Bridge freezes at launch

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Issue

When you launch Bridge after updating to a newer version, the app freezes and you observe the following behavior:

The Filter panel displays the Building Criteria message.
The status line at the lower-left corner displays the spinning wheel icon.

Product version affected

Bridge CC 2018 version 8.0 and earlier

Operating systems

Windows and macOS

Bridge freezing issue — Bridge displaying the "Building Criteria" message and a spinning wheel.

Cause

When you use Bridge for the first time after updating to a newer version, it generates thumbnails and previews of all your files. While Bridge is working in the background to generate this new content, the app appears to be frozen.

Solution

This issue has been fixed in the Bridge CC 2018 version 8.0.1 release.

To resolve this issue, do any of the following:

Update to the latest version of Bridge. To check for updates in Bridge, choose Help > Updates. To know how to update your app, see Update Creative Cloud apps.
Download the latest version of Bridge. To download, go to http://www.adobe.com/products/bridge.html. You will need your Adobe ID login details to proceed.

Workaround

Launch Bridge.
In the path bar, identify the main folder (see the note below to perform a trial run) under which most of your files are stored.

Once you've identified the main folder in the path bar, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac) on that folder and choose the Show Items From Subfolders option from the context menu. Alternatively, you can also click the right-pointing arrow () after the folder and choose the Show Items From Subfolders option.

Note:

Before you perform the steps mentioned below on the main folder, first try it on a small folder containing less number of files. Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac) a small folder in the path bar and choose Show Items From Subfolders from the context menu. Now, leave Bridge idle until the preview and thumbnail generation is complete.

When completed successfully, perform the steps on the main folder as mentioned below.

Show Items From Subfolders option
Now, leave Bridge idle until the Building Criteria message in the Filter panel and the spinning wheel in the status line disappear.

This issue is observed when you use a new version of Bridge for first time on your machine.

It is recommended that if you are not using your machine, leave Bridge idle for some time until all the preview and thumbnail generation is complete; the time taken to generate the thumbnails and previews depends on your machine configuration and the amount of data.