CC Libraries Adds Groups, Notes, and Other New Features

Steve Werner

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In the middle of the many major announcements at Adobe MAX 2018, an unheralded update has also come to CC Libraries. This update gives you the ability to add subfolders to a CC Library which you can name the way you like by using a new feature called Groups.

Other new features include:

• The ability to order assets within groups and groups within a library
• The ability to add searchable notes to CC Library assets
• Higher resolution previews of library assets in newly updated Adobe Bridge 2019

This follows another “silent” update in May 2018 which added a new Libraries panel in Bridge 2018 and the ability to export and import CC Libraries in all applications. You can read more about that update here.

The October 2018 update probably arrived with the newest version of the Creative Cloud desktop app, version 4.7.0.400, which you can check in the desktop app Preferences on its panel menu. You can force the desktop app to refresh itself by pressing Command+Option+ R/Ctrl+Alt+R. This quits and reopens the desktop app. This should give you access to the update.

Creating Groups within CC Libraries

Until now, your only way to organize assets in CC Libraries has been to create additional libraries and move assets between libraries. There was no way to create subfolders within a library. That has now changed with the addition of the Group feature.

To create a new Group, click the Create Group folder icon at the bottom of the panel. You’ll be given the opportunity to name the group. A reminder will appear to tell you to switch to View by Groups at the top of the panel to view groups. The alternative is View by Type which organizes assets into their categories (Graphics, Paragraph Styles, etc.)

Figure 1: Clicking the folder icon at the bottom of the CC Libraries panel lets you create a new group.

You can drag assets into the group or right-click on an asset and choose Add to Group and select a group name or choose to create a new group.

Working with CC Library Groups

In View in Groups mode, groups (with their assets) appear at the top of a library above ungrouped assets.

You can manage groups using a menu at the top right of the group. Choices include copying or moving their assets to another library, renaming or deleting the group (the contents then are ungrouped), or deleting the group and its contents.

Figure 2: A menu at the top right of a group lets you copy, move or otherwise manage group assets.

Ordering Assets and Groups

Previously, you had no control of the order of assets in a library. Now, you can drag and drop assets within a group or between groups to specify the order. By default, the assets are ordered according to the time they were added. You’ll see the order you establish in all your applications and also if they are shared with collaborators.

Similarly, you can drag to change the order of groups within a library. That order will also be visible across applications and to all collaborators. Ungrouped assets will appear below the groups.

Figure 3: You can drag to reorder assets within a group. This will appear the same in all applications and to all collaborators.

Adding a Note to an Asset

In earlier versions of CC Libraries, there was no way to store information with assets. Now you can add a note to provide a brief description of the asset or how it is to be used.

To create a note, right-click on an asset and choose Add Note. Enter note text up to 130 characters.

Figure 4: Notes can be added to assets to describe them or tell how to use them.

Assets with notes can be recognized by the note icon on their corner. You can also read the note when you hover over the asset.

Figure 5: Assets with notes have a note icon at the bottom left. Hover your cursor over the note icon to see the note text in a tool tip.

Notes are also searchable. You can search for them by content when you choose Search All Libraries in the search field at the top of the CC Libraries panel.

Bridge CC 2019 Adds High-Resolution Library Previews

My previous article about the May 2018 Bridge CC 2018.1 update mentioned that Bridge could provide an easy way to add assets in batch to a library, rather than adding one-by-one.

Another advantage has been in added in the CC 2019 update: Bridge now displays a high-quality preview of library items (selected in its Libraries panel) when you view them in the Bridge Preview panel. You can also preview more than one asset at a time by selecting multiple assets in the Library panel.

Figure 6: When you select assets in the Bridge CC 2019 Libraries panel you can now view a high-resolution preview in the Preview panel.