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“It’s True: Adobe Bridge 2024 Is Completely Free for Everyone, for Life!”
It's True: Adobe Bridge 2024 Is 100% Free for You to Download & Use
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Thank you guys for the great tips and info you provide here! It must annoying however from many of the comments above how so many people “don’t read” your valuable instructions and choose to argue time and time again on how to implement your tips and techniques… (Windows users mostly) who are so ignorant to me. So thank you for sharing your valuable knowledge and putting up with what Steve Jobs once referred to as “Bozos!”
Thanks, Robert, for sharing your thoughts… Not sure about Windows or Mac, but in this field we’re pretty used to explaining things multiple times in various different ways. People often do read fast and miss important points. It just comes with the territory, so we’re not bitter about it – especially after 10 years of doing this. Regardless, it’s always nice to hear gratitude from our readers, so we greatly appreciate it!
Regarding a standalone install of Bridge CC…
“It installs and runs fine, and even allows updating to the latest version of the app itself plus the ACR (Adobe Camera Raw) plugin for the display and previewing of raw files within Bridge.”
Can you clarify whether you would be able to open RAW files in the ACR module and actually apply changes/adjustments/edits? Or is it possible ONLY to display/preview RAW files within Bridge?
I’m trying to find a solution where I can actually implement ACR edits and adjustments on a secondary system which doesn’t have any other Adobe suite installations. TIA
Hey Gary, it’s the latter. Within Bridge, the ACR plugin works in a read-only way in order to display and preview the content within your Adobe files. Bridge CC can also edit image metadata and the like, however to make changes to the image pixels (and actually open the file for editing) you would use your version of Adobe Photoshop and/or the Camera Raw plug-in that comes with it.
Thank you so much for telling us about the free download of Adobe Bridge. I was having trouble with Bridge from CS6, and when I was searching the web for advice on how to delete and install the programme again, I found this link. WOW. Fantastic!! It works perfectly and no longer “freezes”. I appreciate it.
You’re very welcome, Jack – so glad to hear the article and information helped, and thanks for letting us know!
Thanks for the great info on downloading Bridge… however, if I select a photo to open, it doesn’t open in Photoshop – it opens in another editing program… I don’t get the option highlighted of “open with” …would appreciate any help.
Thanks
Hi Sandy, you can change this under the Edit menu > Settings > File Type Associations – see:
How to View & Manage Files in Adobe Bridge CC – Adobe Help Center
Thanks. File type associations doesn’t really address my problem. Bridge can see the photos, but when I select a photo to open, it doesn’t see Photoshop or Camera Raw. I have looked at the “Place” option also, but this is greyed out and cannot select it?
When you say, “it doesn’t ‘see’ Photoshop or Camera Raw,” what do you mean exactly?
You mentioned above that Bridge “opens my photo in another editing program”… So if you have Photoshop installed on the same machine and you want it to open using Photoshop instead, then you need to tell Bridge with those File Association options.
Hello,
It’s not clear for me from the Adobe Bridge CC 2019 guide if Collections and Smart Collections are part of the cache. What should I do if I want to use a replica of Smart Collections created on one of my computers, on the other computer possibly sitting on the same LAN? Can I share Smart Collections utilizing Google Drive as a cloud storage accessible to both computers? I assume to use USB external HDDs on both computers holding the same set of image files. I also assume manually synchronizing files on both HDDs at the end of the work. To make my question general, I want to be able to work on image files on one of two computers possibly located in different places (home / office) and maintain the same structure of Smart Collections in Adobe Bridge CC 2019 on both computers.
Hello,
Is Adobe Bridge CC Is Free to Download & Use for commercial use? I mean if I can use this software in my company?
Yes, absolutely. Adobe Bridge is 100% free for everyone.
Hi, I’ve been paying for photoshop monthly for 5 years, and not using it. I didn’t want to cancel because tons of my photos are stored in Bridge (which came bundled with the plan). I finally cancelled yesterday, but I’m not sure what happens to my photos stored in Bridge. Now I see Bridge is a free download. Would the installed Bridge on my computer just continue on for free or do I have to re-download and transfer images?
Hello Janine, you should be able to continue using the version of Bridge CC that is installed on your computer.
Adobe Bridge became a free application in 2013, with the very first release of CC (after CS6).
