bottom of the panel takes the photo back to how it arrived if you want to start again.
Haven't got PhotoDirector yet? Quick Actions reads the photo and suggests only the fixes it needs, which is the fastest way in.
Download PhotoDirector Free →FAQ About Quick Actions
Because it is built from the analysis of that image rather than being a fixed menu. A portrait brings up the face tools, a landscape will not, and something like Wire Removal only appears when there is actually something for it to remove.
No. Nothing is applied until you expand a recommendation and move its Strength slider. Treat the list as a shortlist of what is worth considering, not a set of instructions.
How far that one recommendation is pushed, from barely applied to its full effect. It is per recommendation, so a strong color grade can sit alongside a very light retouch without the two fighting each other.
