Adobe Camera Raw - some clarifications

I received an e-mail recently asking for clarification on an issue regarding Adobe Camera Raw's interface. It seems that there is a bit of confusion on the difference between the Done and the Save Images buttons.

Moving from left to right across the interface, you come first to the Save Images button. This button saves the current settings of a single or multiple selected files and opens the Save Options dialog box. Within the Save Options dialog, you can save a copy of the file as a Tiff, JPEG, PSD, or DNG file formats. If you Alt+Click the button, you skip the dialog box and use whatever settings were left over from the last time it was used.

The Done button closes the Camera Raw dialog box and stores the current adjustments in the Camera Raw Database file or in a sidecar XMP file (depending on how your preferences are set up).

You can use the Save Images option when making all of your corrections in ACR and you want to save those corrections in a separate file. Use the Done button to make your edits without creating a second file.

For the most part, I think that folks are using ACR and selecting the Open Image/Open Object button to continue on in Photoshop.

Thanks for the e-mails. If I see one that can benefit everyone, it'll end up as a post (unless you ask for it not to be).

Enjoy.