Bridge 2023 issues

[qbishon]

Hi, I have installed a new Bridge and unfortunately the changes made to it make my earlier workflow very difficult compared to the previous version:

- Enter works like a cursor in the content panel instead of opening files

- preview colors of photos (all types of files) are completely different than displayed in PS. I tried to change the color spaces of the monitors, but it only introduced chaos and I don't know how to go back to the previous settings

- enlarging the size of the thumbnaili using ctrl + scroll does not work, and the magnifying icon under the panel, e.g. "content", overlaps other icons if it is squeezed, making it impossible to use it

- the overall layout is worse in my opinion and it cannot be adjusted to my requirements and habits

I wanted to go back to the older version, but then the cooperation with the new PS does not work (e.g. image processor) and I think I will have to downgrade the PS to the previous version as well, so these new updates do not make much sense to me.

Do other users have it too?

[Defectiv]

Another bug I've encountered. What is wrong with the loupe? Yes, its nice to have more steps of zoom but dragging it around an image is a total pain now. Its behaves odd, it stutters, near impossible to move in a straight line and sometimes doesn't move at all.

A suggestion to imrove the content views, give each one its own address bar instead of sharing it between them

[leol30]

I've deleted Bridge v13.0 and gone back to using Bridge 12.0.3. Unfortunately, when I select Browse in Bridge in Photoshop 2023  it takes me to the Creative Cloud Desktop assuming I want to install Bridge v13.0. Is there an Option/Preference I can change so that Browse in Bridge takes me to Bridge v12.0.3.

I'm using a Windows 10 desktop PC.

Thanks in advance for any help that can be provided.

[derekl88273024]

If you open the Creative Cloud Desktop you will see Bridge. At the RH side click on the 3 dots, which will open a sub menu, click on Other Versions. You will then see a list of all versions of Bridge which you can install.

[KentPet]

Yes, but when you try to use PS it makes you update Bridge.

Kent Pettit
[Personal data removed by Moderator. Please be aware that folks of all kinds, good and bad, are in these forums. Do not leave personal information in these forums for your own protection.]

[Michael5D22]

Thank you so much. That seems to have solved the problem.

[garyblakemeister]

After struggling with 2023, I've reverted back as well.
It's glitchy and jittery and nothing works properly.

The most frustrating thing is how my placement jumps around unexpectedly.
I'll be doing a screen-size preview of a photo and hit spacebar to go back to the thumbnail view and be someplace completely different.

What a mess.  I'd be so embaraased if I had worked on this when Bridge 2022 worked fine. 

[Subbi]

Hello everyone,

First of all thank you for the detailed feedback & bug reports. We are doing a thorough review of all the threads and the reported issues related to the latest Bridge release.

We understand that the new release has introduced bugs into some of the key workflows that all of you use. Like we do with any other release, we gather feedback from pre-release users and also run multiple test cycles before pushing a new version out. Starting this year, we also did a public Beta of the upcoming version to gather early feedback. Unfortunately it is clear that we weren't able to catch and address many of the bugs reported here. We will continue to make improvements on all the fronts to avoid such issues going forward.

Having said that, please rest assured that we are working towards prioritizing & fixing the reported issues with utmost urgency. We are also reaching out to a few of you, where we need more help on reproducibility of issues. Looking forward to your support on that front. We will address the issues in a phased manner - and you would see these updates coming fairly soon.

We ideally want everyone to upgrade to the latest version of Bridge soon, because it has useful improvements over the older version. Many users are loving those improvements & we would like to see those new capabilities being incorporated in your workflows as well.

Regards,
Subbi

[bjoernzedlick]

Thank you so much @Subbi  for listening to our feedback! Very much appreciated! My #1 issue with the latest release is the absense of MULTIPLE WINDOWS. Not having those, and being able to toggle windows by COMMAND + ~ is like removing multitasking from an iPhone or only allowing Photoshop to open one image at a time. Navigating the content tabs with the cursor does not cater to a professional workflow. Keyboard access to opening, closing and navigating MULTIPLE WINDOWS in Bridge is key to such a workflow. If others love the new tabs, maybe you can allow the use of BOTH, much like Safari offering "New Window" AND "New Tab". THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! (Oh and while you're at it, it would help a lot, if the selected tile/folder would be navigatable with the up/down/left/right arrows and not jump arbitrarily/randomly as it does now when returning one folder level back up. Thank you!!! Mac OS 12.6 / Bridge Version 13.0.0.562 

[BTyson]

Hello Subbi and the whole ad-hoc gang of disgruntled 2023 Bridge users. Or attempted users.

