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Lesson 3: Taking Advantage of Adobe Bridge
Adobe Bridge is the command center of the Creative Suite. In Adobe Bridge, you can manage and organize your files, utilize and modify XMP metadata for faster searches, and quickly preview files before opening them.
What you’ll learn in this lesson:
• Navigating Adobe Bridge
• Using folders in Bridge
• Making a favorite
• Creating metadata
• Using automated tools
Starting up
Before starting, make sure that your tools and panels are consistent by resetting your preferences. See “Resetting Adobe Photoshop CS6 preferences” in the Starting Up section of this book.
You will work with several files from the ps03lessons folder in this lesson. Make sure that you have loaded the pslessons folder onto your hard drive from www.digitalclassroombooks.com/epub/photoshopcs6. See “Loading lesson files” in the Starting Up section of this book.
What is Adobe Bridge?
Adobe Bridge is an application included with Adobe Photoshop and the other Adobe Creative Suite 6 components. Adobe Bridge helps you locate, organize, and browse the documents you need to create print, web, video, and audio content. If you have Photoshop or any one of the Creative Suite applications, you can start Adobe Bridge selecting File > Browse in Bridge.
This lesson covers the functionality of the complete Bridge application, not the Mini Bridge that is available as a panel in your Photoshop workspace.
You can use Bridge to access documents such as images, text files, and even non-Adobe documents, such as Microsoft Word or Excel files. Using Adobe Bridge, you can also organize and manage images, videos, and audio files, as well as preview, search, and sort your files without opening them in their native applications.
Once you discover the capabilities of Adobe Bridge, you’ll want to make it the control center for your Photoshop projects. With Bridge, you can easily locate files using the Filters panel and import images from your digital camera right into a viewing area that allows you to quickly rename and preview your files. This is why the recommended workflow throughout this book includes opening and saving files in Adobe Bridge. Reading through this lesson will help you to feel more comfortable with Adobe Bridge, and will also make you aware of some of the more advanced features that are available to you for your own projects.
Adobe Bridge contains additional features when installed as part of one of the Creative Suites. The tools and features demonstrated in this lesson are available in both the single-product install and the Suite install, unless otherwise noted.
Navigating through Bridge
In order to utilize Adobe Bridge effectively, you’ll want to know the available tools and how to access them. Let’s start navigating!
1 From Photoshop CS6 choose File > Browse in Bridge to launch the Adobe Bridge application. If you receive a dialog box asking if you want Adobe Bridge to launch at start-up, select Yes.
2 Click on the Favorites panel to make sure it is forward. Click on Desktop (listed in the Folders panel). You see the ps03lessons folder that you downloaded to your hard drive. Double-click on the ps03lessons folder and notice that the contents of that folder are displayed in the Content panel, in the center of the Adobe Bridge window. You can also navigate by clicking on folders listed in the Path bar that is located in the upper-left corner of the content window.
You can view folder contents by double-clicking on a folder, or by selecting the folder in the Path bar.
In this folder, you see a variety of file types, including Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Acrobat, and video files. These files came from istockphoto.com and many still have their default names.
You can navigate through your navigation history by clicking on the Go back and Go forward arrows in the upper-left corner of the window. Use the handy Reveal recent file or go to Reveal recent file or go to recent folder drop-down menu (
) to find folders and files that you recently opened. Note that there are also helpful navigational tools that allow you to quickly return to Photoshop, load photos from a camera, and flip your images.
) to find folders and files that you recently opened. Note that there are also helpful navigational tools that allow you to quickly return to Photoshop, load photos from a camera, and flip your images.
3 Click on the Go back arrow (
) to return to the desktop view.
) to return to the desktop view.
A. Go back. B. Go forward. C. Go to parent or Favorites. D. Reveal recent file or go to recent folder. E. Return to Adobe Photoshop. F. Get Photos From Camera.G. Refine. H. Camera Raw. I. Output. J. Rotate 90° counterclockwise. K. Rotate 90° clockwise. L. Path bar.
This example may show the file path to the ps03lessons folder differently than your example because this desktop is referencing a folder on a particular user’s desktop.
