Collections in Bridge CC - Locating the files to allow the collections to be backed up

[wernerp50459297]

F

or my Windows 7 system, I have seen a number of posts indicating that collections files are located in

C:\Users\<user-name>\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Bridge CC 2017\Collections

Indeed, I have files named <collection -name>.collection in that folder, however, they are just small (1KB) files which contain the parameters used to define each smart collection.  They do not include pointers to the images.

Where are the files with the information as to which image is included in each collection?

Thanks in advance for any assistance

[Stephen Marsh]

filename.collection = Smart Collection (live saved search criteria, the files and file paths are dynamiclly generated)

filename.filelist = Collection (saved image files and file path locations)

P.S. For Mac users:

/Users/username/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Bridge ???/Collections

[wernerp50459297]

Thanks Stephen

Does that mean that for a smart collection each time Bridge is opened is trawls through the data from scratch?

I have a lot of directories of image files and I've noticed that when I open Bridge it seems quite quickly to show all the images that were in the smart collection when the program was last shut down, but then it continues to index and find some further images.  That seems to suggest to me that Bridge memorises file locations of images it had previously found (ie that it writes the information somewhere).

If there really is no record of file locations for a smart collection, then I suppose the way to back up the information would be to also create a non-smart collection and to copy all the images into it from the corresponding smart collection ...

On a related matter, is there a way to specify a different directory to hold the collection, perhaps via a windows registry setting?

regards, W

[Stephen Marsh]

Does that mean that for a smart collection each time Bridge is opened is trawls through the data from scratch?

Yes and no, the cache has a role to play…

Consider the highlighted options in the following screenshot:

The Smart Collection is basically a live/dynamic search with saved search criteria/parameters. Inspecting the saved .collection file it is obvious that no file path information is stored, only the search parameters.

I have a lot of directories of image files and I've noticed that when I open Bridge it seems quite quickly to show all the images that were in the smart collection when the program was last shut down, but then it continues to index and find some further images.  That seems to suggest to me that Bridge memorises file locations of images it had previously found (ie that it writes the information somewhere).

I believe that this confirms that the cache/index is in play. If you purged the cache and then clicked on the smart collection again, I am guessing that it would take a LOT longer to display the images (unless the index is different to the cache, I believe that they are both different terms for the same thing, which is of course confusing).

[wernerp50459297]

Thanks Stephen - that would explain why Bridge can recall part of a smart collection very quickly.

So:

• Indexed files are images for which thumbnails with their corresponding paths are stored in cache; and
• the secret to getting a listing of just those images which are in smart collections (the cache would also include other non-collection images) is to extract that listing from cache once one understands cache structure

[Stephen Marsh]

I think that it would probably be far easier to simply drag the contents of the smart collection into a collection, then harvest the links. The caveat being that a smart collection is constantly updating itself when new files that match the search criteria are found, where as the collection is static and is only representative of a moment in time.

[wernerp50459297 · Accepted solution]

Yes, whichever way one does a backup, it'll only represent the collection at a point in time.

My other hope of being able to relocate the collections directory is also likely impossible - I couldn't find the default directory string in the Windows registry, so I assume it must be hard-coded in the program.

Thanks for your help, W