Renaming Images Using Adobe Bridge

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What Is Adobe Bridge?

Adobe Bridge is a free-to-download program created by the same developers as Photoshop and Lightroom. The Vendor Assets team utilizes Bridge for all internal file organization and name manipulations. The only requirement for downloading Adobe Bridge is to create a free Adobe account.

Downloading Adobe Bridge

Please open the below link to access the Adobe Bridge download page: https://www.adobe.com/products/bridge.html

Adobe Bridge Free Download

Click on the blue "Download" button to begin. Once prompted, click "Create Account" and fill in the information requested. There is also an option to sign in via Facebook/Google or with a pre-existing Adobe account.

After filling out the information for a new account and clicking "Sign up," Adobe will request additional information to help personalize your user experience. These answers have no influence on Bridge's capabilities. In the below example, we have chosen our skill level as "Beginner," our profession as "Other" and our usage as "Personal."

A ".exe" setup file will download onto your computer. In Google Chrome, this download appears on the lower left-hand side of the web browser. Click to open and begin installing Bridge onto your computer.

Follow all prompts in the Bridge Installer to begin downloading the program onto your computer. Once installed, Bridge will automatically open.

Breakdown of Bridge's Interface

Adobe Bridge works as a file organization tool, similar to Windows File Explorer. Through Bridge, you can move files, tag and highlight them with specific information, or even resort the order in which they are listed to better serve your needs. When highlighting a specific file, Bridge will list out all properties associated to that item such as the document type, file name, date created, etc. There are many ways you can customize the Bridge interface, but below are the most basic windows you may see when first opening the program:

1. The Navigator, or "Folder," window. Use this area to navigate to the folder on your computer that holds the images you would like to open in Bridge. In the above screenshot, our folder is located on my Desktop.

2. The Metadata window. This will list all information attached to whichever file you have selected. In the above screenshot, I am clicked into the very first shoe image (you can see a blue box around the image). The metadata window shows the dimensions, file size, resolution, and much more for that one image. 

3. The Content window. This area shows thumbnail previews of all of the image files that exist in the folder you have open, with their file names underneath. The thumbnails can be made larger or smaller using the slider in the bottom right of the program.

Locating Your Files in Bridge

To open images, head over to the "Folders" tab to locate and click on the folder where your images are saved. Thumbnails should populate in the Content window for all files in the folder you have selected. In the below example, we open a folder titled "Rack.Com Asset" saved on our Desktop.

Sorting Your Imagery

The Vendor Assets Team asks for all submitted imagery to be named in a "VPN-COLOR" format. It is very important for all files to be named accurately as they are uploaded on an exact match with this formatting. Bridge can both batch rename and sequence files using one tool.

Renaming Images

Once all images are in the correct sort order, they are ready to be renamed. Highlight all of imagery available for an individual style-color by clicking on the first image, holding down the Shift key on the keyboard, and then clicking the last image to that style. You should see blue boxes surrounding each image that is to be renamed. Then, right-click on any of the preview thumbnails highlighted to open up the options menu, and select "Batch Rename." 

A new window will pop up on the screen. The Batch Rename pop-up offers various tools to customize your images. Most information can remain as the default, but we will need to edit the "New Filenames" section highlighted below. Please erase the preexisting options by clicking on the minus signs to the right of each line. There are two different ways we can rebuild this section:

If your filenames already include the "VPN-COLOR" and we only need to add in the two-digit suffixes to sequence them correctly please build out the "New Filenames" as the below...

  1. Current Filename/Name/Original Case: This will retain all current filename information, preventing any data (VPN and color) from being deleted. 
  2. Text/-: Adding a dash (-) will separate the last symbol in the current filename from the new suffixes being created.
  3. Sequence Number/1/Two Digits: The final command prompts Bridge to add in a two-digit numerical suffix, starting at the number "1." This means the first image we had highlighted will be -01, the next -02, and so on. 

After renaming images the first time, your preferences will be saved in the Batch Rename window so that you do not need to redo all steps each time. However, you will need to reset the sequence number to "1" for each new style being renamed. Review the old vs. new filename preview available at the bottom of the window each time to make sure all updates are correct. Once confirmed, hit "Rename" to make the necessary changes.

If your filenames need to have their VPN-color added and the two-digit suffixes to sequence them correctly please build out the "New Filenames" as the below...

  1. Text/VPN-COLOR: Please paste in the correct style number and color into the first field, to overwrite/erase the info that previously existed. This information can be easily copy and pasted from column C of the "Assets Needed" sheet included in each request.
  2. Text/-: Adding a dash (-) will separate the last symbol in the current filename from the new suffixes being created.
  3. Sequence Number/1/Two Digits: The final command prompts Bridge to add in a two-digit numerical suffix, starting at the number "1." This means the first image we had highlighted will be -01, the next -02, and so on. 

After renaming images the first time, your preferences will be saved in the Batch Rename window so that you do not need to redo all steps each time. However, you will need to paste in the correct VPN-COLOR and reset the sequence number to "1" for each new style being renamed. Review the old vs. new filename preview available at the bottom of the window to make sure all updates are correct. Once confirmed, hit "Rename" to make the necessary changes.

Continue renaming all files. Once complete, upload the images into our secure portal.