In addition to creating keywords, you can create keyword sets. A keyword set is a main category for grouping keywords. For example, Adobe Bridge contains a default keyword set called Events. Inside Events are the keywords Birthday, Graduation, and Wedding. To create your own keyword set:

Entering a new keyword set.

  1. Choose View > Keywords Panel if the Keywords panel on the left side of the Adobe Bridge window is not visible.
  2. Click the New Keyword Set button on the bottom of the palette. It looks like a folder.
  3. Name your keyword set.
  4. Press Return or Enter to lock in the name.

Rename keywords or keyword sets by right-clicking (Windows) or Option-clicking (Mac OS X) them and choosing Rename from the pop-up menu.

Assign keywords to your documents To apply the new keywords you created, select the documents to which you want to apply the keywords in Adobe Bridge, and then select the checkbox to the left of the keyword that you want to assign. You can assign multiple keywords to your document. For example, you might have an image of the Empire State Building from a photo that you took while you were on vacation. In this case, you could assign New York and East Coast Vacation as keywords.

Select an image and then use the keyword checkboxes to assign keywords to it.

Find files using metadata Now that you’ve assigned keywords to your documents and entered metadata, you can search for your documents. Adobe Bridge offers a powerful Find feature that allows you to search any folder or folders you want. 1 Choose Edit > Find to bring up the Find dialog box. 2 Select the main folder you want to search, keeping in mind that you can include the subfolders that it contains. 3 Choose the search criteria. By default, Adobe Bridge searches by filename. If you know the name of the file you want, you’re all set. If not, use the Criteria drop-down menus to select search parameters such as Keywords or All Metadata. You can search using multiple criteria by clicking the plus sign to add criteria. For example, you might want to use Keywords to locate your New York pictures and Date Created to find those created before September 11, 2001. 4 Use the Match drop-down menu to select whether the search results will include all of your criteria or any one you choose. For example, if you choose If Any Criteria Are Met, Adobe Bridge will find any documents with the keyword New York and any documents created before September 11, 2001. 5 Select Show Find Results In A New Browser Window if you want to display the search results in a new window. 6 Click Find to start the search.

The Find dialog box in Adobe Bridge.