Today’s Question: Regarding Adobe Bridge being free, does it give access to Adobe’s editing software?
Tim’s Quick Answer: No, if you’re using Adobe Bridge without a paid Creative Cloud account you don’t have access to any of the photo-editing applications from Adobe. That includes not being able to access Camera Raw from within Adobe Bridge unless you’ve paid for a Creative Cloud plan.
More Detail: As mentioned in an earlier Ask Tim Grey answer, you can use the Adobe Bridge browser and organizing software completely free just by creating a free Adobe ID. However, you won’t have access to other editing applications from Adobe such as Photoshop, Camera Raw, or Lightroom Classic, unless you sign up for a paid Creative Cloud subscription.
You could obviously sign up for the Adobe Creative Cloud Photography Plan subscription to gain access to Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom Classic. You could also purchase a copy of Adobe Photoshop Elements (which does not require a subscription) if you wanted to use the Photoshop Elements Editor in conjunction with Adobe Bridge for organizing your photos.
You could also use Adobe Bridge in conjunction with any other application that allows for direct photo editing, using Bridge to organize your photos and the other software to optimize your photos. That includes applications such as Affinity Photo, Luminar NEO, Capture One Pro, ON1 Photo Raw, and many more.
