DO is very slow when opening folders with lots (thousands) of files and folders. As said in other threads some columns (for example Number of files, Description, Width, or Height) will cause DO to read parts of the files.
Sometimes I do need one or more of those columns. The way to add them is to browse through the context menu and search for the desired column. This is not very efficient when because there are a lot of options.
It would be a nice option when you could disable the column by right clicking it and choose disable (like you now can choose remove).
When the column is disabled no data is read when opening a folder. Now it's easy to enable the column by right clicking.
After a new visit the column should be disabled again if set in Folder Formats (would be a new option).
If this is to complicated maybe a Favorites menu, where you put the columns you use the most, would makes things also a bit easier. But I prefer a disable option.
You can already do that using simple commands, and in fact there already is a menu for that purpose which you can edit to change which columns it offers:
But it's probably easier to just right-click the columns you don't want and choose remove to get rid of them, and then when you want to revert back to normal later, click the current folder name in the location field to trigger a re-read & format reset (or use the "Reset to folder's format" option which is in a couple of places or can be assigned to other buttons or hotkeys).
Looking at the blue circle, it always seems to spin for me and at times, it really can be annoying to have the system "rattle" because of specific script columns being enabled even though you currently don't really care about them.
Enabling/disabling columns with a single click/right click would be much easier than removing them and bringing them back later by choosing a folder format or re-reading the directory, especially if you have selections "going" or a specific scroll position to loose.
What about following variation: the columns in question could be set to be "asleep" in normal mode (in the folder options), maybe indicated by a grey color of the column header. A click on the header would "wake" them up, when needed.
Of course we already have commands to toggle columns on & off, but i also like the idea.
That's what I suggested. Setting the enable/disable mode, or sleep mode as you wish, in Folder Formats, so you can choose the default behaviour when using or resetting a folder format. A right click or left click+modifier key toggles the use of the column.
Leo's suggestion to remove the columns is not optimal because the first time you use a folder format al columns are going to be read. After removing the columns it is not a specific folder format anymore but a random non-saved selection of columns.
That would also be true if you disabled some of the columns. You would no longer be viewing the original folder format. (Same is true as soon as you sort by a column or move a column to another position. It's no longer the original folder format.)
Why would you want disabled columns taking up space and not showing anything in the space, rather than removing them and making more space available for other information?
True. But at the moment there is no option to set the default status of a column. If I can set some columns to disabled I don't need to change anything after loading a Folder Format.
[quote](Same is true as soon as you sort by a column or move a column to another position. It's no longer the original folder format.)
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Sorting does indeed change the original folder format BUT it's also a toggle. A kind of toggle I like to see for enabling/disabling a column.
Space is not an issue for me with the big monitors I'm using (and DO is not even maximized). In addition, these columns are at the end (in my situation) so when I'm on a laptop they don't take any space either.
I'd rather not disable columns anyway but because of the blue circle (the slow reading of folders that is) I had to delete some of them. But sometimes I do need those columns. As stated in my first post enabling the columns is the fastest way to do that. If only there was such an option...
The problem is I sometimes have to. It slows DO down and sometimes (nearly) freezes DO.
Besides the advice to disable some shell extensions the other advice is to disable columns that have to read folder/file info. Like in this old post. It was the first I could find but I know there are also recent posts about this subject. I saw one last week where the same advice was given: disable those columns.
I never had so much trouble with it. It all started with version 12.4.4. Then the problem also arose that when searching in directories with many files DO completely froze. I'm using 12.5.1 now but it still feels more sluggish than before.
Why not turn the columns off by default, then have a button, or something in the right-click menu off the column header, or wherever is convenient, to quickly turn them on when needed?
Populating columns in the background definitely should not cause freezes so if that is happening it would be better to find the cause and fix it (whether it be something on your system or something we need to change in our code).
Are we talking about any kinds of files which antivirus scanners might be interested in? (e.g. Large exe or archive files.) They can cause the whole process to freeze while they scan files sometimes.
We can suggest other ways to investigate that if needed, but please start a new thread for it if it is something you want to look into with us.