4 Click on the Go forward arrow (
) to return to the last view, which is the ps03lessons folder.
) to return to the last view, which is the ps03lessons folder.
Using folders in Adobe Bridge
Adobe Bridge is used for more than just navigating your file system. Bridge is also used to manage and organize folders and files.
1 Click on the tab of the Favorites panel in the upper-left corner of the Bridge window to make sure it is still forward. Then click on the arrow to the left of Desktop so that it turns downward and reveals its contents. If you are on the Mac OS, you can simply click on Desktop to reveal the contents.
2 Click on Computer to reveal its contents in the center pane of the Bridge window. Continue to double-click on items, or click on the arrows to the left of the folder names in the Folder panel, to reveal their contents.
You can use Adobe Bridge to navigate your entire system, much as you would by using your computer’s directory system.
3 Click on Desktop in the Folders panel to reveal its contents again.
4 Click on ps03lessons to view its contents. You’ll now add a new folder into that lessons folder.
5 Click on the Create a New Folder icon (
) in the upper-right corner of the Bridge window to create a new untitled folder inside the ps03lessons folder. Type the name Graphics.
) in the upper-right corner of the Bridge window to create a new untitled folder inside the ps03lessons folder. Type the name Graphics.
Creating a new folder in Bridge.
You can use Adobe Bridge to organize images. Since you are able to see a preview of each file, you can more easily rename them, as well as relocate them to more appropriate locations in your directory system. In the next step, you will move files from one folder to the new Graphics folder you have just created.
6 Click once on the image named boy_skateboard.ai, and then Shift+click on the image named flipit.ai. Both images are selected.
You can easily reduce and enlarge the size of your thumbnails by pressing Ctrl+plus sign or Ctrl+minus sign in Windows or Command+plus sign or Command+minus sign in Mac OS.
7 Click and drag the selected images to the Graphics folder. When the folder becomes highlighted, release the mouse. The files have now been moved into that folder.
You can select multiple images and organize folders directly in Adobe Bridge.
8 Double-click on the Graphics folder to view its contents. You see the boy_skateboard and the flipit Adobe Illustrator (.ai) files that you moved.
9 Click on ps03lessons in the file path bar at the top to return to the ps03lessons folder content.
Making a Favorite
As you work in Photoshop, you will find that you frequently access the same folders. One of the many great features in Bridge is that you can designate a frequently used folder as a Favorite, allowing you to quickly and easily access it from the Favorites panel. This is extremely helpful, especially if the folders that you are frequently accessing are stored deep in your file hierarchy.
1 Select the Favorites panel in the upper-left corner of the Bridge window to bring it to the front. In the list of Favorites, click on Desktop. Double-click on the ps03lessons folder to see the skateboarding images. Since the Graphics folder is going to be used again in this lesson, you’ll make it a Favorite.
2 Place your cursor over the Graphics folder in the center pane (Content), and click and drag the Graphics folder until you see a horizontal line appear in the Favorites panel. Be careful not to drag this folder into a folder (highlighted with a blue box) in the Favorites panel. When a cursor with a plus sign (
) appears, release the mouse. On the Mac OS you will see a circle with a plus sign. The folder is now listed as a Favorite.
) appears, release the mouse. On the Mac OS you will see a circle with a plus sign. The folder is now listed as a Favorite.
Drag a folder to the bottom of the Favorites panel to make it easier to locate.
3 Click on the Graphics folder shown in the Favorites panel to view its contents. Note that creating a Favorite simply creates a shortcut for quick access to a folder; it does not copy the folder and its contents.
4 When you are finished looking inside the Graphics folder, press the Go back arrow to return to the ps03lessons folder.
If your Favorite is created from a folder on an external hard drive or server, you will need to have the hard drive or server mounted in order to access it.
Creating and locating metadata
Metadata is information that can be stored with images. This information travels with the file, and makes it easy to search for and identify the file. In this section, you are going to find out how to locate and create metadata.
1 Make sure that you are viewing the contents of the ps03lessons folder in the center pane of Adobe Bridge. If not, navigate to that folder now.
