XY unusable slow with many files in a folder -- when extra info (MP3 tags, size...) is shown

[rpnfan]

As long as the 64-bit version doesn't have multithreading, use custom columns and make sure that the trigger is set to "List" or tag your items with the necessary infos and let the info display from the tag database...

Thanks, I tried to find the "list" setting, but even with AI-search I was not able to find the relevant setting.

[highend]

In the custom column properties?

[rpnfan]

In the custom column properties?

I found it. Again the problem was that XY namings are everything but self-explaining. I had the column configured as "Property" or "Special Property" (whatever the difference is between these two). Because "Skip Custom Columns" disables the display of the property column as well I was under the wrong impression that I was using a "custom column". But "custom column" is likely a third way to define a column.

I really love XY in many ways, but I find it one of the hardest programs to use I know. Often things are named different than what I would expect -- or like in that case -- several options which are somehow similar and maybe they are in reality the same, or slightly different. But it is not clear what the difference is. XY is super powerful and for that reason cannot be super simple to use for all cases. But relative simple needs should be relative simple to achieve, which often they are not.

Back to my problem. It seems when I have "Album" as a property selected I do not have the option to define the trigger!?

So my workaround is likely to be to define a "custom column", which just displays the album tag, so I can choose the trigger for the column. Why isn't that an option for "Property" columns?

EDIT: I tried the "custom column" set to album with the trigger "list". That improves the handling a tiny bit. Thanks. Still hoping for a real solution to allow XY to handle large file collections smooth.

[admin]

I really love XY in many ways, but I find it one of the hardest programs to use I know. Often things are named different than what I would expect...

It's the first time I've heard that. As you know, I'm always here to improve the app. How should I know about such a problem if nobody complains? If you have a suggestion that fits well within XY's terminological ecosystem, let's hear it.

[rpnfan]

I really love XY in many ways, but I find it one of the hardest programs to use I know. Often things are named different than what I would expect...

It's the first time I've heard that. As you know, I'm always here to improve the app. How should I know about such a problem if nobody complains? If you have a suggestion that fits well within XY's terminological ecosystem, let's hear it.

I am just a user, and would need to know the ins and outs of the program to make meaningful suggestions. Like explained I do not understand why in this case there seem to be 3 different ways to define what a column displays, what makes that "custom" and how those methods differ. So I cannot suggest a name for these.

But I already mentioned an inconsistency I stumbled over. "Skip Custom Columns" acting on more than real user defined custom columns (in the settings dialog). I also wrote that "skip" in that context is not clear enough on its own. It is in fact a toggle "do not display / display" _this_ column, regardless if it is a custom column or however it is defined.

I did not take notes about my other questions I had, but gave up at one point when several attempts, with searching in the help files, asking several AI search engines (Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot) did not help to find a solution either.