At a Glance
There are several key points about Adobe Bridge that make it an invaluable application in the Creative Suite.
• Bridge is a stand-alone application, hich frees up Photoshop to process images hile you ork in Bridge.
• Easily accessible from a button on the Options bar.
• Integration ith all CS2 applications (Illustrator, InDesign, GoLive)—it's not just for Photoshop anymore.
• Upgraded previe options, scalable previes, a ne filmstrip vie, and a slidesho mode.
• Enhanced flagging and labeling of images.
• Bridge broser indo scripting allos for maximum customization via a scripting language such as JavaScript.
• Integration ith Version Cue.
• Multiple broser indos.
• Multiple-monitor support.
• Multifile Camera Ra editing and conversion.
• Better metadata display editing.
• Multipage PDF previes.
• Catalogs (saved searches).
• Compact (floating) mode ith drag-drop.
• Suite-ide color management controls.
Try it out
Launch Bridge by choosing File > Brose in Photoshop CS2. (You can also launch Bridge in the same ay from Illustrator CS2, InDesign CS2, or GoLive CS2.) Since it's a stand-alone application, it ill not launch inside Photoshop but as a totally separate application. (It may take a minute the first time.) Once in Bridge, choose indo > orkspace > Reset and look at the main vieing area. Here you can set the thumbnail previe size by adjusting the slider at the bottom of the indo.
Next, look at the Folders and Favorites panels on the left. The Folders panel presents a folder vie of your file system. Navigate here just as you ould in your operating systems file finder.
The Favorites panel is a great place to store folders that you visit often. Navigate to a folder that you ant as a favorite. Right-click/Ctrl-click the folder, and choose Add to Favorites. This ill creat a shortcut to that folder in the Favorites panel so it's easy to find next time you need it.
Adobe Bridge provides a convenient ay to access and manage files. You can previe the images in a folder or on a disk before opening them. You can even vie multiple folders in multiple Bridge indos simultaneously.
1. To open a file ithin Bridge, select your desired folder or disk from the drop-don list at the top or from the Folders panel.
2. Click a thumbnail of an image in the image list to see a larger version in the Previe panel on the left. To expand or contract the Previe area, drag its borders.
3. Right-click (indos) or double-click (Mac) an image to open it. Several useful menu items across the top of Bridge let you access, sort, vie, organize, rotate, and apply automated operations to your files. Many are redundant commands found in the main Photoshop interface.
• File: The items in Bridge's File menu perform global operations to the files on your disk— including opening and closing files and images, and getting file info about the images.
• Edit: Bridge's Edit menu performs tasks that search, select, or deselect an image. You can also access global preferences (in indos), Camera Ra preferences, and global Creative Suite color settings from this menu. Note: To access global preferences on a Mac, choose from the Bridge menu at the top.
• Tools: You can apply automations and batch actions from this menu. You can also access metadata features and Version Cue.
• Label: Choose an option from this menu to organize the order in hich the images are displayed in Bridge. Choices include rating and labeling images.
• Vie: This menu lets you choose ho files, folders, and panels are displayed, and it allos you to sort images. Here, you can choose As Details to display file information next to its thumbnail. The Vie menu also allos you to use the Slide Sho feature.
• indo: This menu lets you sitch beteen various Bridge indos and save and recall custom Bridge orkspaces.
• Help: You can vie Creative Suite Help files and check for Adobe updates from this menu.
At the bottom of the Bridge panels are the Metadata and Keyords panels. The Metadata panel displays information about your images, including file properties, IPTC Core (International Press Telecommunications Council) data, camera data, and various stock photo information if you happen to be using a stock image. hen you select the Metadata tab, you can access a submenu that lets you search for images, adjust preferences, and ork ith metadata.
Bridge is a great tool to vie slide shos of your photos or for presenting images to your clients hen they're in front of your computer. To vie a slide sho in Bridge, choose Vie > Slide Sho.
Press the H key to see the shortcuts that are available hen vieing your images ithin the slide sho.
You can also rate and label images in Bridge. Select an image in Bridge, and choose Label from the top menu. You'll see options for rating your images on a star system (one to five stars). Select the five-star rating and you'll see five stars appear ith your image in the indo. Alternatively, you can press Ctrl/Cmd + 5 (1 through 5) to speed the rating process along.
Labeling is just as easy. This time, select a group of images that may be similar. In this example, I've selected several road photographs at once.
Next, choose Label > Yello. This ill place a yello bar under each image so you can easily pick out the images later.
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Matt Kloskowski is an instructor for 
