What is the purpose of the BigTableGroupCache folder?

Question

I've discovered another Adobe garbage dump. On Win11, in my ...User/AppData/Local/Adobe/CameraRaw folder there is now a subfolder called BigTableGroupCache. Mine had 1 gigabyte in over 700 files named "Table..." followed by a long string of meaningless letters. The oldest files had creation dates in October 2024, which is when Camera Raw version 17 was released.
 
Google says "Bigtable is a distributed, scalable NoSQL database service offered by Google Cloud", but says nothing about Adobe's use of BigTable.
 
So I closed all things Adobe and deleted everything in BigTableGroupCache. Then I launched Bridge and Photoshop and browsed and processed a few raw files in ACR with no problem. The BigTableGroupCache was repopulated with files for the raw images I processed. Next, with Bridge and Photoshop still loaded, I deleted everything in BigTableGroupCache again. Then opened and reprocessed the same raw files, again with no problem. BigTableGroupCache was again repopulated.
 
Then I noticed not all raw files I processed caused an entry in BigTableGroupCache. Turns out only raw files with Denoise AI applied show up. Same as the *.acr files that now get created when you do anything "AI" in ACR.
 
So, apparently the Adobe BigTableGroupCache folder serves no purpose. It just keeps logging files which don't get used again. Note this is all separate from the regular Camera Raw cache, which is still there and can be cleared from within Camera Raw. There is no option with Adobe Bridge, Photoshop, or Camera Raw to clear BigTableGroupCache.  So, beware... some more useless gigabytes will pile up over time.

MadManChan2000 · Accepted Answer

This is a folder of cached data to make images load faster when they use certain AI-related settings.  This includes AI Denoise (as you've pointed out), Reflection Removal, Super Resolution, Distracting People Removal, and others.  It particularly makes a difference in loading and image walking (switching from one photo to another photo) if the photo has many such edits.  Deleting or clearing the folder will reduce disk space usage, but will slow down your image-loading and walking performance.  This is why it's called a "cache" and why the word "cache" appears in the folder name.

redcrown on guard · Answer

Yet another interesting test. I used an image with people standing in front of a building. There were 16 people in 4 clusters.

Starting with raw raw (no settings) I first let ACR find and remove all the people, then clicked Done without opening in Photoshop. It found the 4 clusters and removed all. Although it added one new person of its own invention where one of the clusters used to be. But the big surprise, I got 6 new "Index" files and 8 "Table" files in the BigTableGroupCache. All from that one remove people step.

Then I reopened the image in ACR and did a Denoise. That got me one new Table file and all the Index files were updated. It also turned on the yellow "AI Edit Status" icon, and told me I needed to update the Remove People. So I did. And now I had 17 Table files in BigTableGroupCache! I assume one Table file was for the Denoise, 8 were for the first Remove People, and 8 more for the second (update) Remove People.

I repeated the sequence but did the Denoise first, then the Remove People. That way I got no AI Update Status warning, and no extra Table files in BigTableGroupCache.

But even more fun followed. I started over with raw raw and an empty BigTableGroupCache. I opened the image in ACR and deleted 1 person by hand (no auto detect, no Denoise), then clicked Done. Nothing showed up in BigTableGroupCache. I kept doing this, removing 1 person at a time until I had removed 8 of the 16. Still nothing in BigTableGroupCache. Mysteries abound.

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded