Adobe Bridge is an organization program made and published by Adobe Systems as part of the Adobe Creative Suite starting with version CS2. Its main purpose is to tie parts of the Creative Suite together using an interface similar to the file manager that was in previous versions of Adobe Photoshop.
For whom?
Adobe Bridge is a program for everyone who is faced with the need to work with graphic files in large quantities.
Bit of story
Adobe Bridge also comes with a standalone version of Photoshop, and can perform some Photoshop functions separately (and at the same time) with Photoshop itself.
Previously, Adobe Bridge opened access to Adobe Stock Photos, an online collection of stock photography painted by famous stock artists (this feature was disabled on April 1, 2008)
Bridge has many features such as renaming and other features to help organize. It supports RAW digital image editing. Organizational capabilities include color-coded and rating images, the ability to edit XMP and IPTC, and the ability to work with multiple versions of a file, which is part of the Adobe Version Cue project.
10 Advantages to use Adobe Bridge
Don’t be embarrassed that at the beginning of work Adobe Bridge spends some time «getting to know» the contents of open folders and temporarily shows only low quality previews — after the program receives all the necessary information from the files, working with it will be one sheer pleasure.
After analyzing our own layout and design cycle, we have identified ten Bridge options that make our work fast and efficient.
Reason 1
The ability to view and visually compare any images you can work with in the Creative Suite, including vector images, Camera RAW files, documents created in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, PDF documents, various highly specialized types of graphic files, and even some formats video.
Reason 2
The ability to collect files in a collection. These collections are virtual and only exist in the Bridge environment. This approach allows you to refuse to duplicate files on disk, collecting the required set of materials without moving them to special folders, as a result of which duplicates will necessarily occur. The absence of duplicates during the work of the designer or layout designer guarantees, for example, that the raw file does not get into the layout.
Reason 3
Ability to mark files with special tags. When preparing a publication with a lot of illustrations for printing, it is important to organize the work correctly. We usually use color marks — illustrations are marked in red, the quality of which is not suitable for printing, yellow, which requires retouching, cyan — color correction, and green means that the file is ready for printing. In many cases, the ability to tag files with keywords turns out to be indispensable, which allows you to organize complexly structured directories, such as cliparts.
Reason 4
Batch rename. The ability to immediately apply new names to a large number of files using a flexible and convenient template.
Reason 5
Quick access to file metadata. This makes it possible to obtain information about its key properties without opening it in the appropriate program. It also allows you to automate some aspects of the layout. For example, captions for InDesign artwork can be done right in Bridge. InDesign Live Caption will automatically caption the publication at the desired distance from the artwork and in the specified style.
Reason 6
Filter. This option allows you to instantly sort as many files as you like by a variety of features — color model, resolution, aspect ratio, and so on.
Reason 7
Access to batch options in Photoshop. From Bridge, you can run any command from the Photoshop Automated Options menu. Similarly, you can automatically trace an image in Illustrator.
Reason 8
Navigation with Bridge is accessible from InDesign and Photoshop using the Mini Bridge option.
Reason 9
The ability to always have at hand the currently relevant folders in the Favorites panel.
Reason 10
Very convenient navigation system. That there is only the ability to view simultaneously the contents of the set from any number of folders, without opening them, of course.
Adobe Bridge is a file browser with advanced features and capabilities for organizing, storing, and exporting files. Working with Bridge is in demand in many areas of graphics and design.