--- title: "Large folders appear a page at a time" url: https://storagestudio.us/wiki/large-folders-in-finder category: "The Finder location" tags: ["finder", "cloud accounts", "performance"] summary: "In the Storage Studio location, a big folder is handed to Finder in pages rather than all at once, and a folder you've opened before appears straight away from its saved listing while a fresh one is fetched in the background." updated: 2026-10-01T05:37:32.000Z --- # Large folders appear a page at a time In the Storage Studio location, a big folder is handed to Finder in pages rather than all at once, and a folder you've opened before appears straight away from its saved listing while a fresh one is fetched in the background. Some folders in your cloud accounts hold thousands of files. In the [Storage Studio location](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/the-storage-studio-location-in-finder), Storage Studio hands a big folder to Finder in pages rather than in one huge batch, and it remembers what was in folders you've opened, so going back to them is quick. Only the list of names, sizes and dates is fetched, never the files themselves. ## The first time you open a big folder Your account has to send the whole list of what's in the folder before Finder can show it, so the first visit to a very large folder can take a while. How long depends on the account. Storage Studio waits for the full list instead of giving up partway, so Finder doesn't sit on "Loading…" for good. Once the list arrives, Storage Studio passes it to Finder a page at a time, in the page size Finder asks for, so no single hand-over is huge. ## Coming back to a folder Storage Studio keeps the listings of the folders you've opened most recently. When you open one again: 1. Finder shows the saved listing straight away. 2. Storage Studio fetches a fresh listing in the background. 3. If anything changed, Finder is told about just the differences, so new files appear and removed ones disappear without a full reload. ```mermaid %% caption: How a folder in the Storage Studio location is listed flowchart TD A[You open a folder] --> B{Has it been opened before?} B -->|Yes| C[Finder shows the saved listing at once] C --> D[A fresh listing is fetched in the background] D --> E{Did anything change?} E -->|Yes| F[Finder gets just the changes] E -->|No| G[Nothing more to do] B -->|No| H[The listing is fetched from the account] H --> I[Finder receives it a page at a time] ``` *Flowchart — How a folder in the Storage Studio location is listed. Outline:* - You open a folder - leads to Has it been opened before? - Has it been opened before? - Yes: leads to Finder shows the saved listing at once - No: leads to The listing is fetched from the account - Finder shows the saved listing at once - leads to A fresh listing is fetched in the background - A fresh listing is fetched in the background - leads to Did anything change? - Did anything change? - Yes: leads to Finder gets just the changes - No: leads to Nothing more to do - The listing is fetched from the account - leads to Finder receives it a page at a time ## Changes made somewhere else If a file is added to an account from another device or the web, Finder needs to hear about it. For folders you've opened recently on most account types, Storage Studio checks for changes in the background about every 15 minutes. On storage that charges for each request, it doesn't check in the background, because every check would cost you money; changes show up when you open the folder. ## Tips - A first visit to a folder with many thousands of items is the slowest it will ever be. Give it time; later visits are quick. - If a folder seems out of date, open it again. A fresh listing is fetched each time. - If Finder shows nothing at all for the location, see [The Storage Studio location is missing from Finder](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/the-finder-location-is-missing). See also: [Thumbnails, and why some accounts show plain icons](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/thumbnails-in-finder) · [Keep opened files on this Mac](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/keep-opened-files-on-this-mac) · [Why Storage Studio works slowly on purpose](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/a-lazy-background-utility) - **Can I see all my cloud accounts in Finder on a Mac?** Yes. Storage Studio adds a "Storage Studio" location to Finder's sidebar, with each connected cloud account and paired device as a folder inside, and a Finder button in the app's main window opens it. Files stay in the cloud until you open them. Folders you have visited open straight away and… (https://storagestudio.us/faq) - **Will opening cloud files in Finder fill up my Mac?** No. Only files you actually open are downloaded, and you choose how long they stay on your Mac once you stop using them — from not at all up to a week, 24 hours by default (and longer when the drive keeps its copies on your external drive). After that they go back to being online-only and the… (https://storagestudio.us/faq) - **Is a locked Delta Drive folder the same as Finder's Locked checkbox?** No. Finder's own Locked checkbox (in Get Info) only stops a file being changed or deleted by accident, and anyone using your Mac can untick it — it doesn't keep anyone out. A locked Delta Drive folder does: it opens only in Storage Studio on your Mac, with your 6-digit PIN and a one-time code we… (https://storagestudio.us/faq) ## What links here - [The Storage Studio location in Finder](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/the-storage-studio-location-in-finder) - [Thumbnails, and why some accounts show plain icons](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/thumbnails-in-finder)