Surely many of us have a large number of photographs stored on our computers. These photos, in the best of cases, will be arranged by folders that will indicate, for example, the date they were taken, the place or the person who appears in them. It is very difficult to organize a collection of photos without software designed specifically for it. Luckily, there are different options that will allow us to do it very easily. And one of them comes from the hand of the creators of Photoshop: Adobe Bridge .
Adobe Bridge is a free program designed to allow users to centralize all their media files in one place. Instead of having to search all of them by different folders, thanks to this program we will be able to locate them more quickly thanks to the categories and its organization system based on tags, keywords and ratings.
Main features
Adobe Bridge acts as a “bridge” between other Adobe programs. Thus, with this program we will be able to view all Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, After Effects and Dimension projects with thumbnails and previews and open any project with any of the above programs without compatibility problems.
This software also allows us to organize our photos using different techniques so that we can have everything organized and always at hand. In addition, thanks to its advanced filter system, we will be able to find what we want very quickly. It also allows us to change the name of our photos in batches to be able to organize them much more precisely and forget about the generic names of the files.
But it is not only used to organize and centralize files created with Adobe programs. This program also helps us import photos from different devices , even in RAW format, and allows us to process them with other components, such as Camera RAW, without the need to process them.
Bridge also helps us “exit” photos . With it we will be able to export photos to different formats through a very simple and intuitive panel. We will be able to export the photos in different formats, and even upload them to Adobe Stock or create a website with a few clicks with our photos thanks to Portfolio.
Organize photos with Adobe Bridge
If we have ever used software to organize and catalog photos before, Adobe Bridge is probably familiar to us. When we install it, and execute it, we can see an interface like the following one.
From there we will be able to explore all the directories on the computer in search of the photos that we have saved on the PC. As soon as we select a folder with photos, or projects from other Adobe programs, we will be able to see a list with the thumbnails of all the photos. And if we select one of them we can see all the properties of it.
Bridge has several sections that, depending on which one we choose, will show us one or another information, and we can see the photos in one way or another. For example, we will be able to see the photos as in a filmstrip, or organized by libraries. Also, if we are thinking of exporting the photos and we want to shape the project, we can have a blank canvas in the “Output” section to compose them as we want.
The “Metadata” and ” Keywords ” sections allow us to explore the photos by filtering by this type of content.
Integration with Photoshop (and other Adobe programs)
If we have other Adobe programs installed on the computer, such as Photoshop, we will be able to open any of the Bridge photos directly with the Adobe program. We will simply have to double click on the photo in question, or its thumbnail, to send it to the editor.
In addition, in the menu at the top we will find a series of additional options and tools that will allow us to make quick edits and corrections using Photoshop .
Download Adobe Bridge for free
Unlike many other Adobe Creative Cloud programs, which require a subscription, Bridge is a free alternative that anyone, even without a subscription, can install on their PC. We can download this program at no cost from this link . The only thing necessary is to have an Adobe account (which we can create for free) to be able to log in and access the download of this program.
Installation and updates are carried out through the Creative Cloud client, so if we have it installed on the PC we don’t have to worry about anything.
Alternatives
If what we want is not to depend so much on Adobe, nor are we going to use their other programs, then we can use one of these characteristics:
XnView MP
A free program that will allow us to view, organize and convert photos very easily. It has several different view modes to explore the photos as best we want, functions to resize, edit or cut, the possibility of making adjustments and allows to process the photos in batches. Broadly speaking, it is very similar to Adobe software, but without integration with the other programs of the company.
This program is free for personal use, and we can download it from this link .
digiKam
Without a doubt, one of the best (if not the best) photo cataloger that we can find in the OpenSource world. This program has a large number of functions and features that make it superior, in every way, to other similar programs. It even has an advanced AI system capable of recognizing faces and ordering photos based on who is in them.
We can download this program from here .
ACDSee Photo Studio
A commercial alternative to the previous two. This program allows us to see, organize and edit all our photos very easily without having to move from one program to another. In addition to allowing us to organize the photos as we want, it has many options that allow us to carry out automatic organization. For example, we can use the metadata of the photos, and even its advanced facial recognition systems.
We can download this software here .