2 Choose Window > Workspace > Reset Standard Workspaces. This ensures that you are in the Essentials view and that all the default panels for Adobe Bridge are visible. Alternatively, you can click Essentials in the Application bar at the top-right of the Bridge workspace. You may need to maximize your Bridge window after you reset the workspace.
Note that if you click on the arrow to the right of the workspace presets, you can choose other workspaces, and even save your own custom workspace.
Resetting the workspace using the Workspace drop-down menu.
3 Click once on iStock_1771975.jpg, and look for the Metadata and Keywords panels in the lower-right area of the Adobe Bridge workspace.
4 If the Metadata panel is not visible, click on the Metadata panel tab. In this panel, you see the image data that is stored with the file. Take a few moments to scroll through the data and view the information that was imported from the digital camera which was used to take the photo.
Click and drag the bar to the left of the Metadata panel farther to the left if you need to open up the window.
5 If necessary, click on the arrow to the left of IPTC Core to reveal its contents. IPTC Core is the schema for XMP that provides a smooth and explicit transfer of metadata. Adobe’s Extensible Metadata Platform (XMP) is a labeling technology that allows you to embed data about a file, known as metadata, into the file itself. With XMP, desktop applications and back-end publishing systems gain a common method for capturing and sharing, valuable metadata.
6 On the right side of this list, notice a series of pencil icons. The pencil icons indicate that you can enter information in these fields. Some of the information about the creator has already been included, such as the creator’s name and his location. You will add additional information.
If you are not able to edit or add metadata information to a file, it may be locked. Right-click on the file (in Adobe Bridge) and choose Reveal in Explorer (Windows) or Reveal in Finder (Mac OS). In Windows, right-click on the file, choose Properties, and uncheck Read-only; in Mac OS, right-click on the file, choose Get Info, then change the Ownership (Sharing) and Permissions to Read and Write.
7 Scroll down until you can see Description Writer, and click on the pencil next to it. All editable fields are highlighted, and a cursor appears in the Description Writer field.
8 Type your name, or type Student.
9 Scroll up to locate the Description text field. Click on the Pencil icon to the right and type Skateboarder catching air, to add a description for the image.
Reveal the IPTC contents and enter metadata information.
10 Click on the Apply button (
), located in the bottom-right corner of the Metadata panel, to apply your changes. You have now edited metadata that is attached to the image, information that will appear whenever someone opens your image in Bridge or views the image information in Adobe Photoshop, using File > File Info.
), located in the bottom-right corner of the Metadata panel, to apply your changes. You have now edited metadata that is attached to the image, information that will appear whenever someone opens your image in Bridge or views the image information in Adobe Photoshop, using File > File Info.
Using keywords
Keywords can reduce the amount of time it takes to find an image on a computer, by using logical words to help users locate images more quickly.
1 Click on the Keywords tab, which appears behind the Metadata panel. A list of commonly used keywords appears.
2 Click on the New Keyword button (
) at the bottom of the Keywords panel. Type Skateboarder into the active text field, and then press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS).
) at the bottom of the Keywords panel. Type Skateboarder into the active text field, and then press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS).
3 Check the empty checkbox to the left of the Skateboarder keyword. This adds the Skateboarder keyword to the selected image.
4 With the Skateboarder keyword still selected, click on the New Sub Keyword button (
). Type Male into the active text field, then press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS).
). Type Male into the active text field, then press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS).
5 Check the empty checkbox to the left of the Male keyword. You have now assigned a keyword and a sub keyword to the iStock_1771975.jpg image.
6 Select the Skateboarder keyword, and then click on the New Keyword button (
) at the bottom of the Keywords panel; a blank text field appears. Type Sunset and press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS). Then check the checkbox next to Sunset to assign the keyword to this image.
) at the bottom of the Keywords panel; a blank text field appears. Type Sunset and press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS). Then check the checkbox next to Sunset to assign the keyword to this image.
7 Right-click (Windows) or Ctrl+click (Mac OS) on the Sunset keyword, and choose the option Rename. When the text field becomes highlighted, type Orange, press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS). Make sure the Orange checkbox remains checked.