To Subbi, I do hope the re-tread will be fruitful. What I will have to see, in order to upgrade again, will be the retention of a list of behaviors and procedures ingrained in my work habits from YEARS of previous Bridge versions. Across which these core functionalities persisted generally without radical reworkings.

Right now we have the classic case of ‘improvements’ which have ignored, glaringly, a basic tenet: NOT BROKE? DON’T ‘FIX’ IT.

So on the next ’23 revision, if I open it and go to work by my habitual routines, and they work, we’ll be golden. If not, back to ’22. And a pox on Adobe in that case.

I appreciate very much that you have stepped forward in the voice of Adobe, if I may so phrase it. I take your gesture as a good sign and look forward to the follow-up.

Bob Tyson





________________________________________________________

dott. Bob Tyson

Docente di Fotografia
Laboratorio di Fotodocumentazione dei Beni Culturali
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Brescia

Cellulare +39 347 055 20 89
+1 650 475 6293
________________________________________________________

[garyblakemeister]

Thanks, Subbi
It's hard to imagine this was thoroughly tested or compared to the 2022 version of Bridge which works great.

This might sound stupid, but why mess with something that already works very well?  Is it change for the sake of change or is there some groundwork here that could substantially imrpove performance in the future?

My biggest issue is how jittery it is.  My placement within a folder jumps around erratically, especially when exiting a full-screen preview or dragging a selection to a new spot within the gallery.  

You should strongly consider reverting back too 2022 while 2023 spends another 6 months in beta testing. 
God bless!

[BPphotographics]

Thank you for addressing this really important and frustrating issues.

[BTyson]

Hello Subbi and the whole ad-hoc gang of disgruntled 2023 Bridge users. Or attempted users.

To Subbi, I do hope the re-tread will be fruitful. What I will have to see, in order to upgrade again, will be the retention of a list of behaviors and procedures ingrained in my work habits from YEARS of previous Bridge versions. Across which these core functionalities persisted generally without radical reworkings.

Right now we have the classic case of ‘improvements’ which have ignored, glaringly, a basic tenet: NOT BROKE? DON’T ‘FIX’ IT.

So on the next ’23 revision, if I open it and go to work by my habitual routines, and they work, we’ll be golden. If not, back to ’22. And a pox on Adobe in that case.

I appreciate very much that you have stepped forward in the voice of Adobe, if I may so phrase it. I take your gesture as a good sign and look forward to the follow-up.

I would be happy to respond to further outreach. I did not use '23 very long before I downgraded but I would be pleased to expand and be more specific on my comments here.

Bob Tyson

[fotomatt]

Give us back our windows and we'll upgrade. 

[bjoernzedlick]

I'm finding myself using Finder like never before. Maybe Apple can introduce a nice alternative to Adobe eventually. Something that ties into the Apple hardware in augmented ways. 

[Lumigraphics]

Clearly the development team has a LOT of work ahead of it. This release is much buggier than previous whole version upgrades and changing the basic operation of the app isn't working out for many (most?) users.

My suggestions:

1. Put multiple windows back in the app. I don't recall anyone who asked for multiple tabs asking to also get rid of multiple windows.

2. Fix workflow changes. I don't use keyboard shortcuts much but some people live and die by them, as an example.

3. Fix the really bad bugs. I DO drag and drop files all day long and moving vs copy is a deal-breaker for me. I can't use Bridge 2023 for that reason alone. Scroll on delete was fixed a few versions back, wasn't it? Etc etc

4. Fix the layout issues. I bugged the poor Preview Mode layout several versions ago in pre-release and you just carried that into the rewrite. There are still UI problems that look sloppy and unprofessional.

5. Take the opportunity to modernize things. If you read through the forums, a frequent topic is integration with cloud services. The Photoshop team is getting beaten up for removing the Quick Share button; both apps should have as many sharing and cloud integrations as possible. How about supporting Finder tags? Modern file system APIs? All types of memory cards? Video and folder stats?

