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J
JRC_User
Known Participant
October 9, 2019
Question

Bridge as a Mac OS X Finder replacement.

  • October 9, 2019
  • 4 replies
  • 4330 views

Hi All,

 

One thing I need and miss in OS X's Finder is the ability and the tools to better organize my files. I have quite a bit of data on my Mac between the internal and all external drives. It can be challenging at times to browse a find a specific file. With this in mind here is my question:

 

I have looked at some of the options out there including Leap, Path Finder and Commander One but found that they don't offer much more than the Finder does. One option I have found that seems interesting is Adobe's Bridge. It offers the ability to tag files with keywords that can be searched and filtered, files can be rated and also color coded.

 

Is there any reason why Adobe's Bridge would not be a good option as a Finder substitute?

 

Thank you in advance.

This topic has been closed for replies.

4 replies

I
inforesults
Participant
September 7, 2024

All,

This post was started years ago but seems to be visited occasionally so I thought I'd chime in.

I've also been thru the routine of trying out various Finder replacements, only to be disapointed in all of them. 

Would love to use Bridge to completely replace Finder, as suggested.  Not sure there's a way to tell the OS however to do this.  PathFinder does provide the option to "fully replace" Finder, but is buggy and expensive.

Currently I use:

Regarding Bridge, the interface is busy but as mentioned in other posts, there's a lot to like.  And there's also a Windows version too. 

I just might try to use it for a week as my primary and see if it works.  However there's the problem that DFX will always default to Finder, although there is an option (shown below) to open folders in another app.  But Bridge is not on the list of options.

Does anyone out there know of a way to do either of these?

  • Teach MacOS (my current version is Sonoma) to use Bridge as the default app for files and folders?
  • Teach DFX to consider Bridge as an "Open Folders In" option in settings?

 

Michael

J
JRC_UserAuthor
Known Participant
September 22, 2024

Hi inforesults,

 

I am the original poster and feel happy other, including you, have found this a good suggestion.

In case you remember, Bridge started as a part of Photoshop named 'File Browser'. It then developed into a separate application and one that does a lot of things, but it didn't improve as a file browser. I have tried practically every Finder replacement under the sun and have been disappointed by all without a single exception. 

Bridge's has a great interface and one that is flexible enough to be adjusted by every individual user to his or her own preferences and needes. Yes, it needes to improve and to have other features added but I believe this could be a significant move for Adobe and one that would lead to a large user base.

How can we share this suggestion with Adobe's development team so they can take this into consideration?

Thank you!

I
inforesults
Participant
September 23, 2024

Hi JRC_USER, Seems like Adobe Bridge Feedback would be a good place to start.

N
NoHoWarlord
Known Participant
June 12, 2021

Wondering if you have any updates on how you ended up. I use Bridge as you suggest and against the advice here because I have not found a better method to manage my workflow. Essentially I have a fast drive with my most current images backing up to a slower, larger drive. It works wonderfully, I can just point LightRoom to the larger volume when freeing up space on the smaller faster drive. 

I manage deletions by using metadata to store which are set to be deleted forever and make sure that a Chronosync backup has run before actually purging the images.  But that only deletes the images from the LR Catalog and the fast local drive. They all remain on the larger drive with no references to them in the Catalog. Bridge handles this with a smart folder that searches for the images that should be deleted.  ALL of the comments here, recommending not to use Bridge for this are SPOT ON.  No argument from me, I do NOT advocate for how I am doing this! I just wanted to associate myself with your question and see if you have learned anything new. 

I am also wondering if the good people here who have offered help with suggestions like Default Folder, which I take to mean the software Default Folder X? I can't see how this helps us? But I will absolutely havd a look at it.  

Thanks all,

 

Michael

gary_sc
Community Expert
gary_scCommunity Expert
Community Expert
June 12, 2021

Default folder will not help you in any way for finding things. Where DF shines is to help you organize and get access to your folders. You state that you move images from one folder on one drive and move them to another drive. In DF, you can always show recent folders as well as have a list of Favorite folders. At any time you are looking at a Mac Finder window to open a file or to save a file to a location, DF will be there. I find it absolutely invaluable and a profound time saver.

