Bridge help!!!

I'm pulling my hair out....I can't figure out Bridge!! Is it really that complicated? I love 90 percent of it, but I can't figure out the organization part!

Here's the scoop...

I've used PSE for a few years. Love the orgainzer and I'm used to it. I like how it has all the images from 'my pictures' in chronological order. It's easy to manage and find images.

I added CS4 recently and tried Bridge, but ended up going back to PSE for organization and CS4 for editing. All was well....

A few weeks ago my 6 year old lap top died. It had a good life, but the 7D RAW files were killing it. I do nearly all of my editing/organizing on a desktop PC, but I used my laptop when I'm out of town. After it died, I went out and bough a MacBook Pro.

Love the mac, but my CS4 won't work on it. I bought PSE 8 for the Mac.....and PSE 8 for Mac doesn't have the organizer as part of the disc. It only has Bridge.

Loaded up PSE 8 on the Mac and tried to work with Bridge again. I can really see Bridge's potential, but it drives me nuts the way it organizes files. For the life of me, I can't figure out how to get it to show ALL the images in 'my pictures' instead of only a folder at a time. I've tried 'show sub-folders', building the cache, purging the cache, and several different viewing methods.

I imagine it's something simple, but I just can't figure it out. I've searched and browsed all over the place, but no luck. Then again, maybe it can't be done. Either way, I figure I'll find the answer here.

Anyone? And again, in summary, I'm trying to figure out how to get Bridge to show ALL of my pictures at once so I can view any of them without switching between folders in the sidebar.

And yes, I've tried Lightroom AND Aperture. I'm so used to CS4 and PSE that it takes me way too long to do it otherwise.

Thanks for any help!

There's a nice read about Bridge here.

But honestly, I don't really understand your problem. Bridge is a file browser, like any other ... how do you expect it to show all your files at once?

Don't use Bridge that way, but I think creating a (smart) Collection including all images should do the trick:

I had no idea Bridge did collections. I think Lightroom is more suited toward organising images, Bridge is a folder browser. You need to be organised yourself.

Adobe will transfer your Photoshop to PC license to Photoshop for Mac if you call support.

I've always liked Bridge, it does what it was designed for. It is no Lightroom as it is designed as more of a file browser and not a cataloging system.

I would start by opening the window drop down menu and seeing which panels are available to you and then once you have your screen set the way you like it, save it as a personal workspace. It will always open in that fashion in future sessions.

FWIW I really like the Bridge in CS5, they have improved performance alot over that of CS4.

Damo77 wrote in post #9998715
There's a nice read about Bridge here.

But honestly, I don't really understand your problem. Bridge is a file browser, like any other ... how do you expect it to show all your files at once?

Elements does...at least the ones that I want it to.

I upload all my images to 'my pictures'. They are separated in folders by date. If I have 3 days worth of pictures on a card, there will be 3 separate folders when they upload. In the organizer browser, I have all the images in 'my pictures' in the catalog. They are organized by date. I can use the month tab for quick reference if need be. It's efficient and what I'm used to.

In Bridge, I had to open each folder to see the contents. I did a little more research last night and found what was happening. There was an error in the cache folder. I moved it to my desktop, Bridge rebuilt another one, and voila! Problem solved.

Thanks for the link!

tim wrote in post #9998808
Adobe will transfer your Photoshop to PC license to Photoshop for Mac if you call support.

Perfect! Thanks...