6. I publish a set of scripts to fix gaping feature holes. They are Apache-licensed, feel free to add any or all to Bridge. I'm sure you could reimplement them in C# or Swift or whatever you are using and do a WAY better job than I have.

7. You see the activity on these boards; someone from the dev team should be checking activity daily and posting here so we know what is going on.

I'm not going to comment on the pre-release program beyond saying that its obviously not working as well as it should to find and fix problems.

[BTyson]

We ideally want everyone to upgrade to the latest version of Bridge soon, because it has useful improvements over the older version. Many users are loving those improvements & we would like to see those new capabilities being incorporated in your workflows as well.

To Subbi and the gang at Adobe, your last lines really say it all. So -- sure! -- bring on the improvements.

And while you're at it:

DO NOT TRASH PREVIOUSLY PROVEN 'IMPROVEMENTS' FROM EARLIER ON

that is, long enjoyed features your legacy users (new ones too, I'd bet) know and depend on.

What's so difficult to keep in mind is -- doing BOTH? We can have the new and benefit from it; AND keep the old that just works too. Yes?

I guess engineers always think their new idea is 'better' -- despite all of human history giving that hubris the lie.

🙂

[garyblakemeister]

Android OS is similar.  Android 12 made the clock unreadable and unchangeable.  
It also added swipes and taps to the most basic functions like screen brightness.  Why? For the sake of being "new"

[gary_sc]

As one who was using Bridge since the very very very beginning (version 1), and one who was using the Bridge 13 beta, these have been interesting reads.

For one issue, since Bridge v. 1, people have been asking for multiple Content Tabs. Yes, really, since back that far. The reason? It was to move items from one folder to the other more easily and/or view multiple folders in the Preview window from two different folders. Yes, we could go from window to window, but some monitors are only so big. So, for those who wonder why the addition of Tabs was done? Folks like me who wanted them. We only had to wait some 17 years (LOL).

Why didn't I complain about the loss of extra Windows? I have one monitor. I've always had one monitor. That loss elicited a "shrug" from me — no loss to my workflow. But trust me, when I read of people wanting a Bridge Window on each monitor, I quickly realized that the loss of new Windows was an issue, and I've been supporting that cause ever since. As far as moving files from one tab to another? I find it very easy to do once I got the "feeling" for it. 

What about the "flickering" issue? Sometimes I got a pulse or two in full-screen mode, but that's it. To me, it looked like Bridge was opening a jpg version of the file, then getting the full data and updating the image. Considering that's how I had my preferences set up. That made sense. But flickering? Sorry, I've just not had that issue. 

Copying is actually Moving. Yeah, I bugged that from the onset. It's even doing that to the trash from an external drive. 

Do I want other changes for Bridge? Absolutely. Might these changes affect other operations? I hope not, but change happens. Remember, Photoshop didn't have layers until version 3 in 1994. I assume you do not want to go back before layers? Probably not.

Look, change is hard and especially when change stomps on your toes, as it has here with many of you. But getting EXACTLY what you want is not likely to happen. Trust me: close is pretty good. I certainly do not want to lose the benefits of 13; I'm using it every day and enjoying it, despite it's many issues.

As I stated, many of the issues mentioned in this very long thread I've just not had to happen to me. [For the record, I started working with Bridge 13 with a 2015 Intell iMac and finished with my current Mac Studio, Big Sur to Monterey.] I cannot tell you why I was so fortunate, but I do often do maintenance on my Mac, just like I take my car to a repair guy to do maintenance on my car before issues happen. I cannot tell you if that was the difference; I just do not know.

And as far as the looks of Bridge 2023: yeah, it kinda looks like a first draft — blocking out the basic structure but hasn't been painted yet. But seriously, how long has it been since there's been any appearance update to an Adobe program that made you smile? In the grand scheme of things, I'd rather they spend time on getting things to work right than making the program look right.

[garyblakemeister]

If these substantial growing pains are building to an eventual better product then Adobe needs to explain why a newer product is buggier and less efficient than the previous version and then explain why 2023 didn't stay in beta until these issues were ironed out.

