"Why Are My Adobe Bridge Keyword Searches and Smart Collections So Slow?"

Because that's what you've chosen.

When you start a keyword search or create a Smart Collection, you're given a default option to "Include All Non-Indexed Files." And right next to that appears the warning "(may be slow)."

Folks, they're not kidding. When you leave this checked on a first search after starting Bridge -- or first view a Smart Collection created with this option -- the app goes through EVERY target file and folder and reindexes it, just in case any files were changed or added since the app was last open. This takes a LONG time. After that, Bridge relies on those cached indexes it just made, but it STILL scans all target folders to make sure no files have been added. This takes much less time, but it's still far from instant.

Now, let's look at what happens if you uncheck this option. Boom, you're done. Bridge relies only on its cached indexes, and really, if you blink, you'll miss it. The downside, though, is that you really do need to make sure you haven't changed or added any files outside Bridge. If you have, Bridge won't know about it, and the keyword search or Smart Collection can miss some files or give false positives. (To fix this, you'll need to trigger a reindex by running a search that DOES include all non-indexed files.)

The first lesson here is, if you want to run quick and ACCURATE searches in Bridge, you'll need to make all your file changes and additions in Bridge itself -- oh, and don't let your cache run out of disk space. (You can adjust that in Preferences.)

The second lesson is, don't blame the app if you haven't even looked at the options it gives you!

BONUS TIP -- Full-size previews not looking too great in recent Bridge versions? Go to the Advanced panel of Bridge Preferences and turn on "Use Software Rendering." Bridge's new hardware acceleration may omit applying sharpening and noise reduction to those previews.

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