Feature: Icon Caching

[chmichael]

What feature or improvement do you think would benefit Files?

Hello,
It seems files is refreshing icons every time you open a folder which causing a delay.
Caching them like Windows Explorer will make it faster. (or use windows icon caching)

Thank you

Requirements

Caching to a SQLite db or use the icons from windows explorer cache.

Files Version

3.9

Windows Version

Windows 11 24H2

Comments

No response

[Josh65-2201]

Thanks for the feedback, caching wouldn't help see #16755 (comment)
However the icon loading only happens after the folder is loaded and opening a new folder will stop the icon loading for the previous folder.

[yaira2]

Thank you for your feedback, we're working on improving performance and progress is being tracked in #4180. Thumbnails are a tricky one as caching them in Files increases memory usage significantly and is not always faster than loading from the shell.

[chmichael]

Showing the "Common" Folder icon for folders is slow compared to Windows Explorer.
"Common" Folder (📂) is essentially 1 icon the same almost for the majority of folders.

Seems the "Files" isn't scanning all the icons of the items when you open a folder rather wait the user to scroll in
order to update them which make it look sluggish!

As far it increases memory usage significantly i prefer to use more RAM to have more responsive UI!

Thank you

[yaira2]

"Common" Folder (📂) is essentially 1 icon the same almost for the majority of folders.

Many folder thumbnails display a preview of the folder contents. Even if most folders shared the same icon, adding the logic to check each item for a custom icon would complicate the code and slow down performance (we've tried this in the past).

Seems the "Files" isn't scanning all the icons of the items when you open a folder rather wait the user to scroll in
order to update them which make it look sluggish!

I acknowledge that performance can be improved, and we are seeking ways to enhance thumbnail performance. Please refer to #4180 for further updates in this area.