Help with CS3

[wapiti]

I'm relatively new to CS3. I'm crawling and rather slowly at that.
OK, here's the deal.
I've got images in Bridge, placed in nemerous folders. I open a folder and down at the lower left hand corner, I see: 227items 55hidden. What are the hidden items and why? Are they included in the 227images and, if not, how do I recover them?
I love CS3, but there is, to me at least, a pretty steep learning curve from Elements.
Thanks, so much, for your help in this matter.

[studiocygnet]

I've always assumed that it's some kind of file directory information, and it's not like your losing a few photos, but I don't know what the hidden items are for sure.

[TXhummer2]

Someone else pointed out this site:

http://wikivid.com/index.php/Main_page

[DigitalScape]

Bill, If you have open any of the images in ACR, then any changes/adjustments you have made in ACR are saved in sidecar files (file extension XMP). These sidecar files will be part of the "hidden files".

[Sonny]

Originally Posted by wapiti

I'm relatively new to CS3. I'm crawling and rather slowly at that.
OK, here's the deal.
I've got images in Bridge, placed in nemerous folders. I open a folder and down at the lower left hand corner, I see: 227items 55hidden. What are the hidden items and why? Are they included in the 227images and, if not, how do I recover them?
I love CS3, but there is, to me at least, a pretty steep learning curve from Elements.
Thanks, so much, for your help in this matter.

EDIT: Dangit! I started this post at 7pm. Then I was distracted by my kiddos for a while. Didn't notice John gave you the same info.

Also, if you want to learn more about using Photoshop, Bridge, Lightroom or many other apps check out Lynda.com.

Hey Bill,

Those hidden files are the Extensible Metadata Platform (.XMP) files. Basically the xmp files store all the metadata, settings, and information about the RAW files. Go to your folder where the RAW files are stored. Any RAW files you editied in ACR, should have an .xmp with the same file name. To get a better idea of what the xmp file is doing, open the xmp file in notepad.

Hope this helps,
-Sonny

[tjones0214]

I'm also a big fan of http://www.kelbytraining.com. Good luck.

[canoflan]

Sidecar files storing info on your adjustments.
You can go into your view options and unhide all files that normally are hidden.

Pat

[wapiti]

Thanks guys. I really appreciate your taking the time to assist.