A. New Sub Keyword. B. New Keyword. C. Delete Keyword.
You can also enter information directly into the image by opening the image in Adobe Photoshop, and then choosing File > File Info. The categories that appear on the top include Description, Camera Data, IPTC, and IPTC Extension, among others. Once it is entered in the File Info dialog box, the information is visible in Adobe Bridge.
Creating a Metadata Template
Once you have added metadata to an image, you can easily apply it to more by creating a metadata template. In this exercise, you apply the metadata template from the iStock_1771975.jpg image to some others in the same folder.
1 Make sure that iStock_1771975.jpg is selected in Adobe Bridge.
2 Choose Tools > Create Metadata Template. The Create Metadata Template window appears.
3 In the Template Name text field (at the top), type Sunset Skateboarders.
In the Create Metadata Template window, you can choose the information that you want to build into a template. In this exercise, we will choose information that already exists in the selected file, but if you wanted to, you could add or edit information at this point.
4 Check the Checkboxes to the left of the following categories; Creator, Creator: City, Creator: State/Province, Description, Keywords, and Description Writer, then press Save.
Select a file and check the information you want to save into a metadata template.
You have just saved a template. Next, you will apply it to the other two sunset images in this folder.
5 Select the iStock_1771975.jpg image, press and hold the Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS) key, and select the iStock_10135568.jpg image. Both images are selected.
6 Choose Tools > Append Metadata and select Sunset Skateboarders. Note that you can also choose Replace Metadata if you want to eliminate existing metadata. The same metadata has now been applied to all the images at once.
Choose the metadata template you want to use to add metadata to an image or images.
Opening a file from Adobe Bridge
Opening files from Adobe Bridge is a great way to begin the work process in Adobe Photoshop. Not only is it very visual, but important data stored with the files also makes it easier to locate the correct file.
1 In the ps03lessons folder double-click on iStock_10138490.jpg to open the file in Adobe Photoshop.
Sometimes you will find that double-clicking on a file opens it in a different application than expected. This can happen if you are working in generic file formats such as JPEG and GIF. To avoid this problem, you can right-click (Windows) or Ctrl+click (Mac OS) on the image, and choose Open With to select the appropriate application.
2 Choose File > Close and then select File > Browse in Bridge to return to Adobe Bridge.
3 You can also click once to select an image and then choose File > Open, or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+O (Windows) or Command+O (Mac OS).
Searching for files using Adobe Bridge
Find the files that you want quickly and easily by using the Search tools built directly into Adobe Bridge, and taking advantage of the Filter panel.
In this example, you have a limited number of files to search within, but you will have the opportunity to see how helpful these search features can be.
Searching by name or keyword
What’s the benefit of adding all this metadata if you can’t use it to find your files later? Using the Find dialog box in Adobe Bridge, you can narrow your criteria down to make it easy to find your files when needed.
1 Make sure that you are still viewing the content in the ps03lessons folder.
2 Choose Edit > Find, or use the keyboard shortcut, Ctrl+F (Windows) or Command+F (Mac OS). The Find dialog box appears.
3 Select Keywords from the Criteria drop-down menu, and type Skateboarder into the third text field (replacing Enter Text.) Then press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS). Because you are looking within the active folder only, you get a result immediately. The image files iStock_1771975.jpg, iStock_10138490.jpg, iStock_10138506.jpg and iStock_10135568.jpg, appear.
Search your folders using the tools built right into Adobe Bridge.
4 Clear the search by pressing the X icon (
) to the right of the New Search icon at the top of the results pane.
) to the right of the New Search icon at the top of the results pane.
Using the Filter panel
If you have ever been in the position where you knew you put a file into a folder, but just couldn’t seem to find it, you will love the Filter panel.
Using the Filter panel, you can look at attributes such as file type, keywords, and date created or modified, in order to narrow down the files that appear in the content window of Adobe Bridge.
1 Make sure that you are still viewing the content of the ps03lessons folder. Notice that the Filter panel collects the information from the active folder, indicating the keywords that are being used, as well as modification dates and more.
