Adobe Bridge can't see or download iCloud Drive files that are in the Cloud

[Hoka Hey]

Adobe Bridge can't see or download iCloud Drive files that have not been downloaded to the local drive.

I locate the iCloud Drive files in the folder ~/library/mobile documents.

Not enough room on my hard drive to store the contents of iCloud Drive. So, iCloud Drive has the files stored in the cloud.

Adobe Bridge can't see the thumbnails of the files stored in the cloud (it can see previously downloaded files. If you go to view menu and click show hidden files, files appear and are named as follows: .P1020665.RW2.icloud. The actual name of the file is P1020665.RW2. If you click on the file, it will not download or open.

This appears to be a problem with Adobe Bridge. If you try opening a file directly with photoshop, it will download it and open it in Adobe Camera Raw.

Has anyone found a way to fix this?

[jbm007]

Thats because Bridge does not support "libraries"

[Hoka Hey]

Thanks jbm007.

If I am reading your statement correctly, Adobe Bridge does not support "libraries" and therefore does not support iCloud Drive. Is there a workaround for this other than switching to a different media manager?

Also, does the ACP (Adobe Community Professional) below your name mean that you work for Adobe? If so, can you share why Bridge does not support"libraries" and iCloud Drive? Is there any hope for a fix in the near future? It seems like Apple and iCloud are significant players in tech and cloud services, and supporting their cloud services would make sense.

Is Bridge being phased out in favor of Lightroom CC?

Thanks in advance.

[jbm007 · Accepted solution]

No I do not work for Adobe.

I am A lemming just like you are.

As a ACP I moderate forums and provide input when I feel my knowledge will help someone.

I do not speak for Adobe. I do get a form of compensation to provide my support to the forums.

I do not have a crystal ball so I am not privy to what Adobes intentions are.

I do know that Bridge was almost scrapped and the uproar was defining.

The fact it is still here and has had something improved on and something have been gutted appears to us die hard Brdigies makes most of us think that Bridge will be here for a while.

BTW I agree support should be added for library support.

[chaynes4_me_com]

I don't understand exactly. I navigated to my iDrive in Bridge and made it a favorite. Saves the long trek every time. I see and download all the thumbnails. I must have misunderstood the problem.

[Lumigraphics]

Files are stored online and your computer has a link, and can download files as needed. Bridge doesn't use the Apple API for accessing iCloud (many programs do, but Adobe only supports their own cloud storage.) So you are NOT accessing files online, they have been copied to your hard drive. This may or may not be reliable.

[chaynes4_me_com]

Aha. Thanks for making that clear for me. I'm checking with Neofinder's maker to see how they handle files. That's a pretty cool app for cataloging.

[Lumigraphics]

You need to download the files you want to use and work with them locally, regardless. If you are out of hard drive space, get an external drive.

[Hoka Hey]

Thanks Lumigraphics.

I have several external hard drives. However, I prefer to have my photo library in iCloud Drive rather than an external hard drive. That way, I can conveniently access them at home or in the office on my desktop, laptop or iPad. I also understand that I have to download the files to work on them.

I was just hoping that there was a way to get Bridge to play nice with iCloud Drive.

[Lumigraphics]

You don't want to make changes anyway, it will just confuse Photos. I doubt you'll see Bridge get support for iCloud libraries.

[Hoka Hey]

Thanks Lumigraphics. Not using Photos. Using iCloud Drive folder.

You are probably right about not getting support from Adobe on this since iCloud Drive and Creative Cloud storage are competitors. Nevertheless, it would be nice.

[microzoa]

If you make an alias of the folder in iCloud that has the content that you want to access. Then put that ALIAS somewhere you can see from your Bridge (desktop etc). Job Done.

[ArtFossil]

Thank you so much! This easily solved the problem for me.

[Lumigraphics]

Only if you have an Internet connection.

[Fastidious]

That did not work for me. I went to iCloud Drive, clicked on Documents>Photography and created an alias for Photography. I placed that on my hard drive as one of my user folders.  It works in Finder, but even after quiting and reopening Bridge, Bridge does not see it.  I also tried creating a symbolic link using Symbolic Linker.  It did not work. So I will have to simply move the files to my hard drive.  Thank you for the ideas.

[Lumigraphics]

Exactly. You CANNOT reliably use Bridge with iCloud, DrobBox, Google Drive, OneDrive, etc. Bottom line.

[TarangP]

It works out if you place the alias in a folder as opposed to at the head in your hard drive then you will see this as content to that folder.  So for instance I placed the alias in my folder called "Documents".  In Bridge the lias doesn't show up on the navigation 'Folder' pane, however it does show up on in the 'Content' pane  with icon

to indicate what would be a symblink.

This points to Bridge can see the alias folder and so they should be able to fix this in the app.

[Lumigraphics]

Cloud files may or may not be on your hard drive. Often they are downloaded on demand.

[TarangP]

While the iCloud files may not be physically on the drive, there is always a reference point linking the file to the cloud else how would you even discover the file?

The fact that the iCloud folder is not visible in the folder tree of Bridge is the issue, though the folder is visible as content to a parent folder.

[Lumigraphics]

The issue is that Bridge does not implement the APIs which allows accessing cloud files properly. Both Mac and Windows have support for cloud storage, but the app has to use it. Bridge does not.

[KYeary]

Thank you @TarangP. That worked. I was trying to access my company's photo library that is synced to my hard disk using OneDrive. Since the latest OS update to 12.1 and OneDrive's update, my files moved to a hidden location. I just made aliases of the folders and put them in my Users > (User ID) folder, opened Bridge, and copied the aliases to the Favorites pane.

[Nicola Zena34234119156x]

Tried this method with ICloud, putting Alias links in another folder on the hard drive, genius advice! 🙂

[WFehr]

That worked PERFECTLY.  Thank you so much.

[Lumigraphics]

What is on your hard drive may or may not be the updated copy. If you upload to iCloud from a different device and haven't sync'd yet, your computer will not have the updated file. This is why it is unreliable. A program that uses Apple's API will sync and fetch the latest updates from the cloud so you have the correct file.

[Johnnina 2 of 11]

How do you create an ALIAS folder in iCloud?  I would like to move the FEW files in there.