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Question

INVALID BUG - WAS: Bridge hangs when launching into a path with period in the name

Forum|Forum|3 months ago
November 16, 2025
5 replies
129 views

UPDATE: INVALID BUG. The conclusion about periods in the directory names creates the trouble I have, seems to be wrong. There's still a problem with my setup, but it looks like I found a better workaround than clearing cache on every start of Bridge. See my comment.

ORIGINAL POST:

For years I have been swearing about having to press Ctrl-Alt-Shift every time I launched Bridge, because if I didn't choose to clear cache when launching Bridge, it would hang shortly after.

I have tried doing a complete CC reinstall and many other experiments. Nothing solved the problem until I just got the idea of changing the name of my directories...

I have had my images organized in subfolders under main-folders named "pictures.incoming" and "pictures.archive" (on a secondary drive - don't know if that also makes a difference). I just got the idea of changing the folder names to "pictures-incoming" and "pictures-archive". And hallelujah, it solved the problem!

But Adobe, it should really work with periods in the names too, shouldn't it?

Windows 11 Pro 23H2. Several versions of Bridge, incl. latest Bridge 2026.

Windows

Stig NAuthor

Participating Frequently

Sorry a bit more than a day to return with an update. It looks like my previous conclusions were wrong. Removing periods in directory names didn't solve anything. I don't know why it suddenly worked for a short period, by I'm back to consistent freeze when opening Adobe Bridge unless I do a Ctrl-Alt-Shift at startup to clear cache... OR UNLESS I make sure that Bridge opens in my Windows default Pictures directory. I have no idea why it likes that better than other directories, but apparently it does.

One way to make sure Adobe opens in the default Windows Picture directory is to return to that directory before closing down Bridge. But in practice that is "impossible" to remember doing every time. Luckily I found another way. I have edited the Adobe Bridge shortcut to include the path to my standard pictures direcory as a parameter in the target. This makes Bridge start in that directory, and that apparently fixes my freeze problem:

Target: "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Bridge 2026\Adobe Bridge.exe" "D:\Pictures"

Since clearing cache or changing start-directory can prevent the freeze, I'm guessing problem is somehow related to file-structure/naming/content or to hardware or configuration of my drives. But I have no idea of what differs content of "D:\Pictures" from content of "E:\Pictures-incoming". My drives hardware and setup:

C-drive: Samsung SSD 960 PRO 512GB (PCIe Gen. 3 x 4)
D-drive: Samsung SSD 960 EVO 500GB (PCIe Gen. 3 x 2)
E-drive: WDC WD6002FZWX-00GBG0 (SATA 3 AHCI)

Windows and Adobe software is installed on C-drive.
My standard Windows Pictures directory I have located on the D-drive (I moved the location from default install location on C).
My big photos collection is however on the E-drive, including photos in subfolders of E:\Pictures-incoming.

PS. I will edit the original post to warn about its misleading content/conclusions. And maybe I should open a new thread/bug to discuss the problem without all the confusion in this thread?

D Fosse

Community Expert

OK. Like you I have a handful of internal drives in the box, some NVMes, some high capacity spinning HDs (10 - 20 TB). Bridge opens to whatever directory it was last closed in, no problems in any of them.

However - I'm getting to a point eventually, so bear with me - we also have a company server, which I'm copying my finished master files on to (for the rest of the organization). And indeed, the only times I have have issues similar to what you're describing, with freezing and crashing, is when Bridge tried to open directly to that server location. So if I do use Bridge to access the server, I'm always very careful to go back to local folders before I close Bridge. That's just a basic precaution now. I don't really consider this a "Bridge problem" - server configurations are shrouded in so many layers of potential problems that I always approach it with caution.

The point is - folder access is likely playing a part here. So maybe there is a basic issue with that particular drive, maybe on OS level, SATA driver, something like that. If a particular drive is problematic while others are not, I'd replace that drive ASAP.

Stig NAuthor

Participating Frequently

Just had it hanging again 😕😕

So maybe not related to periods in path-names afterall? But just saw I also had a period in the name of cache-location for Bridge and Camera Raw. Changing that too now.

Will update here tomorrow when I have a picture of periods being related to my problem or not.

D Fosse

Community Expert

Just err on the cautious side and don't do it. Period and a few others are still officially reserved system characters.

It depends on circumstances. Mostly you'll get away with it, but occasionally it causes problems.

Stig NAuthor

Participating Frequently

Well, yes I remember the recommendations to avoid periods (and blanks, was it even possible to use blanks back then?) back from DOS and early Windows days. A remain from the FAT 8.3 naming convention I guess.

But so many years later, I would think every program should be able to handle any valid folder names on modern filesystems (NTFS in my case), including names with blanks and periods. But maybe I'm wrong?

D Fosse

Community Expert

It has always been recommended to not use period in file names or paths in Windows. Use underscore.

In my 20 TB archive there isn't a period anywhere, and that's deliberate.

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