Monday, April 4, 2022

Adobe Bridge

 


I had not originally intended to devote an entire post to Adobe Bridge.  It was only when writing about Adobe Lighroom, in which I made mention of Bridge, that I Googled it (if only to provide a link to Adobe's product page) and found the newest version is apparently "free."  You'll note I put quotation marks around the word "free" because downloading the app is also just as apparently not a no-strings-attached deal.

In discussing Bridge, one reviewer quoted an Adobe "What's New" page - to which I was unable to find the link myself - as follows:

Bridge now provides a new sign-in and sign-out model that aims to deliver a secure, modern, and seamless application licensing experience.   When you launch Bridge, a sign-in window prompts you to log in with your Adobe ID and password.  If you already signed in using your Adobe ID from a Creative Cloud application, the sign-in window does not appear and the same login credentials are used.

This seems unnecessarily cumbersome to me, but the reason I won't be downloading Bridge myself is that there are a number of limitations in functionality if one does not also have Photoshop CC installed along with it.  And for that, of course, one must have an Adobe Cloud subscription plan.  While it is possible without Photoshop to see one's images and then to rate, label, and rename them - much as in a Lightroom catalog - they cannot be edited.  Additionally, it is not possible when using Bridge alone to view RAW images.

I already have a fully functional older version of Bridge that came bundled with Photoshop CS 6  and intend to keep using that in place of the newer version.  For one thing, I really have no use for the new Bridge's catalog features that in any event are already present in my copy of Lightroom 5.0 and for that matter in Photoshop Elements' Organizer.  Beyond that, when viewing an image in the older version of Bridge I have the ability to double click on any given image and have it immediately open in Photoshop CS6.  I doubt this would be possible in the newer Bridge unless I first installed Photoshop CC.

In conclusion, those who do not have an Adobe CC subscription plan or the Elements software but who nonetheless are seeking an app that will enable them to catalog their images may find it useful to download Bridge in spite of its limited functionality and unwieldy sign-in requirements.

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