Do You Keep Your Files Under Control?

Have you ever searched your work directory looking for that one particular version of a file that you need? How about finding that image that you used three projects ago that your client wants to use again? Searching your digital assets and keeping tracking of versions is a difficult and tedious process. We all wish we had an assistant who would take care of our assets for us.

Adobe to the Rescue
If you own a version of the Adobe Creative Suite (CS), then you already have Adobe’s digital assistants: Adobe Bridge and Version Cue software. Adobe designed these two programs to make it easier for small design firms to control their digital assets.

Adobe Bridge
Bridges is an asset viewer that helps you catalog and find digital assets. While it has the most control over files created in an Adobe CS project, it can help find other file formats as well. New to CS3 is a Filter tab that lets you click on or off attributes to show or hide assets. By clicking on multiple attributes, you build up your results, and vice versa.

Using Bridge, you can open a file with the software that created it or other programs that Bridge knows will open that format. You can also tag files made in most CS applications with keywords. You then use these keywords to search for particular assets.

Version Control
CS also has an answer for your check in, check out and version control needs. Version Cue server software is a true digital asset manager. It lets you create projects, track versions, revert to previous versions, check in and out files and control access on a project basis. While easy to use, it will take a little work on your part to understand it enough to be useful. However, this is true of all asset management software. Version Cue could be a great deal for small shops that don’t have full-time information technology experts.

It’s Up to You
Adobe has made a laudable effort to provide asset searching, cataloging and management tools for CS users. It’s up to you to implement these tools to help you manage your most precious assets.