Dziękuję za informację o Adobe Bridge, brakowało mi go w nowym komputerze z High Sierra.
Wiedza, że Bridge jest darmowy jest mało znana.
i pozwoli mi korzystać z LR 6.
Great – glad to help, Wojtek!
Why does Adobe require us to register for its completely free product? Will it send product ads? Will it collect usage data? Will it allow us to get tech support? Will registered users get discounts on paid products? I don’t know the good or the bad, because Adobe doesn’t provide information when it requires registration during installation. That always worries me. What will Adobe do with my information after registration?
I’ve had to register other apps, but each vendor stated up front what it would do with the information, and how I would benefit.
Greg, have you actually checked out the page? Because Adobe does the same.
When you click on “Not a member yet? Get a free Adobe ID,” you arrive to the sign-up page with the following:
I have loads of pics stored on both PC AND MACs. Forgive me if this is too simple a problem, but I would like to manage them all on my MAC. Can I use Bridge to import from any medium?
Hello Ian, not sure what you’re trying to do, exactly… It sounds like you want to manage files stored on a PC from your Mac?
You can manually move/copy files between computers yourself, of course, and Bridge can import files from cameras and mobile devices to the local file system – but it cannot manage files that it can’t access.
How to View and Manage Files in Adobe Bridge
Thank you
I am a senior citizen who is learning (through an online course) about how to organize my many digital photos. After much contemplation, I think Adobe Bridge would be the best photo organizing software for my needs.
Tonight I set up an Adobe account, started to download the software, and then a page came up stating that I must give my credit card info, etc. to be able to access to the software. There is a “free trial,” but credit card info is required, then it says I can cancel membership by a certain date.
I only am interested in the Bridge software, not the other Adobe programs which I am sure are very good, but just beyond what I need. How do I get the “totally free” use of Bridge as you describe above? Thank you very much.
Sure Patricia, happy to help. Recently Adobe initiated the requirement for adding a credit card or PayPal to start a free trial – we suspect because the trials were being overused (or possibly abused) by some folks.
Not to worry. The form of payment won’t be charged within the 7-day free trial period. And you can still get the completely free level of Creative Cloud membership, which includes the promised lifetime use of Adobe Bridge at no cost…
What’s Included with Your Free Creative Cloud Membership
If you don’t want to paid subscription to any of the other major Creative Cloud tools (besides Bridge), then just remember to cancel your free trial before the seven days is up:
How to Cancel your Adobe Trial or Subscription
Even if it slips your mind within the seven days of the free trial, there is an additional two-week “money back guarantee” period right after that during which you can get a full and complete refund of anything you’ve paid:
How to Exchange, Return, or Refund Adobe Software Products
Hope that’s clear. Please let us know if that helps answer your question and how you make out.
Enjoy the free software!
Thank you for this clarification!
You bet, Patricia – glad to help.
Hi there. I’m still not getting it. So Bridge is free now, but someone wrote that you can view images through ACR, but not edit them, right?
So what limitations are there if I only install Bridge and no other CC application? Is this even possible?
Thing is, I need a simple-to-understand RAW converter for a friend of mine, who isn’t particularly technically inclined, and trying RawTherapee we found that it has way to many options, that he will never understand in two lifetimes.
I’ve been working with Bridge for years now and find it’s workflow and Gui rather easy to use. It’s not cluttered and yet gives you plenty of nice features to edit your RAW images in ACR.
I’d get him this, as I think he’ll be able to understand Bridge. Of course though it would have to have all the important features of a full version of Bridge, some limited featureset won’t cut it, like no RAW editing or no saving to new file or the likes.
So what things will me missing if I install this free version without any other CC application?
Thanks, Pat
Hi Pat, you can certainly download, install and use Bridge standalone, for free and with no other Adobe apps – that’s absolutely possible and certainly done.
Regarding your particular question though, without a paid copy of Photoshop to go with Bridge, you won’t be able edit images in ACR. That’s because the Adobe Camera Raw plugin which integrates with both Photoshop and Bridge is view-only if Photoshop is not activated.
But either way – either with or without Photoshop – all other features in Bridge itself are functional.
That’s really all there is to the explanation.
I see, thanks ProDesign.
IMHO that makes Bridge a little redundant without any CC applications. Without ACR, it’s just a fancy viewer. Every OS provides inbuilt ways of viewing and organising images.
