How do I view my Mac photo library in Bridge?

If you have an iphone and it's synced to your iCloud Photos library, then you can import them directly into Bridge.

There is a very good extension you can add to your Photos library to allow any photo to be opened in Photos and then directly edited in another imaging app eg PS. The result of the edit is saved back to your Photos Library or anywhere you want. May be a useful workflow for you.
https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/open-in-external-editor-support-for-photos-app/id1054519713?mt=12

Hi,

Did you use the photo management tool from windows ?  This is my understanding the photos.APP  on the mac is like any other photo management tool.   It uses a database to organize the contents.  Adobe BRidge is a file management tool. If you didn't use the windows photo management tool and just used files then Adobe BRidge will find them where they are and build a framework ( think database) of references to those files. The good thing about photos.APP on mac is it deals well with photos generated by iphones that can store them in different formats than JPEG.  so if all your photos have been generated with cameras other than iphones I would say use the Image_Capture.APP that comes with the mac to copy new photos to your mac.  For all of the older photos export them out of photos.APP into the Finder and use Adobe BRidge.

OK so here's my workflow that I am trying for this. 

• I had 1500 photos on my phone. Image Capture (Apple) crashed, as did Adobe Bridge Importer. 
• So I used the more reliable Photos import process, and this worked.
• However, adding Keywords in Photos was a total mess. I would type part of the keyword and the field would be reset. Adding a Description was hopeless. If there was a period character it would be interpreted as the Favourites shortcut. So, it was evident the Photos could not be the go-to program.
• So I used Export in Photos to export the images just imported. At least Photos does a good job at keeping track of import sessions. Quite a slow operation but it did restore the original file-name. Yay! Note. Photos does not seem to give a progress indication of Export, but you can just keep an eye on the files being slowly added to the folder. (MacBook Air quad-core.)

A BIG PROBLEM: The Photos app when exporting seems to have discarded the date and time and most of the other metadata. Only the GPS info remains on the exported file. It also looks like some metadata is discarded even on Import from the camera. I am not sure where to go from here!

I just found how to find photos INSIDE the photoslibsary:
Go to Finder, Pictures, right click Photos Libarary.photoslibary, select “Show Package Contents” this will open/show you the folder “originals”.  The “originals” folder can be dragged and dropped into Bridge. 

Unfortunately for me, the "originals" subfolders are not the same folders/albums I see in my Photos app (maybe because I imported my photos/folders from my old Windows PC). I can view the photos, etc. in Bridge but I was hoping to use Bridge to organize my photos going forward instead of the Photos app (which I don't like), but it's not doable because my folder/album structure doesn't match what I see in the Photos app 😞 

Hi Evelyn,

Welcome to the myster of "what in the heck is Bridge doing, what is it for?"

First be aware that Bridge is dumb, it doesn't know where your images are but it will default to the default location that the Mac OS will send photos to: your Pictures Folder. If that's not where you keep them show bridge where they are. 

Now, I also do not know where your photos are. If you are using Apple's Photos, than probably in your Pictures Folder is a folder somewhere (sorry I can't help you here as I do not use Photos), is a folder with all of your photos in it. They are probably not lose in the folder but probably in a strange folder in folder in folder approach so Apple's Photos can easily track them. 

Anyhow, once you find that folder, drag it down to your Bridge icon in the Dock and let go. At this point there are several things you can do: be sure that the feature "Path Bar" is shown. To make sure it's on, go to the Window menu and select Path Bar (on the bottom of the menu) if it's not already checked. Turning this on and off will let you see where it is, the function should be obvious. Anyhow, if you click on the rightmost "greater than" symbol, you can see an option called Show items from sub-folders.

This will then start showing all of the images contained within. HOWEVER, if you have a lot of photos, this may take awhile to build. 

The big problem here is that Photos images are probably so strangely integrated in folders within folders, this may not be the best way to view them. You have two options: use Bridge for new images and leave the Photos catalog alone for Photos use, or start to regoup all of those photos into folders that make sense for you. One other option is to use Lightroom with the option of importing a Photos catalog and leave Photos alone. However, any adjustments you've made to the images in Photos will be left behind. 

Either way you have a bit of mulling on the best way forward.

Oh, one other thing. You have a Panel called Favorites. If you have that open you can drag your folders from the Finder into that Panel and add those folders to Favorites. Below is a screenshot of my Favorites panel and the underlined ones are ones that I've added to provide easy access to them.