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Bridge 2023 keywording


Betty LaRue

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I made a post a couple months ago about why when I worked on an image in ACR, it wouldn’t open in PS. Suggestions were made about version, and recently I discovered I had the latest ACR but not the latest, 2023 Bridge. I actually had it on my computer, but it wasn’t in my Mac dock, the older version was. I fixed that.

Yesterday, I went through LR & developed images, then opened & finished in PS. I worked on more later in the day, bypassing LR & developed in ACR/PS and it all worked as it should. Today I opened Bridge to do the keywording. I have always done my keywording in Bridge, always will. What I found, though, was where the old keyword box was, also with a caption box, had been changed to something I imagine is what keywording in LR is like. I hate it. It has hierarchies (I guess, who the heck knows, I sure don’t). There is no caption box.

This whole thing is absolutely foreign to me & I hate it. I had a perfectly smooth way of doing captions & tags all of these years from day one. If it ain’t broke, why fix it?  People who don’t want to tag in LR shouldn’t have the same thing forced upon them in Bridge.

Is there something I’m missing, a way to get “the old” boxes back in Bridge 2023? I poked around for a long time in it & got myself in trouble, almost didn’t get my thumbnails back the way I like. If I hadn’t saved my workplace, I wouldn’t have.
Will I have to bring up the older version of Bridge just for captions & tags? To say I’m chewing nails is an understatement.

Edited by Betty LaRue
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Betty I am perplexed. I have also always keyworded in Bridge but I have never seen a Caption box. I've just clicked about everwhere in Bridge in the new version and can't see one, which is what you are saying. But on older versions?? I enter the caption in Photoshop under File/File Info. I'm very intrigued and would love to see one. 

 

I am afraid I cannot help you because I cannot fathom what you are seeing. My keywords list is as per usual in the latest Bridge version. Except that I lose it almost each time Adobe updates something, so I very regularly export and save my keywords and re-import them when lost. Can you still see your own keywords?

 

What I have noticed in the new version is that they have tinkered with the keywords functionality for sure. The search now drives me crazy.

 

I'm sure some more clued up contributors will chip in. 

 

Edited by gvallee
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I've never used Bridge. What you describe as having hierarchies is the Keyword List in Lightroom. It can be amazingly helpful if you take the time to set it up properly but mine is a mess. Above the Keyword List are three other sections with the top one probably resembling Bridge. Are there any titles with little triangles next to them above what you are seeing? Clicking the triangle opens the section. The other sections are called Keyword Set, Keyword Suggestions and Keyword Tags. It is Keyword Tags that you probably want.

 

Paulette

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1 hour ago, Michael Ventura said:

Betty, I got very frustrated with the newest version of Bridge so I went back to using the 2019 version which is what I used to with my workflow. 

Ahhh. Then you have been used to keywording in Bridge like me, and butted up against what I’m seeing in the latest version. I guess that’s what I’ll have to do, too.

1 hour ago, NYCat said:

Clicking the triangle opens the section. The other sections are called Keyword Set, Keyword Suggestions and Keyword Tags. It is Keyword Tags that you probably want.

 

Paulette

I doubt it, but I’ll look again! 😁

 

 

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7 hours ago, gvallee said:

Betty I am perplexed. I have also always keyworded in Bridge but I have never seen a Caption box. I've just clicked about everwhere in Bridge in the new version and can't see one, which is what you are saying. But on older versions?? I enter the caption once the pix have been uploaded on Alamy under File/Info. I'm very intrigued and would love to see one. 

 

I am afraid I cannot help you because I cannot fathom what you are seeing. My keywords list is as per usual in the latest Bridge version. Except that I lose it almost each time Adobe updates something, so I very regularly export and save my keywords and re-import them when lost. Can you still see your own keywords?

 

What I have noticed in the new version is that they have tinkered with the keywords functionality for sure. The search now drives me crazy.

 

I'm sure some more clued up contributors will chip in. 

Do you have the Adobe plan? From way back when I bought the stand-alone versions, I highlighted an image and to the left was the metadata, along with a keyword box and a caption box & a title box. I learned to leave the title empty, but populated the other two. Then on the subscription, it was the same. All of these years, until now.

I’m comfortable with what I’ve always done & I just want to keep on keepin’ on. The old way, my images are ready to go on sale at upload as is.  I do  click on my most important tags & do Optional of course, but those aren’t necessary to go on sale.

Now, there is no caption & they don’t go on sale without it.

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Since I do some of my keywording in the Image Manager I don't add the caption until I'm finished with everything. Adding the caption can be done last. It gives me a chance to do the supertags and check my accuracy. Not as seamless as your method.

 

Paulette

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Betty, I never knew about Info being available when right clicking, how dim of me! I tried it and it saves me so much time! Thank you so much!


I've done some testing for you, I know it won't help but this is what I have noticed for me. In a nutshell, nothing has changed, all fields previously available are still there.

I have the subscription with all the latest versions of PS/ACR/Bridge. I have just uploaded a batch to Alamy and images are on sale right now without any intervention, so nothing has changed for me.

 

My workflow:

1. Keyword in Bridge using a combination of templates and keywords stored in the hierarchy.

2. Right click and type the caption in the description field (I was previously doing it in Photoshop itself in File/File Info but the fields have not changed). 

