Where did "Tools" disappear to in Bridge?

[Oliver H Photo]

I should start this post by asking why the hell I'm still using this absolute piece of junk program? Jesus, Adobe is producing nothing but glitch after bug after glitch these days. 

Does anyone know of any genuine alternatives out there? Something that *actually* works? 

To the problem at hand: 

So, after installing the new scripts for Bridge (which I was prompted to do), it reinstalled, and now I have lost "Tools" and therefore "Image Processor" in Bridge. 

Where has this disappeared to, and why (WHY, ADOBE!?!?!?!) does this change with every update?!?!? 

I am not a super technical / computer-literate person, so simple explanations would really help.

Any help would be very much appreciated! 

Thank you.
Oliver

[gary_sc · Accepted solution]

If Photoshop's Tools are not under the Tools menu, it's missing because of either:

1. Your copy of Bridge is not matched to your copy of Photoshop. That is, if you are using Bridge 2022 and Photoshop 2023 when Photoshop is installed, Photoshop looks at the copy of Bridge, and if the two do not match, Photoshop will not install the scripts.
2.  If Photoshop is installed before Bridge, it cannot know that Bridge "may" be installed in the future, so it does not install any of the scripts into Bridge.

To resolve this, be sure you are using paired copies of Bridge and Photoshop, and when installing, be sure to install Bridge BEFORE installing Photoshop. If you've already installed both applications, you'll probably have to uninstall both, then reinstall them in the proper order.

[Pola Gałczyńska]

So this is hilarious. We have to uninstall the newest version of Photoshop, which is recomended by Adobe because Adobe didn't release new version of Bridge.

Thank You Gary for your answer. You think it's enough to wait for the new version of Bridge?

[gary_sc]

That's always up to you. My guess is that Adobe will release a new version of Bridge at MAX (Oct 10-12). That is traditionally when Adobe releases all-new versions of all their software. So, this is a safe guess.

And trust me, the day that Photoshop knows that Bridge is going to be installed "later," is when I run into the forest and hide from everything electronic! :>) In the meantime, I will gladly learn about the order of installation.

[Oliver H Photo]

Thank you Gary. Much appreciated! 

The fix works and now all is good until the program crashes again....

For now, thank you very much!! 

[Andre_27]

That might be the case, but however it all worked fine before the "new script" promt. I used Bridge 2023 and Photoshop Beta 25.0.0 without any issues regarding tools, and now its all messed up, which obviously was caused by that new script thing.

[Regina 7]

It seems as though even when updating Bridge you lose Photoshop> image processor under Tools.  I had both 2023 versions.  Yesterday I did a Bridge update that was supposed to fix 'bugs'.  Today, no image prodessor available.  What an absolute PITA this has become; uninstallin, reinstalling...

[swati1234]

Hi,
Thank you for reaching out with your concern. It looks like you're encountering an issue with the Tools -> Photoshop options missing from Adobe Bridge 2023 after installing the latest Photoshop beta build. We understand how important this functionality is for your workflow. We have internally raised a ticket and tracking that with the Photoshop team.
To address this, here's a workaround that should help resolve the issue:

• Uninstall the current Photoshop 24.x version.
• Reinstall Photoshop 24.x.
• Launch Adobe Bridge.

This should restore the Tools -> Photoshop options in Bridge 2023.
If you're interested in using the Photoshop Beta build, we recommend installing the latest Bridge Beta build (14.0.0.57). This should ensure smooth interoperability between the Photoshop beta build and the updated Bridge beta build.
We appreciate your patience and hope this solution resolves the issue for you.

Best regards,
Bridge Team

[evetaverne]

OMG I was going crazy, but this worked!!! I had a feeling it had something to do with the beta version. But uninstalling the 24 version and reinstalling worked...... Glad I found this.... I believe this was the only detailed answer and completely honest about it being a conflict with beta....TY TY 🙂

[leppix]

So if I uninstall PS 2024, which was updated two days ago to PS 2025 but launches as 2024, do I lose my custon Actions and have to reinstall them?  And how in the hell am I supposed to wait until the middle of October for Adobe to restore the Tools menu functionality in Bridge?

[gary_sc]

Hi, @leppix. No, those files are stored separately than any default components. To make sure those things do not happen, when you uninstall PS (or any Adobe product), all of the components that were installed WITH PS are removed. Any component installed by the user remains. So, for example, if you created an Action. There still will be an Action folder after uninstalling and it will contain the Actions you created. Any default Actions will be removed and replaced with the same files if you reinstall PS.