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How do you MOVE Collections to new storage locations with Bridge? I have multiple collections consisting of original files that may reside on multiple external hard drives. I have a new high capacity drive that will become my working drive, as the existing drives are getting older (like me). I can't recall the procedure to do this so that Bridge will maintain access to the files in the Collections.
I plan to COPY the files from the old HD's to the new HD's. I can either drag copy, or possibly use Carbon Copy Cloner. But I may need to change the folder hierarchy to a better system, and I'm concerned that an altered directory will confuse Bridge.
Thanks.
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Collections are stored as XML files on disk, but if you are going to move the source files, you won't be able to migrate them since pathnames will not match.
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Thank you for your reply. I seem to recall that there is (was?) a solution to this problem. No hard drive is permanent, and all need to be replaced before they fail. A Collection of images can take years of development, and I can't believe that Adobe would not provide a procedure to migrate the Source files of Collections. I have some results from online searches for this question, but thought this would be the best place to start for this important procedure.
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Create and manage collections in Adobe Bridge
Can I transfer Bridge's "Collections" to my new computer?
Basically... it depends. If your files are scattered and you consolidate them into a new drive, you may be able to use the built-in update feature to locate missing files. Or use a text editor to update the XML file with now locations.
Below is a Bridge script to export a list of folders and collections. Save in a text editor as PLAIN TEXT (not RTF) with a ".jsx" file extension. Open Bridge Preferences->Startup Scripts and click reveal. Drag the saved script into that folder and relaunch Bridge to enable the script. It will be in the Tools menu.
/*
FolderListExport created by David M. Converse ©2018
www.lumigraphics.com
Last updated 10-19-2018
This script uses Extendscript and ScriptUI to save a text list of the currently selected folder or collection in Bridge.
Save as a ".jsx" file, open Bridge Preferences->Startup Scripts and click Reveal. Drag the saved .jsx file into that folder and relaunch Bridge.
Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at
http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.
*/
#target bridge
if(BridgeTalk.appName == 'bridge'){
var newCommand = new MenuElement('command', 'Export Folder List...', 'at the end of Tools');
}
newCommand.onSelect = function (){
FolderListExport();
}
function FolderListExport(){
var FileList = [];
var CollList = [];
try{
if(app.document.presentationPath){
var parentFolder = new Thumbnail(app.document.presentationPath);
}
else{
alert('Expanded subfolder listing is not currently supported, sorry.');
return;
}
app.synchronousMode = true;
parentFolder.refresh();
if(parentFolder.container){
FileList = parentFolder.children;
}
else{
CollList = app.getCollections();
for(var j=0;j < CollList.length; j++){
if((CollList
FileList = app.getCollectionMembers(CollList
break;
}
}
}
if(FileList.length == 0) return;
fileWriter(FileList, parentFolder);
app.synchronousMode = false;
}
catch(e){
alert('List not saved.');
return;
}
}
function fileWriter(FileList, parentFolder){
var logPath = '';
var logFile = File(logPath);
var listing = '';
var numHidden = 0;
var txtHidden = '';
try{
numHidden = FileList.length - app.document.visibleThumbnailsLength;
if(numHidden != 0){
txtHidden = ', ' + numHidden + ' Hidden';
}
listing = parentFolder.name;
if(! parentFolder.container){
listing = parentFolder.name.split('.');
if(listing.length > 1){
listing.length--;
}
listing = listing.join('.') + ' Collection';
}
logFile = new File('~/Desktop/' + listing + '.txt').saveDlg('Create New Log File', '*.txt');
logFile.open('w:');
if(parentFolder.container){
logFile.writeln(parentFolder.spec.fullName);
}
else{
logFile.writeln(listing);
}
logFile.writeln(app.document.visibleThumbnailsLength + ' Items' + txtHidden + '.\r\r');
for(var i=0;i < app.document.stacks.length;i++){
logFile.writeln('Stack ' + (i+1));
for(var j=0;j < app.document.stacks.thumbnails.length;j++){
logFile.writeln(app.document.stacks.thumbnails
}
logFile.writeln('-------\r');
}
for(var i = 0;i < FileList.length;i++){
if(parentFolder.container){
listing = FileList.name;
}
else{
listing = FileList.uri;
listing = listing.replace('bridge:fs:file:///', '');
while(listing.search('%20') > 0){
listing = listing.replace('%20', ' ');
}
}
if(FileList.container){
listing = '/' + listing;
}
if(! FileList.hidden || numHidden == 0){
logFile.writeln(listing);
}
}
logFile.close();
}
catch(e){
alert('Could not save listing.');
return;
}
}
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Don't know if you're still looking for a solution to this (or more likely I'm too late to the show), but my solution was to name the new HD exactly the same as the old drive. That way the path name remains the same and your collections will still be there. Worked for me.