diff --git a/Viewer/features/core.js b/Viewer/features/core.js
index 3ae84b38..dc47e1df 100755
--- a/Viewer/features/core.js
+++ b/Viewer/features/core.js
@@ -2366,13 +2366,35 @@ function(func){
 // 			ExampleActions.exampleTask(..)
 // 			ExampleActions.exampleSessionTask(..)
 
+
+//
+// NOTE: we can pass sync/async to this in two places, in definition:
+// 			var action = taskAction('some title', 'sync', function(..){ .. })
+// 		or
+// 			var action = taskAction('sync', 'some title', function(..){ .. })
+//
+// 		and on call:
+// 			action('sync', ..)
+//
+// 		during the later form 'sync' is passed to .Task(..) in the correct
+// 		position...
+// 		(see ig-types' runner.TaskManager(..) for more info)
 var taskAction =
 module.taskAction =
 function(title, func){
+	var pre_args = [...arguments]
+	func = pre_args.pop()
+	title = pre_args
+		.filter(function(t){ 
+			return t != 'sync' && t != 'async' })
+		.pop()
+
 	var action
 	return (action = object.mixin(
 		Task(function(...args){
-			return this.tasks.Task(title, func.bind(this), ...args) }),
+			if(args[0] == 'sync' || args[0] == 'async'){
+				pre_args = [args.shift(), title] }
+			return this.tasks.Task(...pre_args, func.bind(this), ...args) }),
 		{
 			__task_title__: title,
 			toString: function(){
diff --git a/Viewer/features/sharp.js b/Viewer/features/sharp.js
index 3ae08093..2f2ef2f8 100755
--- a/Viewer/features/sharp.js
+++ b/Viewer/features/sharp.js
@@ -861,8 +861,7 @@ module.Sharp = core.ImageGridFeatures.Feature({
 		// XXX this is best done in a thread + needs to be abortable (on .load(..))...
 		[['loadImages', 
 				'loadNewImages'],
-			function(){
-				this.cacheMetadata('all') }],
+			'cacheMetadata: "all"'],
 		//*/
 
 		// set orientation if not defined...
@@ -879,8 +878,11 @@ module.Sharp = core.ImageGridFeatures.Feature({
 				var that = this
 				// NOTE: as this directly affects the visible lag, this 
 				// 		must be as fast as possible...
+				// NOTE: running .cacheMetadata(..) in sync mode here forces
+				// 		the image to update before it gets a change to be 
+				// 		drawn...
 				;((this.images[gid] || {}).metadata || {}).ImageGridMetadata
-					|| this.cacheMetadata(gid, false) 
+					|| this.cacheMetadata('sync', gid, false) 
 						.then(function([res]){
 							res 
 								&& that.logger 
diff --git a/Viewer/package-lock.json b/Viewer/package-lock.json
index 7795db28..16d9be8d 100755
--- a/Viewer/package-lock.json
+++ b/Viewer/package-lock.json
@@ -1110,9 +1110,9 @@
       "integrity": "sha512-9kZM80Js9/eTwXN9VXwLDC1wDJ7gIAdYU9GIzb5KJmNcLAMaW+zhgFrwFFMrcSfggUuadgnqSrS41E4XLe8JZw=="
     },
     "ig-types": {
-      "version": "5.0.17",
-      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/ig-types/-/ig-types-5.0.17.tgz",
-      "integrity": "sha512-A4qzL3t+usOnPx7tu+ieUDQIDUBEocouv7O6aBbLTcleDM5VNDOrdswfThNk3PSoP1bTSLmQV9LWsBRG1qVXiA==",
+      "version": "5.0.18",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/ig-types/-/ig-types-5.0.18.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-8c16slG/J0qC9oYW1Mx6oSriEYKEY/HLs4SvgWDLqac/qx/nMaa6HlEUA/fi+whGxvTk03t4s/IKca+MKWV9oQ==",
       "requires": {
         "ig-object": "^5.4.12",
         "object-run": "^1.0.1"
diff --git a/Viewer/package.json b/Viewer/package.json
index 50cdb31a..a6ab2f98 100755
--- a/Viewer/package.json
+++ b/Viewer/package.json
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@
     "ig-argv": "^2.15.0",
     "ig-features": "^3.4.2",
     "ig-object": "^5.4.12",
-    "ig-types": "^5.0.17",
+    "ig-types": "^5.0.18",
     "moment": "^2.29.1",
     "object-run": "^1.0.1",
     "requirejs": "^2.3.6",