Adobe Bridge is a wonderful tool to prepare images for inclusion in an integrated Digital Asset Management system. Because Bridge is a browser, rather than a Database DAM application, it is not the application that will be managing everything. Perhaps the best software solution for the management of an individual photographer's archives is iView MediaPro.

By using Rank and File to write the Ratings to the keywords, we have moved one step closer to integration of CS2 and iView. We can get even closer, however.

Each application, iView and Bridge, use the number keys to assign some kind of label value to the file. By setting up iView to replicate the keyboard commands of Bridge, you begin to achieve nearly seamless integration of the two applications. And by using Rank and File's iView Compatibility feature, you make that integration even closer.

I have my iView Labels set up exactly as I have my Bridge Ratings and Labels set up. The 3 key, for instance means the same thing in both applications : a 3-Star image. When I run Rank and File, the resulting DNG files import into iView rated exactly as they were in Bridge.

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