Photoshop CC: The Missing Manual

Using Mini Bridge

Once you install Bridge CC, you can open a smaller version of it—cleverly named Mini Bridge (Figure 23-11)—as a panel within Photoshop by choosing Window→Extensions→Mini Bridge in Photoshop. It looks and works like big Bridge, but you get the added bonus of not having to switch program windows to find and open images.

Figure 23-11. The Mini Bridge panel gives you easy access to images right inside Photoshop. Just like any other panel, you can grab its tab and drag it anywhere else on your screen to make it free-floating (like the version shown here) or dock it elsewhere, though the size slider only appears in the floating version. Use the drop-down menu and list of folders on the panel’s left to navigate to images, and then drag and drop ’em from the Mini Bridge panel right into your Photoshop window (or document), as shown here. As soon as you release your mouse button, Photoshop opens each image in its very own tabbed document (or, if you already have an image open, it’ll place the images as new layers within the document).

Note

If you undock the Mini Bridge panel and then accidentally close it, don’t panic. You can always reopen it by choosing Window→Extensions→Mini Bridge, or by choosing File→“Browse in Mini Bridge.” Whew!

When you first open Mini Bridge, it checks to see if big Bridge is running. Why? Because the Mini Bridge panel works only when Photoshop and