Wow - ur thorough response & ideas MOST appreciated, ... the results, not so much
1) tried resizing advanced search dialog from fresh instance (restarted) Calibre. Did so, exited Calibre then restarted Calibre
Clicked Gear ... same delay as reported.
FYI the dialog size on restart did NOT retain the size change set before exiting Calibre. No idea if as expected
2)
did occur in version 5.2 .... CONFIRMED (also v 5.01 & 5.1 - all 64bit)
did not occur in version 4.23 (uninstall 5.2, install 4.23) ... CONFIRMED
did occur in another upgrade-install of version 5.2 ... CONFIRMED
For advanced search dialog appearance the delay is consistent & repeatable aka PITA
For format convert the delay, or none, seems to vary with # of books selected for conversion ( no confirmed relationship between # of books and whether delay is noticeable or not)
3) renamed Calibre config directory. Restarted Calibre. Waited patiently for books to load. Pressed gear and ... waited and waited for dialog to appear.
Delay with new config dir same as before.
Successfully restored my saved dir and back to where I was
I'd be remiss if I didn't reiterate my appreciation of your above & beyond efforts to help me resolve. Thanks again
My quest continues