File selector extremely slow

[Hugo Squelch]

When you try to upload/download a file in an application (e.g. Firefox, Signal, etc) the file selector that opens is extremely slow to appear, search and change directory.

Often times, if I try to search for a file in it, I have to wait 10 or more second before the letters I typed appear, and most of the time the last letter I pressed when typing, will appear before the rest of what I wrote, meaning I have to wait for my query to be deleted before I re-type it again.

This has only just started since upgrading to Ubuntu 23.04. I noticed that Nautilus has been faster in general since the update, but in the file selector specifically, it's become unusable.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 23.04
Package: nautilus 1:44.0-1ubuntu2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 6.2.0-20.20-generic 6.2.6
Uname: Linux 6.2.0-20-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia_modeset nvidia
ApportVersion: 2.26.1-0ubuntu2
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: pass
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Thu May 4 20:39:48 2023
InstallationDate: Installed on 2022-10-22 (194 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 22.10 "Kinetic Kudu" - Release amd64 (20221020)
SourcePackage: nautilus
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to lunar on 2023-04-21 (13 days ago)
usr_lib_nautilus:
 file-roller 43.0-1
 nautilus-extension-gnome-terminal 3.48.0-1ubuntu1
 python3-nautilus 4.0-1build1

[Hugo Squelch (nose-gnome)]

I would like to add, that waiting for file upload window to open is slower than file download, I think

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Andres Hernandez (cybereality)]

I also have this issue. The first time the file dialog opens (e.g. in Firefox, when you right-click and do save as on an image) the dialog appears instantly. However, each subsequent file save seems to take exponentially longer. To the second time it's 1 second, then 2 seconds, 5 seconds, and keeps going until it's like 1 minute (at this point I stop). Strangely, if I then attempt to open Nautilus (through the OS menu) then Nautilus also takes 10 seconds or whatever to open. However (with Firefox still open) if I do save as at that point, then it becomes instant for the first save (and then continues to increase as before). Is there any information I can provide to assist in solving this?

[Alon Diamant (advance512)]

I also have this issue. It is so, so, so slow. This did not happen with older versions of Ubuntu.

[jon1012 (jonathan-schemoul)]

Same here... It's been months and it makes my desktop nearly unusable after a day or so... And I need to reboot to fix.

It gets slower and slower with each use of the file selector.

[Chip Hart (2-cdip-a)]

Same issue. It also appears that "larger" directories (with more files, subdirs) take longer to open than "smaller" ones. I don't think I noticed the problem until moving to 23.X.

[Khalid Abu Shawarib (khalid-shawarib)]

File chooser is currently in GTK, not nautilus.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Is that still an issue in Ubuntu 24.04? Do you also get the problem in newer applications like gnome-text-editor?

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Lei Mao (dukeleimao)]

Any follow-up? The new UI is terribly slow.

[Rick (rroever)]

I'm also encountering this error. It makes uploading any more than two files to a server a torturous workflow.

[Pedro Miguel Baptista Machado (pedrmachado)]

I am having the same exact problem.

[Vlad Beskrovnyy (vlad20012)]

Same with 24.04

```
apt list --installed | grep nautilus

libnautilus-extension4/noble-updates,now 1:46.2-0ubuntu0.2 amd64 [installed,automatic]
nautilus-data/noble-updates,noble-updates,now 1:46.2-0ubuntu0.2 all [installed,automatic]
nautilus-extension-gnome-terminal/noble,now 3.52.0-1ubuntu2 amd64 [installed,automatic]
nautilus-sendto/noble,now 3.8.6-7build2 amd64 [installed,automatic]
nautilus/noble-updates,now 1:46.2-0ubuntu0.2 amd64 [installed,automatic]
```

[Vlad Beskrovnyy (vlad20012)]

Basically, not only file selector is slow, but nautilus itself is slow. It takes couple of seconds to open a directory with 20 files. Even if I disable thumbnails and directory items counting. `ls -la` works instantly in the same directories.

