Adobe Bridge workspace

The Adobe Bridge workspace consists of three columns, or panes, that contain various panels. You can adjust the Adobe Bridge workspace by moving or resizing panels. You can create custom workspaces or select from several preconfigured Adobe Bridge workspaces.

Video resources:

• Customize the Bridge workspace

The following are the main components of the Adobe Bridge workspace:

Use the Menu bar to access File, Edit, View, Stacks, Label, Tools, Window, and Help and click any of these to view available application-specific drop-down menu options.

Provides buttons for essential tasks, such as publishing to Adobe Stock and Adobe Portfolio, creating PDF contact sheet, navigating the folder hierarchy, switching workspaces, and searching for files.

Shows the path for the folder you’re viewing and allows you to navigate the directory.

Gives you quick access to frequently browsed folders.

Shows the folder hierarchy. Use it to navigate folders.

Lets you sort and filter files that appear in the Content panel.

Lets you create, locate, and open collections and smart collections.

Lets you convert your assets such as videos, PDFs, or images and export as an image file format for quick web uploads. To learn more, see asset conversion using the Export panel.

Displays files specified by the navigational menu buttons, Path bar, Favorites panel, Folders panel, or Collections panel. Margins and spacing in the Content panel have been efficiently utilized so that more thumbnails fit in the default view.

Lets you upload content to Adobe Stock and Adobe Portfolio from within the Bridge. See Publish images to Adobe Stock and Publish assets to Adobe Portfolio for details.
To view this panel in any workspace, choose Window > Publish Panel.

Displays a preview of the selected file or files. Previews are separate from, and typically larger than, the thumbnail image displayed in the Content panel. You can reduce or enlarge the preview by resizing the panel.

Contains metadata information for the selected file. If multiple files are selected, shared data (such as keywords, date created, and exposure setting) is listed.

Helps you organize your images by attaching keywords to them.

Contains options for creating PDF contact sheet. Appears when the Output workspace is selected. For more information, see Create PDF contact sheet in the Output workspace.

Search Adobe Stock

In addition to searching for assets in Bridge or on your computer, you can also use the Quick Search box (on the right side of the Application bar) to search for high-quality Adobe Stock illustrations, vectors, and photos. When you search, the results appear on the Adobe Stock website in your default web browser. To know more about Adobe Stock, see Adobe Stock Learn & Support.

To switch your search between Adobe Stock search and Windows (Win)/Spotlight (Mac) search options, use the drop-down list in the Quick Search box.

Adjust panels

You can adjust the Adobe Bridge window by moving and resizing its panels. However, you can’t move panels outside the Adobe Bridge window.

Do any of the following:

• Drag a panel by its tab into another panel.

• Drag the horizontal divider bar between panels to make them larger or smaller.

• Drag the vertical divider bar between the panels and the Content panel to resize the panels or Content panel.

• *To show or hide all panels except the center panel, press Tab (the center panel varies depending on the workspace you have chosen).

• Choose Window, followed by the name of the panel you want to display or hide.

• Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) a panel tab and choose the name of the panel you want to display.

Work with Favorites

• To specify Favorites preferences, choose Edit > Preferences (Windows) or Adobe Bridge > Preferences (Mac OS). Click General, and select desired options in the Favorite Items area of the Preferences dialog box.
• To add items to Favorites, do one of the following:
  • Drag a file or folder to the Favorites panel from Windows Explorer (Windows), the Finder (Mac OS), or the Content or Folders panel of Adobe Bridge.

  • Select a file, folder, or collection in Adobe Bridge and choose File > Add To Favorites.

Select and manage workspaces

An Adobe Bridge workspace is a certain configuration or layout of panels. You can select either a preconfigured workspace or a custom workspace that you have previously saved.

By saving various Adobe Bridge workspaces, you can work in (and quickly switch between) different layouts. For example, use one workspace to sort new photos and another to work with footage files from an After Effects composition.

Adobe Bridge provides the following preconfigured workspaces:

Displays the Favorites, Folders, Filter, Collections, Content, Preview, Metadata, and Keywords panels. This is the default workspace.

Displays the Library, Preview, Folders, Content, and Metadata panels. Also, displays the preview of selected file(s) in the Preview panel.

Displays thumbnails in a scrolling horizontal row (in the Content panel) along with a preview of the currently selected item (in the Preview panel). Also displays the Favorites, Folders, Filter, and Collections panels.

Displays options for creating PDF contact sheet.

Displays the Content panel in List view, along with the Favorites, Metadata, and Filter panels.

Displays the Content panel in Details view, along with the Favorites, Keywords, and Filter panels.

Displays a large Preview panel; a narrow, vertical Content panel in Thumbnails view; and the Favorites, Folders, Filter, and Collections panels.

Displays only the Content panel. Files are displayed in Thumbnails view.

Displays the Content panel in Thumbnails view, along with the Favorites, and Folders panels.

