New Bridge Content Tab is awful...

Hi,

The latest beta build 14.0.0.57 brings back support for multi-window feature. 
For complete list of features available in the build please refer
https://community.adobe.com/t5/bridge-discussions/adobe-bridge-beta-is-now-available-14-0-0-57/td-p/13986216

Regards,
Bridge Team

Ive been using Bridge professionally for 10+ years now.. and here I am,  searching the internet trying to fiugure out how to use Bridge again.  Im convinced Adobe arubtrarily changes things so that updates look "updated".  This new content tab BS is so unnecessary.

What makes me want to rip my hair out over the new tabs is that it is hair trigger sensitive. I am constantly rearranging the tabs by accident by the barest of touches in the wrong place. It happens over and over no matter how careful I try to be. I want to scream I'm so frustrated by it!! In general, I like the new tabs, but this one thing is horrid!! I just accidentally closed the Folders tab and I don't know how to get it back!

AMEN to this comment. Do they even test their "upgrades" before having billions of users use them? You couldn't convince me.

+1: I hate the 2023 Bridge

Making the Content tabs even worse is the limitation on the length of folder name- it truncates the folder name by trimming out the middle section of the folder name - so if the folder is named "2023_01_20_Water Meadows"   it becomes "2023_01....er Meadows"     - not very handy if you are switching between folders in the tabs...  

I absolutely hate the new version of Bridge.  The tabbed interface is clunky, introduces errors in to the pipeline, and is generally experienced as a much worse experiencee than previous versions.

For those of us in production we typically have a fixed folder structure for projects.  Many projects have folders that share the same name and have subfolders that share the same naming.  It's incredibly easy in the 'forced' tabbed setup to begin working on the wrong set of files (e.g. V002) when we've got several tabs open that have the same files but are in their version folders.  Now we must contantly waste time checking in Bridge to confirm that we're in the correct tab and not working on the wrong version of images.  This is an introduced flaw in the workflow chain and there's no excuse that warrants removing a long standing 'way of doing things' by forcing users to use an absolutely awful tabbed UI.

I agree. This is 2 steps forward, 4 steps back. Adobe has taken away the ability to tab between windows and leverage keyboard shortcuts which is what all power users THRIVE on. To expect users to click between content panels is unacceptable.

Wow - after a week or two of using the new Bridge version I really can't stand it.  It's awful.  Tabs confuse the workflow unnecessarily if you have Project folders that share a common structure (e.g. V001, V002, V003, etc.).  It turns a well established workflow into a nightmare.  Adobe... What you think is progress should not come at the cost of professional users having to throw away solid and proven workflows.  An option to deactivate tabs is critical if I'm going to continue using Bridge.  I'm really put off by how Adobe changed this with no regard for how it would affect users.

HI @Carson Jones, I'm sorry, but I'm not following what you're doing with Tabs that is unsuccessful for you.

As one who's used Adobe Bridge since it was first released in 2005, I, and many others, have been asking for Tabs from the beginning. Obviously, no one but Adobe knew how they'd be implemented, and I assure you that the loss of multiple Windows was never part of our wish. From what I've heard, the Adobe engineers are working on replacing multiple Windows but no one knows when they will arrive. 

Below is a current model for various ways of using the Tabs in Bridge. This may not satisfy all your needs, but it might provide some ideas and approaches that may work for you.

As far as Image Processor goes, that's not Bridge's fault, it's how the applications were installed: the scripts for that are provided by Photoshop. When PS is being installed, it looks for a compatible version of Bridge. If it does not find one, it cannot install the scripts. By this, I mean that if you've put in Bridge 2023 and you're installing PS 2022 next, the scripts will not be installed. If you installed PS 2023 AND THEN installed Bridge, the scripts again will not be installed — order is important.

Here are some guidlines as to how to work with Tabs in Bridge 2023

New Workflows

If you look at the Content Panel, note the hamburger menu on the right-hand side (three horizontal lines). To the left of the Hamburger menu, you'll see a plus (+) (red arrow). If you click on that, you'll get a new Content Panel. If you click on the option in the Hamburger menu for a new Content Panel (green arrow), you'll also get a new Content Panel.

The primary disadvantage of these two options currently is that either will default to a "home" position and are not likely to provide access to the folder you want. Fortunately, for any Content Panel that is active (note the blue square and blue line circling the Panel), if you go to the Recent icon in the icons on top, if you select a folder from there, it will open up in that Content Panel.

Likewise, if you select a folder from the Folders Panel. In addition, if you take an image or a folder and drag it to the Bridge icon in the Dock, THAT folder will open in the active Content Panel. Hopefully, soon they will provide both "Open" and "Recent" options in the Hamburger menu.

If you have a folder with other sub-folders, you can always right-click on one of the subfolders, and it can be opened in a new Content Panel

Once you have two or more Content Panels, you can drag from one to the other by simply mouse-down on an image (or all selected images), then move the mouse up to the title area of the other Content Panel to make it the active Panel and release. IF YOU MAKE A MISTAKE before you do anything, then Comand/Control-z and you'll be good.

Note also that extra Content Panels can be placed and/or moved to any other location in the Bridge window.

I hope this explains some of the new workflows available to you.