Let’s say that you want to locate a picture in a folder of images that are named using numbers instead of descriptive names. By opening that folder in Adobe Bridge, you can see thumbnails for each image and even locate important information about each file’s site, resolution, and more. To do so, follow the steps with your own files or download the DummiesCCfiles folder as instructed earlier:
1 Select the Essentials workspace in Adobe Bridge. This is the first button in the upper-right of the Bridge Workspace.
2 Click the tab that says Folders, in the left column, to make sure it is brought forward.If you have files located on your hard drive, you can navigate to them using the named folders icons in the Folders panel. Keep in mind that the folders and files that you see are exactly as you would see them if you were using your regular directory system.
3 Click on Documents in the Folders panel to see saved documents that are stored in that folder. If you saved your DummiesCCFiles on the desktop, click on Desktop to see the folder in the Content pane, along with any other files that you might have on your desktop.
4 In the Content pane, double-click the DummiesCCFiles folder to open the contents.You see additional folders that contain files that will be referenced throughout the book.
5 Double-click the folder named Book02_Bridge to see the images within that folder, as well as a subfolder, as shown in Figure 1-2.
6 Now, double-click the Hockey folder. This folder contains images that were named automatically with a digital camera, as shown in Figure 1-3.Finding the right file to open is much easier when you can see thumbnails of the images instead of just the name.
7 Double-click the image to have it launch Adobe Photoshop. Photoshop is typically the default destination for image files such as the JPGs in this folder, but you can change file associations by choosing Edit ⇒ Preferences ⇒ File Type Associations (PC) or Adobe Bridge ⇒ Edit ⇒ Preferences ⇒ File Type Associations (Windows).
8 Choose File ⇒ Close in Adobe Photoshop and return to Adobe Bridge.
FIGURE 1-2: You can visually see the contents of a folder using Adobe Bridge.
FIGURE 1-3: A visual display of images in a folder.
The default workspace
As a default, Bridge is opened in the default Essentials workspace. In this view, you have three columns that you can resize by clicking and dragging the borders separating the columns. This view also provides you with a Content pane, in the center, that displays thumbnails documents in your selected folder.
In addition to the Essentials workspace, there are several other preconfigured workspaces that you can access from the Application bar, as shown in Figure 1-4. Depending upon the information you want to showcase, you might want to switch from one workspace to another. Switching workspaces does not change the locations of your files and folders; it just changes the view.
Experiment with these to see which works best for you.
Here are explanations of the preconfigured workspaces:
Metadata: Displays the Content panel in List view, along with the Favorites, Metadata, and Filter panels.
Essentials: Displays the Favorites, Folders, Filter, Collections, Content, Preview, Metadata, and Keywords panels.FIGURE 1-4: Change your workspace in the Application bar. The Metadata view was selected in this example.
Filmstrip: Displays thumbnails in a scrolling horizontal row along with a preview of the selected item. This workspace also displays the Favorites, Folders, Filter, and Collections panels.
Keywords: Displays the Content panel in Details view, as well as the Favorites, Keywords, and Filter panels.
Looking for a better view
You may want to resize your thumbnails in the Content pane, especially if you have many files. You can easily do this by using the Thumbnail slider in the lower portion of the Bridge workspace.
You can also change the presentation of the content by using the View options in the lower-right corner, as shown in Figure 1-5. Your choices are
Click to lock to thumbnail grid
View content as thumbnails
View content as details
View content as list
FIGURE 1-5: Change your view to bring out additional details. View content as details was selected for this example.
Creating a new folder
Perhaps you want to create a new folder. Whether you create a new folder in your system File directory or in the Finder for the Mac, it will be recognized by Bridge. In this next example, you navigate back using the Path bar, and create a new folder in the Book02_Bridge folder:
1 Make sure you are still viewing the contents of the Hockey folder. Note that the location your are in is listed in the Path bar as shown in Figure 1-6.This is the directory path to the folder that you have active and open at this time.
2 Click on Book02_Bridge in the Path bar to navigate back to that folder.
3 To create a new folder inside this folder, click the Create New Folder button in the upper right, as shown in Figure 1-7, or right-click (PC)/Control-click (Mac) and select New Folder from the contextual menu that appears.A new folder appears, ready to be renamed.
4 Name the file Rockets.
FIGURE 1-6: Use the Path bar to navigate back through your folders.
FIGURE 1-7: You can create new folders right in Adobe Bridge.
Moving a file to another folder
Next you select and move some files into your newly created folder:
1 Click on one of the Rocket images and then, holding down the Ctrl key (PC) or Command key (Mac), click on the other rocket image.Using the Ctrl or Command key allows you to select multiple files.
2 With