2 Click to turn down the arrow next to Keywords in the Filter panel, and select Skateboarder from the list to see that only images with the Skateboarder keyword applied are visible. Click on Skateboarder again to deselect it and view all the images.
Find files quickly by selecting different criteria in the Filters panel.
3 Click the Clear filter button (
) in the lower-right of the Filter panel to turn off any filters.
) in the lower-right of the Filter panel to turn off any filters.
4 Experiment with investigating file types as well. Only file types that exist in the selected folder appear in the list. If you are looking for an Adobe Illustrator file, you may see that there are none located in this folder, but you will see a QuickTime video file that you can select and preview right in Adobe Bridge.
You can select File Types from the Filter panel to locate them easily.
5 Again, click the Clear filter button (
) in the lower-right of the Filter panel to turn off any filters.
) in the lower-right of the Filter panel to turn off any filters.
Saving a Collection
If you like using Favorites, you’ll love using Collections. A Collection allows you to take images from multiple locations and access them in one central location. Understand that Adobe Bridge essentially creates a shortcut (or alias) to your files and does not physically relocate them or copy them to a different location.
1 If your Collections tab is not visible, Choose Window > Collections Panel or click on the tab next to Filter. The Collections panel comes forward.
2 Click the gray area in the content pane to make sure that nothing is selected, and then click the New Collection button in the lower-right of the Collections panel. Type Redmond Skateboarding into the new collection text field. Press Return or Enter to confirm your new collection.
Create a new Redmond Skateboarding collection.
3 Navigate back to the ps03lessons folder, and then take two random skateboarding images and drag them to the Redmond Skateboarding collection. In this example, the two images of the girl skateboarding were selected.
4 Click on the Redmond Skateboarding collection folder to see that even though you can easily access the files that you added to the collection, the files remain intact in their original location.
A collection helps you to organize files without moving them to new locations.
Automation tools in Adobe Bridge
Adobe Bridge provides many tools to help you automate tasks. In this section, you will learn how to access and take advantage of some of these features.
Batch renaming your files
You may have noticed that in the ps03lessons file there are many files that contain iStock in the filename. These images were downloaded fromiStockphoto.com, and instead of changing the names immediately we have opted to change them simultaneously using the batch rename feature in Adobe Bridge.
1 Press the Go back arrow (
) in the upper-left of the Adobe Bridge window to go back to the ps03lessons folder.
) in the upper-left of the Adobe Bridge window to go back to the ps03lessons folder.
2 Choose Edit > Select All, or press Ctrl+A (Windows) or Command+A (Mac OS.) All the images are selected. Don’t worry if the Graphics folder is selected; the files inside will not be affected.
3 Choose Tools > Batch Rename. The Batch Rename dialog box appears.
In this instance we want a simple uncomplicated name. If you look in the Preview section at the bottom of the Batch Rename dialog box, you can see that the Current filename and New filename are pretty long strings of text and numbers. You will simplify this by eliminating some of text from the filenames.
4 In the New Filenames section, type Skateboard in the text field to the right of default criteria of Text.
5 In the Sequence Number row, verify that it is set to Two Digits.
6 Confirm that the sequence number is starting at 1. You can start it anywhere if you are adding additional images to a folder later.
7 If there is any other criteria, click on the Minus sign button (
) (Remove this text from the file names) to remove them. The New filename in the Preview section becomes significantly shorter.
) (Remove this text from the file names) to remove them. The New filename in the Preview section becomes significantly shorter.
You can change multiple files names simultaneously in Adobe Bridge.
If you look in the Preview section at the bottom of the dialog box, you can see that the new filename is a very simple Skateboard01.jpg now. Press the Rename button. All the selected files automatically have their name changed.
The content pane after the images were renamed.
Additional Photoshop Tools
Adobe Bridge comes with a variety of Photoshop tools that you can use in Bridge as well. In this example, you will select three images that you want to incorporate into one composited image. Instead of opening all three images and cutting and pasting or dragging them into one file, you will use the Load Files into Photoshop layers feature.
Make sure that you are still in the ps03lessons folder; select the Skateboard03.jpg, and then Shift+click the Skateboard05.jpg image. All three images are selected.