 

If you're looking for helpful software, and you're already using Chronosync, the next one I HAVE to point out is HoudahSpot. This is a search application that gives you amazing search capabilities with boolian power. For example, say you're looking for a jpg made in the last 30 days but you want to focus that search to only one of 3 external drives. Piece of cake. I think you get the idea. Simply, I've been using this for years and am still learning more of its capabilities.

Good luck!

    N
    NoHoWarlord
    Known Participant
    June 14, 2021

    Hello Gary! What a wonderfully thoughtful and nuanced response. I will check out both DF and HoudahSpot.  If I spelled that right. 

    I am hoping I learn that HS has hooks in it that will allow me to pair .xmp files with my camera raw images etc. and understand the way Adobe handles metadata. It's something Bridge undedstands more than me but like most things tech related you have to be a little smarter some times.  But not too much more 😬 or you into REAL trouble. 

    gary_sc
    Community Expert
    gary_scCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 9, 2019

    Hi Drjchamberlain,

     

    I agree with Luminographics in that I would not find Bridge to be an adequate Finder replacement. It was not meant to be used as such. Rather, it was designed to let you view, organize, rate, and work with your images. The fact that it can do more is somewhat if a serendipitous coincidence. 

     

    Rather than try to replace the Finder, what I've done is to find other application that enhance the Finder. For example, I cannot imagine running my Mac without Default Folder. Work with this for 30 minutes and you'll never look back. 

     

    While Spotlight is good, it isn't great. That's why I use HoudahSpot. It has helped me find files that would be completely lost otherwise.

     

    For copying files from one drive to another, I could not imagine being without Chronosync. This is more for maintaining large collections of files on multiple drives. For example, I have one 4 TB drive that I keep all of my photos and other documents on. I have a 2nd 4 TB drive that I use to back up all of the files of the first drive so if Drive A fails, I have everything also on Drive B. I use Chronosync to back A to B at least once a week unless I just did a major input into A. When you are copying 10 files this is not much an issue but when you are doing 10,000+ it's essential.

     

    I have other applications that I also use but these are my essentials.

    J
    JRC_UserAuthor
    Known Participant
    October 17, 2019

    Hi gary_sc,

     

    Thank you for your reply and for all your recommendations.

    The advantage I found in bridge is the gallery view with thumbnais of files that help me easily identify them. Also Bridge allows the user (me) to choose the size of these thumbnails in gallery view, which is a big help. Another great feature is the option to hide folders. In other words, Bridge will display all the contents of a folder and also the contents of all folders contained in that root folder without displaying the folders themselves allowing you to see ALL files in one selected location or folder.
    My primary intention is to use an application to browse all my files or to choose them by keyword or tag. Bridge is also great at this since you can assign as many keywords as necessary and then perform a 'filtered' search by simply clicking or selecting one or more keywords.

    It would be great to use Bridge to perform file operations (renaming, moving, copyingm, deleting, etc...) but this is not the primary reason why I thought Bridge would be a good choice for file browsing.

    I have looked at the usual suspects - Path Finder, Double Commander and Forklift - but have been very disappointed.

    Are there any situations in which the use of Bridge just for browsing and perhaps assigning keywords to files could cause damage or loss of data?

    Also, what is the status today on the assingment of keywords to files by Bridge? I understand that for RAW image files Bridge creates an additional sidecar XMP files where information is save including keywords. What about other files formats such as TIFF, JPEG, Word, PDF, Excel, ... ?

    Thank you again for your help.

    L
    Lumigraphics
    Legend
    October 9, 2019

    Bridge is buggy, slow, and lacks support for a BUNCH of Apple technology. I personally would not recommend trying to replace the Finder. Lack of organization is not the fault of the software tools you have.

      J
      JRC_UserAuthor
      Known Participant
      October 14, 2019
      Hi, Lumigraphics.
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