Have you come across the Bridge yet?

Remember the Browser feature in earlier versions of Photoshop - well the Bridge is the Browser made into a separate application that allows you to browse your digital assets as well as a lot more. I normally start all my training courses with the Bridge simply as method of viewing pictures, illustrations, InDesign and PDF files.

Very often people are amazed at it's capabilities and, although they used the Creative Suite for a long time, are surprised to discover the Bridge has been around for years and yet they've never checked it out. If most of your work is within the Creative Suite you might find that using the Bridge removes a lot of the use of the computer's operating system - it certainly makes looking for pictures and files a lot easier with a lot more useful information too.

An overview of Bridge features

• Different views of your digital assets as well as access to all metadata (size, resolution, colour mode etc)
• Search engine - can search by keyword, metadata, filename with result storable as a collection
• Slide show mode for displaying assets
• Collections - regularly used groups of files can be saved as a collection for quick retrieval
• Batch processing tools for Photoshop images ie. select many photos and convert to another size or colour space
• Create shortcut links to regularly used folders whether local or on a remote server
• Drag and drop images directly from the Bridge into InDesign or Illustrator with correct Links resolved
• Stacks - select many similar photos and create a stack for better management of assets
• Image comparison (light box mode) - select multiple images and compare them using zooming tools
• Compact mode and full integration with other Creative Suite applications

Available Bridge courses

There really isn't enough in the Bridge to make a full days training so it's best to integrate the use of the Bridge and it's various features into either an InDesign or Photoshop course.

Adobe Bridge training