There's not a single way 2023 is better for my workflow and several in which it is worse.  

We've all spent thousands on Adobe products so we maintain the right to complain when our professional work is interrupted.

[bjoernzedlick]

Having two content tabs side by side is nice, you can compare and drag&drop, yes, but professional daily workflow requires way more than those TWO instances. You may call it "lack of focus", but at any time during the day I might have (had) 10+ windows open in Bridge. Things I am doing right now, things pending input, things I alrady pulled up and will get to in the evening. DESIGN MANAGEMENT. Or better: MULTITASKING. Bridge 23 effectively killed multitasking, and while I agree our world needs to slow down and regain focus, unfortunately the ONE work place that provides me with OVERVIEW can't be the starting point. Bridge 23 killed OVERVIEW and MULTITASKING. It might work spledid if I'm doing a two week retreat in a hut by the lake, offline, to focus on one project, but it fails terribly in the presence of daily workflow requirements. I say this with all respect and all tolerance, and again, why not HAVE BOTH? Tabs and windows!!! < @Subbi :))) 

Oh, @gary_sc one question, how do I keyboard-toggle between two content tabs? COMMAND + ~ does not work. Unheard of. I was going to say that's like making COMMAND + W not work in an app, but funny/sad enough it DOES NOT WORK any more in Bridge 23... hysteric laughter before mental collapse... 

[verylongtimeuser1234]

@bjoernzedlick there is a simple solution. Uninstall the new 2023 PS and Bridge application. Reinstall 2022. You know how many problems I have had since then? 0. Adobe will fix this trash pile or lose us all as customers in 6 months. But at least I can work for the next 6 months problem free... instead of helping them fix it for free, I am using that time to evaluate alternative products. You should consider that option as well.

[bjoernzedlick]

What are the realistic alternatives to PS, AI, ID? @verylongtimeuser1234 

[verylongtimeuser1234]

Not here to promote any particular product. I'm on the Mac and there are great alternatives to the core products out there. Not sure on PC. In fact, Bridge is the main reason I still use Adobe products and with this release, they effectively took that away. As far as editing/creating/illustrating, I don't find myself lacking anything when using other applications.

[Lumigraphics]

I mostly do production with two displays but the problem I have with multiple tabs is that I need to see more than just content, I need to see two previews and two Filter panels and two Favorites panels for many operations. Multiple content tabs are worthless to me, frankly. MacOS has Finder tabs and I never use them.

I never did see where multiple Bridge tabs made any sense whatsoever. But I'm fine having them, IF they don't break everything else.

Bridge 2023 is a mess and IMHO at least a year from being ready to release, given the pace of development. Its unusable for me, I rely on working software to do my job. I'm fortunate that I can at least partly code around using Bridge 2022 with PS 2023, most people probably can't.

[BTyson]

So...I reply to my own previous replies. So sue me Walt Whitman. For those curious, he said something about repeating himself, I think, that may be contextual here.

I ••••FINALLY•••• found the CONTENT TABS. Woo-hoo! Life IS good. Enough like ••old•• Bridge versions to say this does what the separate windows available in earlier versions did. And does it better, in my book.

Now. That. I. Understand. What. The. (unprintable) Things. ARE.

So yes this is praise. But NO it is not unalloyed. This is also a real complaint: the term 'content tabs' (how I wish  could render those two words in 4-pt type here in the discussion, to make the next point) THE COMPLAINT is that the 'tabs' are, for one accustomed to finding 'new window' from the top menu, invisible.

O Adobe. I sing (NOT) thy design and -- ahem -- user INSTRUCTIONS -- praises.

Once you know what they are and where they are the content tabs are quite nice. You can click on an item in the open panel, slide it up onto another tab, wait until that panel opens, slide it down, and let it fly free in its new panel -- and folder. And so on.

But oh. A step-by-step. Even with -- pitchurs!! Would really help. I don't want anyone to answer this next question, but WHY isn't that part of the release and promo stuff for the new, better-than-ever, totall overhauled version of Bridge?

Just. A. Short. Tutorial. PUH-leeze, NOT a video. This could have been eliminated as a bone of contention with a one-page Art Spiegelman comix kind of illustrated procedure. Not more than 3 panels, I bet.

Sheesh.