Select the Tools menu item and then select Photoshop. Note that there are many tools that you can use in this menu item; for this example, select the Load Files into Photoshop Layers option. A script immediately launches Photoshop (if it is not already open) and a new layered file is created from the selected images.
You should ensure that your selected images are approximately the same pixel dimensions before running this script; otherwise, you may have to make some transformation adjustments in Photoshop. In this example, the images are approximately the same size.
Select multiple files in Adobe Bridge and open them in one layered file.
The result is three layers in one Photoshop file.
Automated tools for Photoshop: Web Photo Gallery
If you want to share images online, you can use the Web Photo Gallery, which creates a web site that features a home page with thumbnail images and gallery pages with full-size images. You select the images you want to include in the site and Adobe Bridge does the rest, from automatically creating navigation images, like arrows, links, and buttons, to creating Flash files. This is a fun feature that you can take advantage of quickly, even if you have no coding experience. If you have coding experience, or if you want to edit the pages further, you can open the pages in Adobe Dreamweaver or any other HTML editor to customize them.
1 Make sure that you are viewing the contents of the ps03lessons folder, and press Ctrl+A (Windows) or Command+A (Mac OS) to select all the images.
You can leave the Graphics folder selected, you will receive a warning that some of the selected files are not supported image files, but it will not cause any errors.
2 Click and hold down on the Output drop-down menu located in the upper-right of the Application bar, and choose Output; the workspace changes to reveal an Output panel on the right.
If you cannot see all the options in the Output panel, click and drag the vertical bar to the left of the panel to increase its size.
3 Press the Web Gallery button at the top of the Output panel.
4 Click and hold on the Template drop-down menu, and choose HTML Gallery. As you can see, there are a lot of options to choose from, including Lightroom Flash Galleries, and Airtight viewers.
5 For this example, you will keep it simple. From the Style drop-down menu, if it’s not already visible, choose Lightroom.
6 In the Site Info section of the Output panel, type a title in the Gallery Title text field; for this example, you can type Redmond Skate Park.
7 You can also add photograph captions if you like, as well as text in the About This Gallery text field, to include more information. In this example, those are left at their defaults.
8 Using the scroll bar to the right of the Site Info section, click and drag to scroll down through the rest of the options. Note that you can add additional contact information, and define colors that you want to use for different objects on the page, including text.
Select the template and any other customized options in the Output panel.
9 Press the Preview in Browser button that is located in the upper-half of the Output panel; your website is automatically created.
Note that because the Graphics folder and a video are selected, you will get a warning that some of the files are not supported image types, Press OK. You may also receive An ActiveX warning; instruct the browser to Allow blocked content so your browser can preview your website.
The completed website, using Web Gallery.
10 The preview is in a browser window. Close the browser before you move to the next part of this lesson.
Saving or uploading your Web Gallery
So now you have an incredible Web Gallery, but what do you do with it? The Web Photo Gallery feature creates an index page, individual gallery pages, and images, and so you need someplace to put them. You have a couple options available if you click the scroll bar to the right of Site Info and drag down until you see the option under Create Gallery for Gallery Name. Note that you can choose to save your Gallery to a location on your hard drive, or input the FTP login information directly in Adobe Bridge to upload your file directly to a server. In this example, you will save the Web Gallery to your ps03lessons folder.
1 Scroll down in the Output panel until you see the Create Gallery section.
Click the Browse button to the right of Save Location. Navigate to the ps03lessons folder on your desktop, and click OK.
Choose where you want to save your web gallery.
2 Click on the Save button at the bottom of the Output panel. A dialog box appears, indicating that you have successfully created a Gallery; press OK.
You have successfully saved your Web Gallery. Use Adobe Bridge to navigate and open the contents of the Adobe Web Gallery folder that was created in the ps03lessons folder. Open the contents to see that your components are neatly organized so that you can open them in your web editor and customize them, or send them to your web site administrator for uploading.
The completed web site, when saved to the hard drive.
Automated tools for Photoshop: PDF contact sheet
By creating a PDF contact sheet, you can assemble a series of images into one file for such purposes as client approval and summaries of folders.