• To select a workspace, choose Window > Workspace, and then choose the desired workspace. Or, click one of the workspace buttons in the Adobe Bridge application bar.

• To save the current layout as a workspace, choose Window > Workspace > New Workspace. In the New Workspace dialog box, enter a name for the workspace, specify options, and then click Save.
• To delete or restore a custom workspace, choose Window > Workspace, and then choose one of the following commands:
  

Deletes the saved workspace. Choose the workspace from the Workspace menu in the Delete Workspace dialog box, and click Delete.

Restores the currently selected saved workspace to its default settings.

Restores the default settings for the Adobe pre-defined workspaces (Essentials, Output, and so on)

Transparency support

You can choose to see transparency of the thumbnails and previews for supported file formats in the content panel. By default, transparency options are enabled. 

Bridge supports transparency in the following file formats:

• AI
• EPS
• PSD
• PNG
• SVG

When you enable transparency, you can also see a checkered grid background to identify transparent areas of your files in the content panel. To view transparency grid in your assets, do any of the following:

• Go to Edit > Preferences > Thumbnails (Windows) or Adobe Bridge > Preferences > Thumbnails (macOS), and select Show Transparency Grid.
• Click the thumbnail quality () icon in the upper-right corner of the content panel. Select Show Transparency Grid from the drop-down menu.

You can choose to disable transparency options for your asset thumbnails. Once you turn off Show Transparency, the Show Transparency Grid option is disable automatically and the checkerboard background is replaced with a matte white background in your transparent files.

Thumbnail properties

• You can see the Tiles checkbox at the bottom of the Content panel. By default, the Tiles option is checked and displays the tiles for all assets in the Bridge content panel. When the Tiles option is unchecked, the asset tiles get enlarged to fill the empty spaces. You can disable Tiles with all types of views - Grid view, Thumbnail view, Detail view, List view.
  Tiles are applicable for a selected workspace only. Set the Tiles preferences again, once you switch your workspace.

• You can see the Thumbnails Only checkbox next to the view options at the bottom of the content panel. Use this option to hide star ratings, file names, and other details. This reduces spaces between each file in the Content panel and improves the view.

Thumbnails are applicable for a selected workspace only. Set the Thumbnails Only preferences again, once you switch your workspace.

• The null rating icon is retained and visible even after you have unrated an asset and deselected the thumbnail.

Single key ratings and labels

You can now easily toggle between ratings/labels and file navigation in Adobe Bridge. By default, the Use Ctrl/Cmd for Ratings and Labels option is disabled. Once disabled, apply labels and ratings to your assets in the Control panel using single numeric keys without holding down the Ctrl/Cmd keys. 

You can access the single key ratings and labels option from any of the following locations:

• Use Ctrl/Cmd for Labels & Ratings checkbox at the bottom of the Content panel. 
• Label > Use Ctrl/Cmd for shortcuts
• Edit > Preferences > Labels and Ratings > Keyboard Option > Use Ctrl/Cmd to Apply Labels and Ratings

When you enable this option, you can use 0-9 numeric keys for file navigation. 

Manage color

If you use Adobe Creative Cloud, you can use Adobe Bridge to automatically synchronize color settings across applications. This synchronization ensures that colors look the same in all color-managed Adobe applications.

If color settings are not synchronized, a warning message appears at the top of the Color Settings dialog box in each application. Adobe recommends that you synchronize color settings before you work with new or existing documents.

Change language settings

Adobe Bridge can display menus, options, and tool tips in multiple languages. You can also specify that Adobe Bridge use a specific language for keyboard shortcuts.

Enable startup scripts

You can enable or disable startup scripts in Adobe Bridge preferences. Scripts listed vary depending on the Creative Suite® components you have installed. Disable startup scripts to improve performance or to resolve incompatibilities between scripts.

HiDPI and Retina display support

Introduced in Bridge CC 2015 6.3 release

HiDPI monitors and Apple's Retina displays allow more pixels to be displayed on your screen. To take advantage of advancements in high-resolution display technologies, Adobe Bridge includes native support for high-resolution monitor displays running on Windows and Mac OS X (for example, the MacBook Pro with Retina display).

Bridge is aware of different monitor dots per inch (DPI) settings. When you are working on a HiDPI monitor set at a DPI of 150% or higher, Bridge's user interface automatically scales to 200% so that you continue to see sharp and clear UI elements, readable font size, and crisp icons across a wide variety of DPI display settings.

User interface preferences

Scaling preferences

With High DPI support enabled on Windows, the Bridge user interface scales to 200% on HiDPI monitors. However, Bridge also allows you to manually set the scaling preference:

Restore preferences

Numerous program settings are stored in the Adobe Bridge preferences file, including display, Adobe Photo Downloader, performance, and file-handling options.

Restoring preferences returns settings to their defaults and can often correct unusual application behavior.