---
id: freeing-space.what-does-working-out-how-long-that-will-take-mean
url: https://storagestudio.us/faq/freeing-space/what-does-working-out-how-long-that-will-take-mean
category: "Freeing up space"
subcategory: "Free Up Space wizard and button"
question: "Why does the progress view say \"working out how long that will take\"?"
alt_questions:
  - "No time estimate during move"
  - "How long will this take Storage Studio?"
  - "Progress bar says it's working it out"
  - "Time remaining missing in Storage Studio"
  - "Why is there no ETA yet?"
short_answer: "Storage Studio can't estimate the time yet, so it says so rather than inventing a number. Once copying is steady you'll see a plain estimate like \"12 minutes\"."
tags: ["progress", "time remaining", "moving"]
related: ["https://storagestudio.us/faq/freeing-space/what-is-the-show-progress-button", "https://storagestudio.us/faq/freeing-space/why-does-the-freed-figure-lag-behind"]
applies_to: "all"
last_reviewed: 2026-10-01
---

# Why does the progress view say "working out how long that will take"?

It means Storage Studio doesn't yet have enough information to give a sensible estimate, so it says so instead of showing a number it would only have to walk back.

Once an item is copying steadily, you get how far along it is and roughly how long is left, phrased the way a person would say it — "a few seconds", "12 minutes", "1h 20m". You don't need to watch it: moving files is a background job and carries on if you close the window. See [the Show progress button](https://storagestudio.us/faq/freeing-space/what-is-the-show-progress-button).