Requested better support for folders containing many files

[ryan200]

i would like to request that the program would become responsive faster after opening a picture in a folder with 15,000 or more files.

for me if i open a picture in a folder containing about 16,000 pictures it takes about 8 seconds before the program responds to a button being clicked.

i found if i change load custom file types to a file not in the directory it works fast like normal, except i have removed a major function in the program the next file button, perhaps there is another way to get your program to open a file and become responsive quicklly and still be able to use the back and forward buttons?

thanks for considering this as an addition to your otherwise awesome program.

[RottenImp]

Open folder where the images 100k

You really need to have all 100000 images in a single folder?

I want to open a single image

Try disable options - properties - browsing - view all.

, but the application "busy" for a few seconds.

I think the IV gets a list of files.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

Why the Windows Image Viewer- is a super-fast - only 500 millisecond (open / close)

Because it is reading previously generated thumbnails from a hidden file.

[Mij]

This subject has been discussed previously.

The problem is that Irfanview normally loads not just the image file that you select but also prepares a list of every other file in the same folder. The list allows you to Browse easily through all the other files without having to find and load each one separately. As you have discovered though preparing that list can take a long time if you have many thousands of files in the folder.
You can load just one file but there is otherwise no easy way that you can load only part of a folder. If you prepare a list of files yourself you can use a Command line option to launch Irfanview with just those files, but that is not a solution for most users because you need to write a script file to do it.

I started a little project in the Script files section of the forum to write a program that would do this. You can find it here.
I developed it to be used as an icon that replaced a normal Irfanview shortcut. You can then select a bunch of files from Explorer to drag and drop onto the shortcut and launch Irfanview with just those files loaded.
It proved useful for other purposes too and I posted in the Technical section here a thread on using it on a USB stick to support a portable version of Irfanview that you can take out and use on a computer that does not have Irfanview installed.

You do not need to know anything about Script files to use it and I would be happy to advise anyone who would like to give it a try for either of the above purposes, on the best version to use and what to do with it.

[Mij]

Please exactly understand,
I do not open thousands of files!
I open just a single image, and so terribly slow!

You may open (and display) just a single image but I think you are probably still opening thousands of files.
I do not know why Irfanview has to open every file in the folder but I think it does and that is why it takes such a long time. Clearly it must open each file if you have asked it to sort by Exif date but it is not clear to me why it would need to do so if you are just sorting by Name.

I do not understand your description of how you are trying to open a single image without opening all the other files too, but the only way I know how to do that, unless you use a script file as I described in my previous post, is to uncheck the option to "View all files ...", which is what RottenImp tried to tell you in his post.

To make that method clear I have attached a picture to illustrate. You need to clear the box in the Properties/Options dialog as shown (1) by clicking on it. The Properties/Options box can be opened from the Options menu (2). When the dialog opens select the Browsing/Editing tab. After clearing the "View all files.." check box click the OK button to close the dialog and save your choice.
Now when you open an image in Irfanview only one image and one file will be opened. The File index box (3) will show 0/0 and you will not be able to Browse to any other image in the folder.