Organize files into collections



Collections are a way to group photos in one place for easy viewing, even if they’re located in different folders or on different hard drives. Smart collections are a type of collection generated from a saved search. The Collections panel allows you to create, locate, and open collections, as well as create and edit smart collections.

Create a collection

 Do any of the following:

  • Click the New Collection button  at the bottom of the Collections panel to create a new, empty collection.

  • Select one or more files in the Content panel and then click the New Collection button in the Collections panel. Click Yes when asked if you want to include the selected files in the new collection.

By default, if you select a file in a collection, the file is listed as being located in the collection folder. To navigate to the folder in which the file is physically located, select the file and then choose File > Reveal In Bridge.

Create a smart collection

 Click the New Smart Collection button  at the bottom of the Collections panel.
To add or remove a smart collection from the Favorites panel, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the smart collection in the Collections panel and choose Add To Favorites or Remove From Favorites.

Edit a smart collection

  1. Select a smart collection in the Collections panel.
  2. Click the Edit Smart Collection button .
  3. Specify new criteria for the smart collection, and then click Save.

Rename a collection

 Do any of the following:

  • Double-click the collection name and type a new name.

  • Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the collection name and choose Rename from the menu. Then overwrite the name of the collection.

Delete a collection

When you delete a collection, you simply remove it from the collections list in Adobe Bridge. No files are deleted from your hard disk.

 To delete a collection, do any of the following:

  • In the Collections panel, select a collection name, and then click the trash icon.

  • Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) a collection name, and then choose Delete from the menu.

Add files to a collection

 To add files to a collection, do any of the following:

  • Drag the files from the Content panel, the Explorer (Windows), or the Finder (Mac OS) to the collection name in the Collections panel.

  • Copy and paste files from the Content panel onto a collection name in the Collections panel.

Remove files from a collection

 To remove files from a collection, select the collection in the Collections panel and do any of the following:

  • Select a file in the Content panel and click Remove From Collection, or right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) and choose Remove From Collection.

  • Select a file in the Content panel and press Delete. Click Reject to mark the file as rejected, Delete to move it to the Recycle Bin (Windows) or the Trash (Mac OS), or Cancel to keep the file.

Copy files between collections

  1. Select a collection in the Collections panel.
  2. Drag a file from the Content panel to the collection in the Collections panel that you want to copy it to.

Locate missing files

Adobe Bridge tracks the locations of the files in collections. If a file is moved in Adobe Bridge, the file remains in the collection. If a collection includes files that have been moved or renamed in the Explorer (Windows) or the Finder (Mac OS), or if the files are on a removable hard drive that is not connected when you view the collection, Adobe Bridge displays an alert at the top of the Content panel indicating that the files are missing.

  1. Click Fix to locate the missing files.
  2. In the Find Missing Files dialog box, select the missing files and do any of the following:

    • Click Browse to navigate to the new location of the files.

    • Click Skip to ignore the missing files.

    • Click Remove to remove the missing files from the collection.