diff --git a/Viewer/css/layout.less b/Viewer/css/layout.less
index 95e7f3cd..35316c8d 100755
--- a/Viewer/css/layout.less
+++ b/Viewer/css/layout.less
@@ -1995,17 +1995,22 @@ progress:not(value)::-webkit-progress-bar {
 }
 .progress-bar .close {
 	display: none;
+	position: absolute;
+	top: 0px;
+	right: 7px;
+	width: 20px;
+	font-size: 20px;
+	text-align: center;
+
+	opacity: 0.3;
+	cursor: pointer;
 }
 .progress-bar:hover .close {
-	position: absolute;
 	display: inline-block;
-	right: 10px;
 }
 .progress-bar .close:hover {
-	position: absolute;
-	display: inline-block;
+	opacity: 1;
 	color: red;
-	cursor: pointer;
 }
 .progress-bar progress {
 	display: block;
diff --git a/Viewer/features/core.js b/Viewer/features/core.js
index 8e78e73a..dce10269 100755
--- a/Viewer/features/core.js
+++ b/Viewer/features/core.js
@@ -2678,14 +2678,14 @@ function(title, func){
 		action = Queued(function(items, ...args){
 			var that = this
 			// sync start...
-			if(arguments[0] == 'sync'){
+			if(arguments[0] == 'sync' || arguments[0] == 'async'){
 				var [sync, items, ...args] = arguments }
 
 			// sync mode -- run action outside of queue...
 			// NOTE: running the queue in sync mode is not practical as
 			// 		the results may depend on queue configuration and 
 			// 		size...
-			if(sync){
+			if(sync == 'sync'){
 				// pre-process args...
 				arg_handler
 					&& ([items, ...args] = 
diff --git a/Viewer/features/metadata.js b/Viewer/features/metadata.js
index 55b9c665..eefb5dcd 100755
--- a/Viewer/features/metadata.js
+++ b/Viewer/features/metadata.js
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ var MetadataReaderActions = actions.Actions({
 
 		NOTE: also see: .cacheMetadata(..)
 		`,
-		core.queueHandler('Read image metadata', 
+		core.sessionQueueHandler('Read image metadata', 
 			{quiet: true}, 
 			function(queue, image, force){
 				return [