3. Open in ACR, make basic corrections

4. Open in Photoshop, make final corrections

5. Convert to Jpegs and upload

6. Images are on sale automatically

 

From what you describe, I gather that perhaps you don't store any keywords in the hierarchy, and that you use templates and delete/add keywords on an ad-hoc basis. That's fine.

The hierarchy feature in Bridge has always been there, probably since the first version. Perhaps your set up did not display it before? I really don't know.

 

Sorry I can't help more. Maybe someone else will know?

 

 

 

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26 minutes ago, gvallee said:

Betty, I never knew about Info being available when right clicking, how dim of me! I tried it and it saves me so much time! Thank you so much!


I've done some testing for you, I know it won't help but this is what I have noticed for me. In a nutshell, nothing has changed, all fields previously available are still there.

I have the subscription with all the latest versions of PS/ACR/Bridge. I have just uploaded a batch to Alamy and images are on sale right now without any intervention, so nothing has changed for me.

 

My workflow:

1. Keyword in Bridge using a combination of templates and keywords stored in the hierarchy.

2. Right click and type the caption in the description field (I was previously doing it in Photoshop itself in File/File Info but the fields have not changed). 

3. Open in ACR, make basic corrections

4. Open in Photoshop, make final corrections

5. Convert to Jpegs and upload

6. Images are on sale automatically

 

From what you describe, I gather that perhaps you don't store any keywords in the hierarchy, and that you use templates and delete/add keywords on an ad-hoc basis. That's fine.

The hierarchy feature in Bridge has always been there, probably since the first version. Perhaps your set up did not display it before? I really don't know.

 

Sorry I can't help more. Maybe someone else will know?

 

 

 

Yes, the hierarchy has never been there. (Until now) And I do have a template, I make a new one every year with basic tags I use almost on every image, then add specific-to-the-image ones or delete unneeded ones.  Other templates for common things I shoot like butterflies, different plants, birds, etc. Those templates have the scientific names which is a blessing.

I have had a seamless workflow worked out shortly after starting stock, & like I said, it wasn’t broke so I resent the changing. If Adobe sends me another invitation to review, I’ll do it! 😡

I still have the old version of Bridge. I’ll just bring it up for my keywording sessions.
Thank you for trying to figure it out. As always, you’re a peach. 😊 And good on you that you discovered the (yes) description. If you have a long one over the limit, it will go to the Optional Field automatically. I usually don’t have them that long, but have done a few times. Then I just do a shorter one for the caption. Save, save, save along the way.

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I'm wondering if maybe the caption info you're missing in Bridge is due to a preference you need to set in the updated version? I know in Photoshop you can set some File Info preferences.  

 

I used Bridge years ago for all my keywording, and it was great, especially for doing batches, better than LR is years later, so I get your frustration if things have changed. Lightroom should have used what was best in Bridge. I just don't have time to add another step so I stick with LR and then PS when needed. If I'm working on a RAW file in Photoshop, I might go into File Info and put the most important 10 keywords up front as long as I plan to upload them right away, before synchronizing my Lightroom Library, or else they'll just be alphabetized again. 

 

BTW, many of us on another forum and in their Discord channel over the years, have periodically advised Adobe that the captioning/ keywording in Lightroom, while excellent in many  respects, would be better if it was more like Bridge. In fact, on a certain stock photo site, unlike Alamy's comparatively easy star 10 supertags, you must physically reorder your keywords to put the 10 most important ones first. The cause of this needless exercise? Their parent company's very own LR software which auto-alphabetizes keywords and doesn't have a preference allowing you to change this. 


I've dealt with Adobe for years and they are generally very responsive to their users. But for some reason inputing IPTC data doesn't seem to be a priority. 

 

I hope it's just a Preferences glitch and you can get it working the way you want again. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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4 hours ago, Marianne said:

I'm wondering if maybe the caption info you're missing in Bridge is due to a preference you need to set in the updated version? I know in Photoshop you can set some File Info preferences.  

 

I used Bridge years ago for all my keywording, and it was great, especially for doing batches, better than LR is years later, so I get your frustration if things have changed. Lightroom should have used what was best in Bridge. I just don't have time to add another step so I stick with LR and then PS when needed. If I'm working on a RAW file in Photoshop, I might go into File Info and put the most important 10 keywords up front as long as I plan to upload them right away, before synchronizing my Lightroom Library, or else they'll just be alphabetized again. 

 

BTW, many of us on another forum and in their Discord channel over the years, have periodically advised Adobe that the captioning/ keywording in Lightroom, while excellent in many  respects, would be better if it was more like Bridge. In fact, on a certain stock photo site, unlike Alamy's comparatively easy star 10 supertags, you must physically reorder your keywords to put the 10 most important ones first. The cause of this needless exercise? Their parent company's very own LR software which auto-alphabetizes keywords and doesn't have a preference allowing you to change this. 


I've dealt with Adobe for years and they are generally very responsive to their users. But for some reason inputing IPTC data doesn't seem to be a priority. 

 

I hope it's just a Preferences glitch and you can get it working the way you want again. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks, Marianne. I hope so, too.

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