Bridge Cache files on desktop

[Lillian]

Hello All,       As I process images in Bridge,  Cache files seem to be copied on my desktop as well as appearing in the particular file which was processed. I dont need them on the desktop but dont know what program to open to verify that I am not throwing out important files.  So  1)  how do I stop these Cache files from appearing on my Desktop?; and
2)  what program do you open these Cache files in to check its contents?  Their icon, which appears on Desktop, resembles a Word file.  Thanx ! Lillian

[peterkrogh]

Lilian,
I assume you are on CS2. (On CS3, these files should be invisible).

You will pretty much never (there are some extremely rare edge cases) throw important information away by tossing these files.
Only Bridge will make use of them.

The best practice, IMO) is to keep all the files that you work on with Bridge in a folder of working files, rather than on the desktop.  This keeps the cache-file-splaying to a minimum.
Peter

[Lillian]

Hi Peter,      I am working in CS3; and Bridge Cache files wind up appearing on my desktop... is there something I can turn off/on in Bridge Preferences?  thanx, Lillian

[peterkrogh]

Lillian,
What OS are you on?
Peter

[Lillian]

windows xp

[peterkrogh]

Lillian,
There's a preference to show invisible files.  Is this turned on in your machine?
Peter

[Lillian]

where exactly do i find that preference?  just checked the cache window in Bridge preference or Cam Raw preference  and didn't see that option  and dont know where to look exactly in XP preferences - looked up Desktop properties to no avail 

[markpirozzi]

It's under View on the Mac version of Bridge.  As I remember, these files are only visible within Bridge when you select Show Hidden Files (on a  Mac).

I used a find utility to round up all the CS2 Bridge files and delete them, once switching to CS3.  Those were visible but too many to delete manually.

Mark

[andris]

Hi Lillian,

The setting Peter is talking about is a Windows setting, not a Bridge/Adobe setting. 

-To make hidden files invisible, click on the start menu and select 'My Computer.' 
-In the Windows Explorer window that pops up, choose 'Tools, Folder Options.' 
-From the folder options dialog, click on 'view' tab. 
-In the 'view' tab, click the 'Do not show hidden files and folders' radio button. 
-Click ok to close the view options and accept your changes.

That should do it...your Bridge cache files should be out of your way.

Alternately, you could uncheck the 'automatically export caches to folders when possible' setting in the Bridge preferences cache section.  That would make Bridge stop writing the cache files entirely...but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it.  Exported caches are great because they get backed up along with your folders and save processing time down the road.

Andris

[Lillian]

Hi Andris,

  Thanx  for the tip ! It definitely took away all but one Adobe cache files; except for one title Adobe Bridge cache.bct...any suggestions as to how to  take this off the desktop?   Lillian

[andris]

Hi Lillian, glad I could help.

Any .bct and .bc files you find are left over from Bridge CS2.  Bridge CS3 cache files are called .BridgeCache and .BridgeCacheT.  You can safely delete the .bct file on your desktop, and you shouldn't see it come back if you're not using CS2 any more.  My understanding is that the only time you'll lose anything by deleting a bridge cache file is if there is metadata stored in the cache that couldn't be written back to the file.  Since you probably don't even have files you're applying metadata to on your desktop, I don't think this is something to worry about.

Andris