If I disable the splash screen in Settings->Misc->Splash screen then digikam displays a "Finding new files" window and searches for new files. When this ends and the user interface comes up digikam is still searching for new files on the status bar and seems to be behind (started later) the initial search. Jim Shipman
If i'm not too wrong, the first stage at startup is to list all albums in collection (not items into albums) The second stage is to parse items. Gilles Caulier
Not reproducible here with current implementation. When Splash-screen is disabled, Progress Dialog indicate "Scanning Collections" which must mean to list albums, not albums content. After start-up the progress manager indicate a scan of items from albums listed previously. Gilles Caulier