Adjustments to a whole group of pictures in Photoshop at once?

I think I understand the batch mode... but I can't figure out how to put automated functions in the action palette. If I wanted to do auto contrast, sharpening tool and a cropping size for a batch of pictures, how would I create an action palette to do that?
Many thanks,
Steve

1) Make a new Folder and call it: Actions.
2) Start an action and open One picture from the series. It does not matter if the pictures are downloaded to the HD or they are on a compact flash card. When open Go to Image>Adjust>Auto Levels, then Image>Adjust>Auto Contrast, then Filter>Sharpen>Unsharp Mask. Set the Amount to 150%, the Radius to 1.0 and Threshold to 0.
3) Stop the Action.
4) Save the action in the folder you just made.

5) File>Automate>Batch. Under Play make shure that the Set and action are selected. In Source select Folder. Click Choose and select the Folder of your Images. Select Override Action "Open" Commands. In Destination Select Folder and select the Folder you want them saved to. It would be a good idea to save them to a previously made folder on your HD if you opened them from a Compact Flash card.
Or if they are already on the HD just select the same folder. Select Override "Save in" Commands. In File Naming select "Document Name + Extension.
5) Hit OK, sit back and let PS do the work.

It would be much better if you would use curves instead of Auto Leves, but it's OK if your exposures and White Balance are accurate.

You could also build into the action as a first step some kind of Resizing, go to Image>Image Size. Deselect Resample Image and set the Resolution to 240 ppi. This resolution is good enough for prints on an Inkjet printer.

Steve,

Just to clarify Norbert's point...

Actions are the mechanism by which a sequence of events can be recorded and played back in photoshop. The Action Pallet is the little window in PS that holds the actions - like the layers pallet. So you are not creating an action pallet, you are creating an action and it is (automatically) stored in the Action Pallet.

Batch is the mechanism used to play actions on multple files automatically.

So read about creating actions(analogous to recording your keystrokes). Then in the actions pallet, look at some of the ones that shipped with PS.

Open some dummy images and play with those - watch what they do, and you'll get the idea.