Camera RAW missing from Bridge CS3

[David Kennedy]

The ability to edit Camera RAW preferences has dropped out of my installation of Bridge CS3 on my desktop computer. This happened recently to my laptop (both computers are PCs--the tower is Vista and the laptop is XP), and after a full uninstall/reinstall, the option came back.

However, for my desktop computer, I have un-installed and reinstalled Photoshop CS3, and used Adobe's own CS3 "wipe utility" to clear out all things CS3, and Bridge still does not have "Camera RAW Prefs" under the "Edit" menu, nor can it host camera RAW. If I double-click a RAW file, it automatically launches Photoshop to host ACR. I have reinstalled CS3 on my tower about fix times over the last two days to try to get it to come back, like it did on my laptop after one try.

I've Googled this subject at length, scoured the Adobe Forums for help, and while I have found many postings and articles with the same question I am posting here, no one actually seems to have a solution. Someone at Adobe just asked for "log files" to try to assess the situation, but that posting was quite old and, despite the updates to Photoshop, Bridge, and Camera RAW (and yes, I've updated all three with every re-installation), there have been no posted fixes for this bug. I have re-set the preferences for Bridge about a million times, as well as purged its cache. (You can reset "all" preferences by holding down CTRL-ALT-SHIFT while Bridge is loading.)

Has anyone else had this problem? If so, have you found a solution that isn't re-installing? Because I don't know how many more times I can do that without ripping my hair out.

If only the master preferences for ACR was not supposed to be in the Bridge menu, but could be edited within the ACR window itself. But that would make too much sense for Adobe :)

[Robert O'Toole]

David,

Sorry to hear about your problem, I have been there before with other problems.

Havent heard this one before though. Is the menu item grayed out or completely gone?

2 questions come to mind.

What version bridge? 4.3?

also did you use the windows uninstaller removal script? http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301


Robert

[David Kennedy]

Robert,
The Camera RAW preferences is completely missing from Bridge on my desktop computer. Like I said, I just had this problem on my laptop and a re-install fixed it. There are actually a few Adobe Forums threads about it, plus a Google search will come up with other people who have the same problem. Basically, Bridge CS3 is a P.O.S. :)

Here are some particularly irate people with the same problem! (http://www.adobeforums.com/webx/.3bc3b5b8).

I tried the Windows Installer Script that you linked to and removed every Adobe program I have. After a re-install of Photoshop CS3, Bridge is still missing the Camera RAW prefs. from the Edit Menu. I've tried updating it and then clearing out all general preferences (CTRL-ALT-SHIFT at start-up) and it's still effed up. I think I'm going to live with it. I've also tried removing and re-installing manually Camera RAW 4.3.1.

For the most part I use Camera RAW as a part of Lightroom, but every now and then it's nice to open a file straight from Bridge. Bridge CS2 had it's problems, but was largely usable; Bridge CS3 is really just crap. C'est la vie.

Thanks for your suggestion--it was worth a try!

[David Kennedy]

The epic saga continues--in the event anyone shares this problem. No solution yet, but there are other reported cases:

http://www.adobeforums.com/webx?128@@.3c05df6a

[Robert Amoruso]

thanks for the link David. I never had this happen before.

[Alfred Forns]

David the only thing I can think of is removing and doing a clean install? Should work !!! Sometimes is a better choice than calling tech support !!!

[David Kennedy]

Alfred,
Sadly, that doesn't yield results. I've reinstalled 5 times! I've just learned to live with it.

Whoever decided that the Camera RAW preferences should be available only through Bridge was an idiot!!!!!!!!

[E.J. Peiker]

This is usually due to not installing an ACR update correctly. If you put it in the Adobe folder it will be in the wrong place. Follow the instructions in the Adobe forums for installation very carefully - note that the ACR file DOES NOT go the Photoshop CS3 folder or any of its subfolders. Instead it goes in the Common Files Folder under Programs/Adobe/Plugins/CS3/FileFormats. There is a nearly duplicate folder structure under Programs/Adobe and it doesn't belong there. An uninstallation won't solve this because unistalling CS3 only uninstalls the files in the Adobe Folder and its subfolders.

Additionally you now have an incorrect registry entry. You will need to remove the bad registry entries with a program like Registry Mecahnic which will automate the process. Don't do this until you remove the file that is in the incorrect place in ACR.

[David Kennedy]

E.J.,
I wish it was that easy...

I know (and knew) where CS3 loads Camera RAW in Common Files, and I've gone through the process of deleting absolutely everything--and before you assume otherwise: yes, I have Windows set to display "Hidden Folders." And as much as I appreciate your help, I will ask that you revisit my initial post regarding registry items: I've run the CS3 wipe utility multiple times. Really called Adobe CS3 Clean Script, this Adobe program was designed to eliminate all registry entries for the CS3 beta programs before their launch, but it works for the current versions as well (http://www.adobe.com/support/contact/cs3clean.html). The first time I did this, I double-checked that it removed the listings by opening up RegEdit, which means I've spent some quality time hitting "F3" for the next search result for "Adobe." It was mind numbing.

Note that others have the exact same problem documented on the Adobe Forums. It's not user error, especially when you consider that this has happened on multiple computers, including my laptop (which I fixed, but it's running XP as opposed to Vista on my desktop). And people have often been able to fix it by resetting all Bridge preferences (as I mentioned earlier), but that is not working on my Vista system. Fun times.

This is a problem that I occasionally ran into with CS2, but it was nowhere near as difficult to fix as it seems to be with CS3--even my laptop was a bit of a P-I-T-A with CS3, but at least it is fixed. My Vista machine seems far more stubborn--more stubborn than I am, as I rarely decide to "live with it" when it comes to problems. But Mac users report similar instances of this problem, so it's an equal-opportunity bug.

[Chris Ober]

Same thing happened to me on a laptop I've been using. A remove and reinstall was able to fix it.

[Alfred Forns]

Chris were you also using Windows?

[Chris Ober]

Yes. Windows XP.

[Rene A]

This might be an option...in both XP & Vista a restore from the earlier points??? I had that problem with CS3 os Vista Ultimate 64 and use "restore" to a very earlier date in "Safe Mode" and it worked.

[David Kennedy]

This might be an option...in both XP & Vista a restore from the earlier points??? I had that problem with CS3 os Vista Ultimate 64 and use "restore" to a very earlier date in "Safe Mode" and it worked.

Sadly, that's out of the question for my problem--restore points disappear after a while, and I have no idea when the option disappeared. Probably back in October or November for all I know. It's rare that one needs to open up Camera RAW preferences. The only reason I'm really missing that option at the moment is that I use what is now called Expression Media (formerly iView Media Pro) for my older RAW files (up through 2007--2008 will be Lightroom only--and Expression Media only plays nicely with Camera RAW / Lightroom adjustments if the RAW files are DNG with the embedded JPEG preview.

Inside of the Camera RAW preferences dialog box, there's an option always to update this preview whenever the settings are modified. I'd like to enable that option on my desktop, but without the Camera RAW prefs, I can only update the preview manually, file-by-file. For one image, it's OK, and I'm living with it. But sometimes I'm re-opening multiple files and would like them all to update when I click "done," and that ain't happenin' at the moment :(