Okay. Apologies if this has been previously answered, but here's my first question: How many files are in the folder which is automatically previewed when you start Bridge? More general comments: If I select a view which previews a lot of images, the thing which takes longest for me is thumbnail generation. There is a known bug in Camera Raw which causes Bridge to rebuild thumbnails every time the Content panel gets focus, but this only happens with photos which use Lens Profile Correction. For example, if I have Bridge set to view about 700 photos on entry, about 5–15% of the thumbnails will be generated every time. The problem started with ACR 6.1. The original problem was fixed in ACR 8.2, but a much nastier version was introduced with ACR 7.3, and it is still present. [Related to your comments on how widespread your speed problem is, the 6.1+ thumbnail regeneration problem affected a minority of users, and was actually a Camera Raw bug. Anyone not using Lens Profile Corrections with max crops (i.e. quite a lot of people) would never see the problem. This didn't mean that it didn't exist, but it meant that it was much harder to reproduce.] Thumbnail generation DOES NOT affect the time it takes to build the Filter panel criteria, for me. Typically, for large numbers of files, this would take less than 15 seconds, or be almost instantaneous. So, I suspect that your index is the problem. The index lives in a Cache subfolder ('data'). When Bridge first encounters an image, it copies its metadata to its database. In CS6, the Bridge database procedures were rewritten, as the old database system was badly flawed and generated lots of errors. This could be significant to your problem, although I'm not sure how. You say that you moved the thumbnails. Does this mean that you changed the Cache folder location? One trick which sometimes works with cache/index problems is creating a completely new cache/database in a different location. Don't copy the old one, just point it at an empty folder on a (different, if possible) drive which has full permissions and write access and let it build it from scratch. You can always point it back at the old cache later, if it doesn't help. [A note on re-installation: often, reinstalling CS6 will not help, as removal might not actually delete the problem, and it will be re-incorporated on re-installation. There is a utility around which helps. I think it's called something like the Adobe Cleaning Script. I can't remember the name right now. I suspect that even the cleaning script doesn't delete the Bridge Cache, which should be manually removed after uninstalling CS.] You've already identified a few things which slow down Bridge in general. Building 100% previews is one biggie. You could also set it to build HQ previews on demand. Most people don't need to copy automatically cache to image folders. If you've tried this in the past and now switched it off, you will have a lot of .BridgeCache and .BridgeCacheT files cluttering up your drive, taking space. You can safely delete these. Camera Raw defaults can also have a significant effect on performance. Anything noise reduction, lens correction or perspective-related will significantly slow down preview rendering. Some people even prefer to use embedded images for speed, but I personally prefer to see the settings in action. Your personal circumstances will have a bearing on this, depending on how many of your images have settings, and what type of settings these are. Another big problem for Bridge is drive access. Bridge is very OCD and it likes to check your file system every few seconds for changes. If any of your accessible volumes (physical or virtual) have speed, errors or connectivity issues, Bridge will grind to a halt. Network drives, removable drives, 'skydrives', etc. have all been known to cause Bridge to limp hopelessly. There's probably more, but I've got to go now. That should keep you busy for a while.
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