For those chomping at the bit for a new, and hopefully less buggy, version of Bridge check out this link. Looks like CS4 upgrade will be available for $199 somewhere in the Oct 14- Nov 7 period.

<http://www.photoshopuser.com/?page=cs4/videos&video=dave_bridge>

Yes, it all looks good at this point. But you have to remember that those who are creating these videos are using high end Mac computers that probably don't have the arsenal of other software that a typical user would have. It will be interesting to see what the "real world" users report. Bridge 2.0 was supposed to solve all the problems too. But....

Surely Adobe will be supplying a free upgrade of Bridge for all of us who have suffered trying to use the CS3 version?

Given the hours lost by frustrated Bridge users - or those who tried but failed to make the thing work - it is the least Adobe can do.

I'll be waiting for instructions on how to receive my update.

EdB

There were a couple of updates for Bridge CS3. The last update was 2.1.1.9. Then Adobe went to work on Photoshop CS4. There will be no more updates for Photoshop/Bridge CS3. You want an upgrade? There will be an upgrade price to move to CS4. Instructions for getting the upgrade, pay the price.

I don't want to upgrade to CS4. I'm quite happy with Photoshop CS3, InDesign CS3, Illustrator, etc. But Adobe shipped a product - Bridge CS3 - that didn't work. And not just for me (I've actually made some peace with it after much effort) but for most users. Just look through the Adobe forums.

I simply expect Adobe to make good on their mistakes. Oh, wait: nobody does business like that any more. What was I thinking?

Adobe DID make good on their mistakes (hopefully). It's called Photoshop CS4. It became obvious several months ago that this would be the remedy. You might as well face the fact that Photoshop CS3 updates and improvements have ended, except for the final version of Camera Raw 4.6.

I would plead with anyone upgrading to CS4, especially those that have ongoing issues with CS3 Bridge, to let the forum readers know how well, or poorly it runs. No sense spending $200 if it is the same program with a new name. They did add more features, but that always adds the risk of new bugs/conflicts.

Thanks

CS3 stacks seem to assume that you only ever have one customer for any given image, whereas I have very different requirements.

I would very much like to be able to save the results of searches for recall without having to re-run the search (some of mine take 5-10 minutes across multiple folders and thousands of images) and without affecting the source images, their locations, or accessibility for browsing or access by other searches or groups.

I've heard hints that variable grouping (or whatever they call it)might be included in CS4, but no mention by Dave Cross in his video.

Does anyone know if such a feature is included?

I believe in CS3 search "save as collection" saves results as you want. Its recall does not appear to to instantaneous, so not sure how much time it saves. Just more convenient as you don't have to re-enter search parameters.

Joan Nack has some comments in his blog -- a list of what's new and a link to a video tour: What's new in Bridge CS4

<http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2008/09/whats_new_in_bridge_cs4.html#more>

Faster performance is at the top of the list.