Make Bridge keep the index to a folder

Report · Jun 20, 2022

I have a folder of about 8000 images (70gb) I call "Design Assets." This folder is full of graphics I use often for my design work, such as specific eps shapes I have created. I have spent hours in Bridge attaching keywords to every item so that I can search through and find stuff quickly when I need to use it again. For example, I might need an image of a hand for a project, so instead of drawing a new hand, I will go to Bridge and search for the keyword "hand," look for an appropriate image of a hand I already have, and copy that into my new project so I don't have to redraw it.

Sometimes, this system works perfectly. Other times, Bridge just flat-out doesn't find anything with the keywords I am searching for, saying only that no results are found, even if "search non-indexed items" is checked, and even if I performed that exact same search earlier that day and it worked fine.

I do have Bridge settings set to import the cache of folders, but I have not found a setting to export the cache of folders.

From what I can tell, Bridge is either not saving the index of my Design Assets folder or is rebuilding it every time I start up Bridge, a process that takes at least an hour. I have googled extensively for similar issues, but the only ones I have found were people who were having problems with multiple people accessing the same folders or people with smart collections.

I am just one person, trying to search one folder. That folder is not a smart collection. Pretty much the only task I want Bridge to do is to search this folder, find everything I have tagged with specific keywords when I search for them, and show them to me.

Is there a way to just force Bridge to save the cache/index of this one folder and purge all others? Am I just not understanding what the heck an index even is? Is there anything out there that would let me just search through my folder by keyword quickly?

Report · Jul 20, 2022

I have encountered this problem too. I've found that Bridge's Advanced Search can be a bit hit or miss. Like you, I have large numbers of images all nicely keyworded in expectation that I could simply search by keyword any time I wanted to find all images with the same keyword. (about 600,000 at last count) On my machine, Bridge's Advanced Search (Ctrl-F) has a check box for searching sub-directories/folders. It appears to only work on folders one level below the search folder, and not on ALL sub-folders. Obviously this is not your problem as you are searching only one folder. The only way I can get this to work properly is to create a Collection and then use the filter panel once the Collection has generated. The problem then is keeping the Collection up to date when you add new images. Hopefully an Adobe Staff Member might read this and provide an answer, otherwise you're probably out of luck on this forum.

You could try Photo Mechanic which is much quicker to render previews, apply and search keywords, and will also transfer images to photoshop. It is also stable and doesn't crash like Adobe products.

Report · Jul 20, 2022

The good news is that your keywords are kept in the metadata of your files. So THEY cannot be lost unless you somehow wipe out your data's metafiles.

IF you are on a Mac, I can suggest software that I cannot imagine not having on my Mac, I use it all the time: HoudahSpot. It is a VERY powerful search engine. It utilizes Mac's Spotlight but its power is in its depth. Plus, while Spotlight has limited search capabilities, HoudahSpot has Boolean search capabilities. And yes, it can search for keywords.

If you have any questions, just ask