Hi Curt, thanks very much for responding. Could you be a little more explicit on the process; I'm not very tech savvy----are you saying I should go to Bridge> Favorites Tab, highlight the My Documents folder I have there, then Tools> Cache> Purge Cache For Folder "My Documents"? This rebuilds the cache so folders can be revealed in the Bridge Folders Tab? Then bring Pictures folder into Favorites and do same?

I saw after posting that you responded to a sim Q in 2009 for Pictures files. Should I follow your advice there about removing Bridge in the process tab of Task Manager before doing the above? I checked and it does look like Bridge is currently running in the background.

Purging the cache in Preferences does work--but is not a permanent fix on my system. Documents and Pictures folders both reappear in Bridge Folders after emptying the cache.The problem I still have is that after computer shut-down/restart or even sometimes after just closing Bridge the file structure reverts back, and a re-purge is necessary each time on start-up to bring back the folders.

Needless to say, this creates a significant slow down each work session as images must continually rebuild in the cache.Though since I prefer to use Bridge as a primary tool to organize image files, I'm glad to have at least this temporary way to activate the folders--thanks!  Any other additional ideas?

CORRECT and CORRECT; you have solved all aspects of this problem for me! As I've seen others in the forum with similar problems I summarize your advice here:

To retreive and keep Documents and Pictures files/folders open and accessible in Bridge CS5 with Win 7:

1. Go in Bridge>Edit>Preferences, then Cache>Purge cache, AND Bridge>Edit>Preferences>Advanced>----uncheck the "Start Bridge at Login" box

2. After this, always use File>Exit instead of red x box when exiting Bridge

If you follow these steps you should be able to retain access to these files and folders in the Bridge file tree structure.

Thank you so much! This is a big issue for me I'm glad I went on the forum; I was just going in circles on my own with the Adobe help information.

Great additional correction/clarification. Getting this issue fixed makes a monumental difference in increasing my work productivity; many thanks!