show items from subfolders set as default

[therealgingernob]

I am new to bridge as i have lightroom and it is, and remains my primary app for photo management, however i was looking into what bridge could 'add' to the equation. 

Whilst in some areas the interface adds a great deal, the most annoying 'feature' is that it doesn't show items from subfolders by default and each time you move around the folder tree, it once again 'un-ticks' the 'show items from subfolders' option. my question is WHY?

I have read a couple of posts that in general point to: 'speed of browsing and catalog management'. 

Well my question would be: If lightroom can cope with it, why can't bridge?

whilst trying to avoid sarcasm, i'd need to remind adobe it is 2019, soon 2020. NOT 1982. Our processors are a little faster than an original 80286 processor and our hard drives are somewhat faster, especially using SSD drives. how can they build the functionality and performance into the lightroom classic catalog but can't do the same in a sister product? what significant difference am i missing from this equation?

[Chuck Uebele]

I know you mentioned that our computers are faster, but Bridge is still slow in building the cache to show thumbnails, and it's not like LR, in that you select what you want to import into LR, whereas Bridge shows everything. So if you have an external drive connected, and disconnect it, they bridge will revert to your primary drive on your computer. Do you really want to wait for Bridge to build a cache thumnail preview for everything on your main drive? You might find that navigating in Bridge would become a nightmare if it showed all subdirectories.

[therealgingernob]

hi

thats why i ask the relevant question, why does bridge use a cache where lightroom uses a formal database which is extremely fast in access aswell as the creation of the cached thumnails and preview files running in the background. there is absolutely no reason why bridge can't work in the same way as lightroom classic. in fact i see no reason why they can not be designed to share the same catalog and cached thumnails and preview files. bridge would become (what it my view it should be) just a different front-end to access the single database, providing more advanced analysis with a more sophisticated user interface that lightroom doesn't (and should'nt have) as it would detract from lightrooms primary purpose. the fact that this 'mergeing' of the catalog and cache would be extremely beneficial in my opinion.

[fotoHans]

Good point therealgingernob!
I am in about the same situation as you. I use lightroom and I was looking to see what bridge can 'add' to the equation.
And indeed, everytime a different subfolder is opened, the 'show items from subfolders' menu item is disabled... So I enable the menu item and the computer starts re-indexing again. Very strange.
If I want to find all the pictures with a certain keyword, I need to search all the subfolders. These keywords should be stored in the cache. So next time I look at the directory I can easily find all the keywords. When it needs to re-index all files every time a subfolder is opened, where is the cache for?

[Beachcolonist]

I don't see therealgingernob's point as good, he seems to not appreciate or perhaps know how to use Bridge to it's full potential. If his only issue is that it does not retain "show all from subfolders" when browsing the folder tree, he really doesn't have a problem. Bridge is for LOOKING AT your assets and CULLING them via ratings systems and labels and selection/rejection. This is an editing process, and it is done superbly quickly in Bridge at full screen with it's full size previews that let you see full detail. It presents images correctly and dynamically for a client's examination. I've never seen a use for Lightroom personally, I suppose wedding guys might like it.

[therealgingernob]

wow, a reply to a december 2019 post. your response times are not so dissimilar to bridge!!

I'm just playing with you, look its horses for courses. we have opposing views. you can't see the point in lightroom (..suppose wedding guys might like it - hahaha funny), yes professional photographers use it as we understand the product and get value from it. i guess amatuer photographers wouldn't see those benefits.

I ditched bridge as it gave me no additional value. i really liked the extent to which it can search through keywords and would value that piece of the UI being added to lightroom but i accept they are 2 distinct products and the likelyhood of product merging is slimmer than a slim thing, hence i ditched itfor now.

Anyway thanks for the long awaited reply, much appreciated.

[Beachcolonist]

It was not a reply to you.

[El_danes]

I too was loosing my little hair left so this script was what viagra is for erective dysfunction.