1 To make it easy to select just the images you want, click on Essentials to change the Adobe Bridge workspace back to the defaults. If you do not see the contents of the ps03lessons folder in the content window in Bridge, click on Desktop, and then double-click on the ps03lessons folder. If you stored the lesson files elsewhere, use the navigation tools in Bridge to locate your lesson files.
2 Click on the first skateboarder image you see and then Shift+click on the last, selecting all the skateboarding images, but none of the folders inside the ps03lessons folder.
3 Select Output from the upper-right of the Adobe Bridge workspace.
4 In the Output panel, click on the PDF button, then from the Template drop-down menu, choose 5*8 Contact Sheet.
Choose to create a PDF contact sheet from the Template drop-down menu.
5 In the Document section of the Output panel, choose U.S. Paper from the Page Preset drop-down menu.
Scroll down and notice that you have options for final size, document quality, and even security in the Output panel. You will leave these items at the default and scroll down to the Playback section of this panel. The Playback section allows you to set the initial view of the PDF when it is opened, as well as set the timing and transitions between pages of your PDF.
6 At the bottom of the Output panel check the checkbox to View PDF After Save; then press the Save button. The Save As dialog box appears.
7 In the Save As dialog box, type contact, and then browse to save the file in your ps03lessons folder; press Save.
A Generate PDF Contact Sheet dialog box may appear; press OK. The contact.pdf file is saved in your ps03lessons folder and your contact sheet is launched in Adobe Acrobat for you to view.
8 After examining your contact sheet in Adobe Acrobat, choose File > Close to close the contact.pdf file, and return to Adobe Bridge.
The completed PDF contact sheet.
Changing the view
You can work the way you like by adjusting the look and feel of Adobe Bridge. Changing the view can help you focus on what is important to see in the Content section of the Bridge workspace. Whether you need to focus on content or thumbnails, there is a view that can help you.
1 Before experimenting with the views, make sure that you are in the Essentials workspace by selecting the Essentials button located in the upper-right of the Bridge workspace.
2 Click on the Click to Lock to Thumbnail Grid button (
) in the lower-right corner of the Bridge workspace. The images are organized into a grid.
) in the lower-right corner of the Bridge workspace. The images are organized into a grid.
3 Now click on the View Content as Details button (
) to see a thumbnail and details about creation date, last modified date, and file size.
) to see a thumbnail and details about creation date, last modified date, and file size.
Changing the view of Adobe Bridge.
4 Choose the View Content as List button (
) to see the contents consolidated into a neat list, which you can easily scroll through.
) to see the contents consolidated into a neat list, which you can easily scroll through.
5 Click on the View Content as Thumbnails button (
) to return to the default thumbnail view.
) to return to the default thumbnail view.
6 Experiment with changing the size of the thumbnails in the Content panel by using the slider to the left of the preview buttons. Don’t forget, you can also change the thumbnail size by pressing Ctrl++ (plus sign) or Ctrl+- (minus sign) (Windows) or Command++ (plus sign) or Command+- (minus sign) (Mac OS).
Self study
As you work with Bridge, create some new Favorites of folders that you frequently use. You might also want to practice removing Favorites: highlight the Favorite and choose File > Remove from Favorites. Also, explore creating a PDF slide show when in the Output mode. Experiment with the Playback options in the Output panel by creating a full-screen presentation of the images in the Content panel of Adobe Bridge.
Review
Questions
1 How do you access Photoshop automation features from within Adobe Bridge?
2 Where do you find the metadata for an image, and how do you know if the metadata is editable?
3 Which panel in Adobe Bridge enables you to organize your files on your computer?
4 Which workspace allows you to create Web Galleries, PDF presentations, and contact sheets?
Answers
1 You can access automated tools for Adobe Photoshop by choosing Tools > Photoshop.
2 You find metadata information in the Metadata and Keywords panels in the lower-right corner of the Bridge workspace. Metadata is editable if it has the pencil icon next to it.
3 You can use the Folders panel to organize your files.
4 You must be in the Output workspace to create Web Galleries, PDF presentations, and contact sheets.
