Adobe Bridge CS3 Is More Useful Than You Think

I think most users tend to ignore Bridge, a multimedia oriented file manager Adobe typically packages in its Creative Suites since CS2. I thought Bridge CS2 was just a glorified Finder…that was until its use was demonstrated at the Creative License Tour. In its latest version, it has been vastly improved and can be much more useful than using the Finder at times. Bridge CS3 even packs some powerful features, similar to Leopard’s new Finder that many Mac users have been drooling over.

View thumbnails of your pictures larger than Finder could generate

You’ve been here before: you have a folder filled with images that look similar to each other but you want to see larger thumbnails. The Finder can only allow you to view thumbnails constrained at the size of 128×128, which is adequate for images which can differentiate each other at that size, but not in this case. You could slideshow them to see the details…but then you don’t know exactly what filename the picture is once you found it.

Even at 128×128, the thumbnails just aren’t large enough to find that exact photo

Welcome to Bridge, it allows you to scale the thumbnails up to sizes of 710×710. Perfect for browsing through mounds of pictures which are similar. To do so, just adjust the slider along the bottom left of the window.

These thumbnails are still a little small

There, that’s better

Filter your results

Looking only for a certain file format? Maybe you’re looking for photos with a certain aspect ratio, taken by a certain camera, or photos oriented in landscape? You can filter your results in Bridge so you can quickly find what you’re looking for.

Bridge also supports tagging. You can tag your files through here and in the future it will be easier to find it and it will also searchable by spotlight.

Compare multiple images

Just completed taking some photos and want to compare which ones are better? Bridge allows multiple previews. Select which ones you want to compare while in Filmstrip view (that can be done by clicking the ‘2’ icon in the bottom right) and your images will be previewed like on a light table. You can view the details with the built-in loupe as well simply by clicking on the preview.

Easily compare multiple images easily in Bridge

Can’t wait for Quick Look? Bridge can be a substitute for now

A lot of Mac users wished that Apple would implement Quick Look capabilities in the upcoming version of OSX, and thankfully, they will. However, Bridge has a few of these convenient capabilities built-in already. Want to sift through a few video files without having to open them up in another application? You can do that now with Bridge. Bridge also has the ability to preview Flash, InDesign, and PDFs as well.

Previewing videos right in Bridge

Previewing a PDF right in Bridge…oh, did I forget to mention the loupe?

If you have CS3 and ignored it till now, give it a try

Since I attended the Creative License Tour, I’ve been using Bridge a lot more over the Finder when working with Photoshop and Illustrator. It’s no longer a glorified version of the current Finder and can make things a lot more convenient when sifting through tons of files related for a project.