***WARNING***
While I’ll try to be succinct, this post is bound to be lengthy. I apologize in advance! ☺
Okay, I’m an über-organized “touch it once” kind of gal so organization has been a huge issue for me. I also have a horrible memory so remembering what I have and where to find it is a pipe dream.
I start with file structure and the download process. I don’t separate anything from the folder the designer created and I’m sure to add the designer’s name to the folder title, if it’s missing. Before moving new stuff from my ‘Downloads’ folder, I keyword tag each file. Since Bridge is writing to the file, it doesn’t matter how or where I move it after that. I like that! I then place all of ‘Katie’s’ work in a folder named (duh) ‘KatiePertiet’ which is a subfolder of my ‘DigitalScrapbooking’ folder. Why do I use this system? Sometimes I only want to look at Katie’s work or I’m looking for a specific paper that I know Katie made. File names rarely cover the bases for a search like this so it’s quicker to use the file structure. It also makes the download process quick and easy which is vital for keeping up to date! Bridge supports all of this since it doesn’t import anything nor does it interfere with your folder hierarchy.
Okay, using Bridge. I’ll start with Keywords. This is awesome! Open MS Word (or whatever you use) and type the keywords that make sense to you. CS3 supports keyword hierarchy so here’s an example…
Fasteners
Frames
[tab]Corners
[tab]Frame Clusters
Paper
Ribbons
WordArt
[tab] = an actual tab, not the brackets and letters! In this case, Corners & Frame Clusters are subfolders to Frames.
Save your file as .txt. Then from Bridge, open the Keywords palette. (On the default workspace, it’s in the lower right section hiding behind the Metadata tag. Once in the Keywords palette, right-click the down arrow on the right side of the bar. Scroll down and select ‘Import’ or ‘Clear and Import’ based on whether you want to retain the keywords you already have. Select the .txt file you just saved and Voilá! You have keywords!
From here, simply work your way through your file structure and as you find paper, for example, just click the little box to the immediate left of the keyword ‘Paper’ to apply the keyword to the file. Multiple keywords can be applied if, for example, your paper is a Christmas themed item. What keywords you choose to use will be directly related to the way you think and scrap so consider it an ongoing process.
It’s worth noting that when I tag a PNG file, about 30% of the time I’ll get an error message saying that I can’t write to that file type. However, it’s a false message as the information was, indeed, written. To verify, you can check the metadata palette or glance to the top of the keywords palette where it displays, “Assigned keywords: …”
Now the beauty of this system is that I’m not married to Bridge if something better comes along. All of these keywords are written to the file itself rather than a catalog file or a sidecar file. If ACDSee for Mac turns out to be fabulous, then I can move over without having to redo tagging on 20k+ files.
Okay, for using the keywords to search in Bridge, that’s gonna make this long post unbearably long.
The quickest to explain, but NOT the quickest method, is to choose ‘Find’ from the ‘Edit’ menu. Be sure to select the appropriate folder to conduct the search and enter search data below.
If you go to the Help menu and select ‘Bridge Help,’ you’ll find a rather impressive collection of help files. Also, at the bottom of each of the pages is a hyperlink to videos in the Adobe Video Workshop. You’ll learn a mint if you spend a little time here. Once I stumbled on this collection of videos, I bookmarked the Workshop and visit it often.
As for the question on the difference between Bridge versions, CS2 cannot write to PNG files nor does it support hierarchy keywords (meaning subcategories). CS3 supports both, and presumably so does CS4.
HTH! Back to tagging…….