How do you turn off the "loupe" view in Bridge?

Report · Mar 29, 2025

I need to know how to turn off the stupid "loupe" view in Bridge. I need to know how to force it to expand a picture to 100% when I click on the picture, like you can in Lightroom classic. I do NOT want to have take my hand off the mouse and move it to the space bar then back to the mouse to move it around then back to the spacebar to shrink it back down. To me that's just a lot of extra, usless, steps to take. So please tell me how to turn off the ignorant "loupe" view that pops up when you click an image in Bridge with no way to expand the stupid little "magnify window" or "loupe" if that's what you call it.

There must be a way becasue only idiots would make a bunch of interacting programs and have each of them use a different command for the same function.... And I know the people at Adobe are not idiots...

Report · Mar 29, 2025

Hi, @joeh87907460. I'm not fully sure what you're looking for because there is a broad range of options.

#1) The "Loupe" tool is activated by clicking on the image in the Preview Panel on the image. You can have this set in the Settings to display when you click on the image or if you're holding the Command/Control key and clicking.

I prefer the latter because I find it annoying to pop up when all I did was click on the image. To undo it, you simply click within the Loupe's image.

2) The Preview Panel does not display as a Loupe view as seen in (say) Lightroom or Lightroom Classic. For reasons that make no sense to me, the Preview Panel is placed so it barely shows the image beyond a larger thumbnail in the Essentials Workspace. I created my own workspace with the Preview Panel front and center, as shown below. Notice I renamed this workspace as "Gary's Workspace." Clever, huh?

Now, the Preview Panel will display UP TO 100% and thereafter, it will be something smaller. Let me explain. If your screen is (say) 2000 pixels wide and the image is 1000 pixels wide, the image can be displayed at 100% (unless you decrease the size of your Bridge's window). But let's say you have an image that is 4000 pixels wide. At best, that image can only be seen at 50%.

I hope this solves your issue; if not, a screenshot would be helpful.

Good luck!

Report · Mar 31, 2025

Thank you for the reply. I would post a screenshot but it would be just like the first screen shot you posted with the little magnified squarish "loupe". That is exactly what I want to get rid of. Instead of clicking on the photo and getting that I want it to expand the whole photo to 100%. I don't want to have to switch to the spacebar to expand it, then use the mouse to drag it around to see the edges and then switch back to the spacebar to shrink it back down.

My monitor is 1440P, 2160 X 1440, my photos are 6000 X 4000. I don't want to see it at only 50% or whatever. When I click it, I want it to expand to 100% and when I click it again it goes back down to the size that fits in the window.

Is there any way to change it so that what I'm asking can be accomplished? To me, it's really clunky and stupid the way it works with that silly little "magnified" view box, and just as bad is the idea that I'd have to take my hand off the mouse, move it to the spacebar, click that, then go back to the mouse to move the picture around to see the edges that are off the screen, then have to switch back to the spacebar to fit it in the window again then move back to the mouse. I mean that's a lot of wasted movement and extra steps that is just asinine.

Surely I'm missing something that I can't find in the preference to to make it a user friendly program to use. I suppose the reason I've had it all these years and never use it is becasue of how NON-user-friendly it is and it's just so frustrating to use. Adobe are you listening??? Please fix these things...

Report · Mar 31, 2025

In Bridge, a 6000 px wide image cannot show 100%. That would limit visibility to only 36% of the total image on your screen. When you open a file in ACR, you CAN see 100%, but then you have to switch back and forth from Bridge to ACR and back as needed. Alternatively, you can load a number of images in ACR, but I'm not sure what your workflow is, so I do not know how well that would work for you.

I suggest you take a look at Lightroom Classic, which can do what you want. FWIW, it might be important to remember that LRC is ACR with a database.

Sorry, I can't help you.

Report · Mar 31, 2025

Thank you Gary, you did help actually, and I appreciate it very much. I realize that it's not going to be able to work the way I want it too and there's not much use in trying to make it do what I want. I haven't used bridge much even though I always update it and open it every now and then try to use it but I just get frustrated. I haven't really 'needed' it and have done just fine without it. I just hate to see a program on my computer that I can't or don't want to use...

Again, thank you for trying to help, I do appreciate it.