Getting Bigger Previews

The Preview palette in the Adobe Bridge is designed to give you a larger preview of the thumbnail images that you click on in the main window. Although the Preview palette looks like a one-trick pony, there are a few hidden little features that can make it a much more useful tool.

Bigger Previews are Just a Double-Click Away

When you're in the Default Workspace (found in the View menu under Workspace), you'll see the Preview palette in the middle of the Panel areaand the preview is so small you're probably wondering why Adobe included it at all. It's because there's more to it than meets the eye (well, at least at first). You can make the preview much larger by double-clickingnot on the Preview tabbut instead directly on the Folders (or Favorites) tab above it. This will collapse (hide) the Folders palette (and the nested Favorites palette) so that only their tabs are visible, expanding the viewing area of the Preview palette upward. If you need the preview even bigger, then double-click on the Metadata (or Keywords) tab in the bottom left of the Panel area to collapse them, expanding the Preview palette even more. This works particularly well when you're viewing a portrait-oriented photo (tall rather than wide). However, when you have a photo in landscape orientation, to get the preview much larger you'll also have to expand the width of the Panel area by clicking on the center tab on the divider bar (along the right side of the Panel area) and dragging it to the right. (Note: To make any collapsed palette visible again, just double-click directly on its tab name.)

The Preview palette at default size

Collapsing the Favorites and Folders palettes

All the palettes collapsed except Preview

The view with both the top and bottom palettes collapsed and the divider bar dragged to the right to accommodate a photo in landscape orientation