I hardly ever open PS these days… if I only need to develop and improve images, this can all be done in Bridge ACR. And since I find the workflow fast and intuitive, I think it would be the ideal program for said friend of mine.
Now what’s the cheapest way of obtaining a fully-functioning version of Bridge and ACR? (besides using cracks, which is out of the question) Could purchasing Photoshop Elements be a solution, or is Bridge still truncated if used with Elements?
Sure – glad to help, Pat. Most people go with the Creative Cloud Photography Plan, which includes the latest versions of Adobe Photoshop and ACR together with Lightroom (both the desktop and cloud-based LR apps), as well as a bunch of other helpful tools & services, plus ongoing product updates.
You get a lot for US$9.99/month, a price which hasn’t changed since the plan was first introduced many years ago.
Regarding using Bridge and ACR with Photoshop Elements, that could work as well, if Elements is enough. See the earlier discussion here for more information on that.
To me, Adobe Bridge is that type of unnecessary application – I have an great small app for batch renaming and I can organize my work myself. If you have a lot of space, you could just keep it … or not. But is not really essential.
Happy for you; nevertheless, there are millions of Bridge users who use the app every day and find it essential.
Hello,
I was following your instructions on how to start a free trial, with the idea of having Bridge free afterwards. I used it years ago with CS3, but with the OSX updates, did not run and as I did not need to use the CS3, forgot about it. Until now.
But when I tried to download Bridge, Adobe sent me the message that I have to update my OSX.
Going to the Bridge 2021 system requirements, it says the Minimum is macOs v10.14 or later, and Recommended macOs v10.15 or later.
I have v10.12 (Sierra) and MacPro 5.1, which does not update to v10.14.
I would need Bridge 9.X or 8.X
My doubts are: ¿Is it possible to start a trial and download one version older of Bridge 2020? Will be those older versions forever-free too? and also ¿Could my system allow a Creative Cloud membership?
Thank you very much
Hi Li,
Those are great questions.
And the answers are yes to all your questions.
Any and all versions of Bridge CC are free forever.
Also, you can start a free trial for Creative Cloud 2021 and download & use prior releases.
Adobe officially only provides support for the latest two major releases, but you could still use older versions if needed (for example, because of operating system requirements).
So, feel free to use our direct links to access the version you need:
The Adobe Creative Cloud Direct Download Links, for Windows and macOS
Just scroll down and page through the CC releases. Hope that helps!
As of 01 MAR 21, Bridge is not free. I was having server validation problems, so based on your article I contacted Adobe with the obvious question and their response was equally obvious:
“Bridge comes with Photoshop. Bridge is a extra features within Photoshop. You will not get Bridge application within Lightroom. For Bridge you have to install Photoshop application.”
And I had installed from a link in one of your direct download links. Maybe it was freely available, for free, for life, but it isn’t now.
Hey Clive, that’s wrong. Unfortunately you received incorrect information from the rep you had. Sorry, but it happens sometimes.
We assure you that Adobe Bridge remains 100% free to download and use forever, exactly as outlined in the article… There is no subscription required.
If you are having any difficulties getting the software going on your system, feel free to post back with further details of the issue you ran into and we’d be happy to help you with them.
For starters, what operating system and version are you running? Does your computer meet the minimum system requirements for Bridge 2021?
Thank you for your reply and offer of assistance. My OS and computer details are below.
OS
Windows 10 Home
Version 10.0.19042
Build 190-42
Computer
PC Specialist
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8565U CPU @ 1.80GHz, 1992 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)
16GB RAM
500GB SSHD
Graphics Intel(R) UHD Graphics 620
Screen 1920 x 1080
I installed Bridge by following your links. It appeared to download a helper file which when opened installed CC Desktop and Bridge. I can open CC Desktop with no issues or errors. CC Desktop shows Bridge as an installed component (and shows up to date) and it has also appeared as a shortcut on my desktop. Whichever I run has the same results (I would post an image of the error message but I don’t know how to upload an image).
Anyway, a white box appears, top left is the Adobe logo, then a grey banner “(i) Are you connected to the internet?” We can’t verify your subscription status. We can’t reach the Adobe servers. This may be because …” I am given the choice of Try Again or Quit Adobe Bridge. If I try again, it fails. If I quit then surprise, surprise it quits. The box has a X top right corner. Clicking that closes the box and allows me to use Bridge without further problems. The Adobe rep says it is a 7-day trial – and as it has not yet been 7 days, I cannot yet know whether I will be able to close and continue indefinitely.