[Chuck Uebele]

I don't know why Bridge uses a cache rather than a data base, other than Bridge is designed more as a browser for all Adobe apps, not just images. It will attempt to show thumbnails from any file that it can, even some Microsoft formats like excel and PowerPoint. So Bridge would have to build a database for all those files, and become huge, as it wouldn't be user defined, but would be everything on your computer. To delete things from the LR database, you have to do that through LR. If you delete a file outside of LR, it remains in the database, until you resolve the conflict. I I can't imagine the nightmare of either having to use Bridge as your main browser to delete all files, or the processing time it would take for Bridge to update what files have been deleted, then update it's database. In thi regard, a cache makes more sense, and even with the cache, Bridge often needs to purge seldom used folders to maintain some form of decent performance. 

[Asgatoril]

I don't know if this is still relevant, but I came across the same problem and wrote a script to fix it.
It adds a new button "Always show Items from Subfolders" which will keep the subdirectory traversal activated.

You can get it here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JLpW0wofTHvnv5qX0YnfGXdHl-JClm_c/view?usp=sharing

Just go to Preferences -> Startup Scripts -> Reveal my Startup Scripts, put the script in that folder and restart Bridge.

If you don't get a popup to enable it at the next start, go again to Preferences -> Startup Scripts, check the Script "AlwaysFlatViewSetting" and restart Bridge.

I also uploaded it to Adobe Exchange. It is still pending though and I don't know if it will get approved.

[Lumigraphics]

I wrote a script to do this which had crashing problems. Adobe fixed the bug I filed, so your script may or may not work on slightly older versions of Bridge.

[vsbastosx]

Actually, the plug in is not working because you need to select view items in subfolder everytime you start Bridge. It does not make the change permanent. Thanks anyway. 

[vsbastosx]

Thanks a lot for your script. I was able to install it and it works perfectly. Cheers!

[Lumigraphics]

Your script does the same thing mine did, and mine constantly crashed a few Bridge versions ago. Adobe apparently frixed whatever the crashing bug was with this.

[Clam]

This works for me.  Thanks for saving me many clicks!

[perrys66330087]

you rock! thanks for sharing. makes bridge that much less painful. 

[adrian_hudson]

Thank you very much indeed for this script! Bridge was driving me nuts without it!

[waywardyogi]

Great script. Thank you.

[Nick21994766e8gn]

Thank you so much Asgatoril.

Works a treat!

[RainbowGraphics118]

thank you for this!

[Guest]

It doesn't work for me with Bridge 2022. It add to the VIEW menu but is not checked & won't remain checked.

[Lumigraphics]

See if my script works - save it as PLAIN TEXT with .jsx file extension and save to Bridge Startup Scripts folder:

/*
Utility Pack Scripts created by David M. Converse ©2018-21

This script sets Show items in Subfolders when entering a new folder

Last modified 7/9/2021

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at

    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.
*/
#target bridge
if(BridgeTalk.appName == 'bridge'){
    var ViewSubfolders = MenuElement.create('command', 'Always Show Subfolders', 'at the end of Tools'); //create new menu command
    ViewSubfolders.canBeChecked = true;
    var siEvent = false;
    var siMenu = MenuElement.find('FlatView');

    ViewSubfolders.onSelect = function(){
        try{
            if(ViewSubfolders.checked == true){
                ViewSubfolders.checked = false;
                siMenu.checked = false;
                }
            else{
                ViewSubfolders.checked = true;
                siMenu.checked = true;
                }
            if(siEvent == false){
                app.eventHandlers.push({handler: siDocument});
                siEvent = true;
                }
            function siDocument(event){
                if(event.object instanceof Document && event.type == 'selectionsChanged' && ViewSubfolders.checked == true){
                    app.scheduleTask('siMenu.checked = true', 30, false);
                    return{handled:false};
                    }
                }
            }
        catch(e){
            alert(e + ' ' + e.line);
            }
        }
    }

[Guest]

Sorry no, it does not work and it does not show in the VIEW mnu as the other one did. When I restarted it asked me if I want to activate it so it seems like it loaded up.

[Lumigraphics]

Maybe you should look in the Tools menu, since that's where I placed the menu item.

   var ViewSubfolders = MenuElement.create('command', 'Always Show Subfolders', 'at the end of Tools'); //create new menu command

[Guest]

Tried it again. If I tick it in the tools menu it remains ticked when changing folders etc. When I close & restart it is unticked. That is much better if I only have to tick once unless it is easy to set it to start ticked. Thanks for that.