This started to happen only after update from 22.04 to 24.04

[as (ip413as3)]

Saving files, uploading, and selecting is so slow, that working with Ubuntu is unbearable. I can't understand why so basic features have to be so buggy on linux. And Ubuntu seems to be the most reliable option. :(

Linux 6.8.0-45-generic
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=24.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=noble
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS"
PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS"
NAME="Ubuntu"
VERSION_ID="24.04"
VERSION="24.04.1 LTS (Noble Numbat)"
VERSION_CODENAME=noble
ID=ubuntu
ID_LIKE=debian

[Tim Blackmore (fywsu)]

I'm also having this issue with the gtk file selector after upgrading from 22.04 to 24.04.

Nautilus was also very slow to open folders with many files, switched to Nemo because it was too frustrating. Can't seem to do anything about the file selector though.

[Vlad Beskrovnyy (vlad20012)]

Surprisingly, this seems to help with the issue:

sudo apt remove xdg-desktop-portal-gnome

[Meawoppl (meawoppl)]

Wow. I have been having this problem for some time as well. I generally noticed it when opening `~/Downloads` from chrome, but file pickers were similarly slow.

The suggestion from comment #18 fixed this -immediately-.

[jakamo (jakamo)]

I'm sorry to say, comment #18 did nothing for me. This is an ongoing and annoying problem.

[SpencerDub (southwest23)]

I am also affected. I upgraded from 22.04 in the last month, and was not having this problem at all pre-upgrade.

[Edu (riotbr)]

I have the same problem on Ubuntu 24.04.2 when using Firefox (136.0.3) or Chrome (134.0.6998.165).

Sometimes file selection (including folder navigation), whether for download or upload, takes so long that the system reports failure in both browsers and asks if I want to wait or quit.

[AnGus (ozsolarwind)]

I also have the same problem on Ubuntu 24.04.2 when accessing files with Files, saving files in Chrome, Thunderbird, ...

I did the suggestion in comment #18 and it may have made a marginal improvement (hard to tell with the variable nature of this issue) but certainly hasn't fully resolved it

[Maeda-san (maeda6uiui)]

I also had the same problem on Zorin OS, and the suggestion from #18 fixed it.
It's been a while since I tried that fix, but the steps are as follows if my memory serves:

1. `sudo apt remove xdg-desktop-portal-gnome`
2. Log out and then log in

```
$ cat /etc/os-release
PRETTY_NAME="Zorin OS 17.3"
NAME="Zorin OS"
VERSION_ID="17"
VERSION="17.3"
VERSION_CODENAME=jammy
ID=zorin
ID_LIKE="ubuntu debian"
HOME_URL="https://zorin.com/os/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://help.zorin.com/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://zorin.com/os/feedback/"
PRIVACY_POLICY_URL="https://zorin.com/legal/privacy/"
UBUNTU_CODENAME=jammy
```

[Maeda-san (maeda6uiui)]

I observed this issue when opening a file selector in Chrome and Firefox.
It took about 10 seconds to open a file selector, and moving to a subdirectory also took several seconds.
This issue didn't occur in other applications such as gedit and Files, so it may be different from the one discussed here.

Plus, judging from the fact that removing the GNOME implementation for xdg-desktop-portal solved the issue in my case, is it an issue of xdg-desktop-portal-gnome rather than GTK?
It seems I'm currently using the GTK implementation.

```
$ apt list --installed | grep xdg-desktop-portal

WARNING: apt does not have a stable CLI interface. Use with caution in scripts.

xdg-desktop-portal-gtk/jammy,now 1.14.0-1build1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
xdg-desktop-portal/jammy-updates,now 1.14.4-1ubuntu2~22.04.2 amd64 [installed,automatic]
```

[Hadesdarklord (hadesdarklord)]

Same Issue - 24.04 - #18 fixed it

[dk (ubuntuenjoyer123)]

Made an account just to praise comment #18, it indeed fixed the issue.
I did have to restart for it to take effect though.

Version: 24.04.2

[fedoen (fedoen)]

Confirming comment #18 worked for me, so much better after 1 full year of pain.