I am a Lightroom v6 perpetual licence user (CC Desktop knows that and shows my copy as up to date). I have never installed (or previously even downloaded trial) versions of subscription LR or PS. I am, therefore, a registered user and username at Adobe.
Within Bridge Help, I get the option to Sign Out and the displayed name is the correct name – so Bridge knows who I am. There is no difference whether I have CC Desktop running in the background or not.
When I am logged in to Adobe online and on their website, I can get to a page via My Account which shows three categories of product: Available in your plan; Free with your membership and Download trials. Bridge, along with CC Desktop, is show as Available in your plan. I’ve pointed this out to Abode and sent them the url and screen grabs of the pages. But their response to date, after several exchanges of emails over three days (so I am probably not speaking to the same person) is nada.
They want me to run a CC cleaner tool then they have provided a link to LR v6 to download to reinstall it. I have not done either. At present, LR is running fine – and I’d like to keep it that way.
Clive
I replied yesterday answering all the questions you asked and providing further information. I was sent to the math test, which I passed and it reported ‘awaiting moderation.’ The comment has not appeared. In the meantime, here is the overnight response from Adobe to my latest:
—-STARTS
Dear Clive,
We would like to inform you that we have validate your Adobe account, but we could not find any Creative Cloud subscription under your account.
We are from standalone product department, so we will not be able to help you with Creative Cloud subscription. We are recommending you to contact us back for more assistance.
Thanks for working with us, Adobe Customer Care
—-ENDS
I found a series of posts on Adobe’s blog site from an individual who quoted this site at length. The response he got was the same. He got increasingly agitated with them to the point that they started redacting lines in his posts and on two occasions redacted the whole post. You have repeatedly asserted that it is free – is there some piece of evidence that I can sent to Adobe – a document, a press release, a site url where Adobe says it is so? Simply quoting “I have read this on the internet” is not likely to cut the ice.
Thanks.
Clive
Thank you for the further details. We’d suggest waiting a few days and see if Bridge still opens and runs. Provided you haven’t made any unusual modifications to your system or Adobe apps, it should.
The Adobe Community discussion you are referring to is someone seeking the offline installer for Bridge 2020. The offline installer for Bridge 2019 is publicly available, however Adobe stopped doing that a couple of years ago – so to get any CC offline installer for 2020 or 2021 (including but not limited to Bridge), you need to be a subscriber.
Or, you can get an offline installer via a Teams free trial, as implied in that discussion.
However, that thread reiterated that Adobe Bridge (generally) is 100% free to download via the Desktop app… And other Adobe Staff have confirmed this as well.
I’m a huge Adobe Bridge fan! It’s much easier to sort and grade than Lightroom. I’m only figuring out how to jump with sidecar files between Bridge and LR Classic.
Hello. I spoke to Adobe today. They specifically said that Bridge is not free and is only available to customers who are paying for Photoshop.
Greetings Andy,
Bridge is free. You don’t need a subscription. There is no cost to download and use it permanently (not a trial), without a paid membership.
It’s been this way since Creative Cloud first launched in 2013, and it’s still the same today.
Sorry that you received incorrect information!
PS – Besides Bridge, here are all the other apps & services that come with a free Adobe membership:
What’s Included with Your Free Creative Cloud Membership
Cheers
Hi,
why do you keep making promises you do not keep! No offline download links are provided – not even for Bridge!
Sorry, not sure what you are referring to… As described in the article above, you can get Bridge 2021 either of two ways:
1. The regular way using the Creative Cloud Desktop app.
2. Via direct download links you can get from Adobe.
Our site also offers instant direct download links for older versions of Bridge like CC 2019 and CC 2018.
In all cases, Bridge is free forever; running it does not require a paid subscription.
Hopefully this should help clear up any lingering confusion out there… Here is a screenshot just taken from an Adobe account which does not have a paid subscription to Creative Cloud:
As you can see, Photoshop 2021 shows as “start free trial” whereas Bridge 2021 shows as 100% free to use. Camera Raw is included in both, though primarily for viewing only in Bridge.
It’s really as simple as that.