I was given the follwoing info. but not sure it answers fully - it still doesn't resolve the problem of converting to CMYK with the icc profile. I think this might be an option if the profile is loaded into the colour setting (colour settings under edit menu as oposed to convert to profile and its convert to profile I have been trying to action. Am I missing something straightforward?
thanks!
you can do batch process in Photoshop
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/photoshop/cs/using/WSfd1234e1c4b69f30ea53e 41001031ab64-7427a.html
-There is a fast and easy method to batch convert many RGB photographs to CMYK files by using Photoshop
-Please open an image, then open the Action Tab (Window > Actions)
-Please click 'Create new action' button, name the action in the text field and click the 'Record' button.
-Now it is recording, so select 'Image > Mode > CMYK Color', then hit the 'Stop' button in the Action Tab.
-The action is now created ready for the next step.
-To batch convert a folder of images, just select 'File > Automate > Batch' and the following window opens.
-Choose the 'Convert RGB to CMYK' action from the drop-down list, choose the source folder where your images are stored, then choose a destination folder where Photoshop will save the converted images.
-Click the 'OK' button and the batch process will start. How fast will depend on the number of images that need converting.
-The action you created will be stored, so you only need to perform a new batch process the next time you need to convert a batch of images.