diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 3e1a979..2c9cf73 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 * Preserve state after switching to another tab (#56).
 * Find view: ask for confirmation before negligently deleting documents when the user has clicked the '-' button (#58).
 * Build script recreates the build output directory after it has been removed (#62).
-
+* Set a deadline for counting documents, and added a button to count documents if the deadline has been exceeded.
 ## [v0.2.2]
 
 * Added Excel export format (#46).
diff --git a/frontend/src/organisms/connection/collection/find.svelte b/frontend/src/organisms/connection/collection/find.svelte
index 2df4e68..0034c6c 100644
--- a/frontend/src/organisms/connection/collection/find.svelte
+++ b/frontend/src/organisms/connection/collection/find.svelte
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
   import applicationSettings from '$lib/stores/settings';
   import views from '$lib/stores/views';
   import { convertLooseJson, stringCouldBeID } from '$lib/strings';
-  import { FindItems, RemoveItemById, UpdateFoundDocument } from '$wails/go/app/App';
+  import { CountItems, FindItems, RemoveItemById, UpdateFoundDocument } from '$wails/go/app/App';
   import { EJSON } from 'bson';
 
   export let collection;
@@ -26,11 +26,13 @@
 
   let form = { ...defaults };
   let result = {};
+  let countResult = {};
   let submittedForm = {};
   let queryField;
   let activePath = [];
   let objectViewerData;
   let querying = false;
+  let counting = false;
   let objectViewerSuccessMessage = '';
   let viewsForCollection = {};
 
@@ -71,6 +73,17 @@
     querying = false;
   }
 
+  async function countItems() {
+    counting = true;
+    countResult = await CountItems(
+      collection.hostKey,
+      collection.dbKey,
+      collection.key,
+      convertLooseJson(form.query) || defaults.query
+    );
+    counting = false;
+  }
+
   async function refresh() {
     if ($applicationSettings.autosubmitQuery) {
       await submitQuery();
@@ -290,11 +303,26 @@
     </div>
 
     <div class="controls">
-      <div>
-        {#key result}
-          <span class="flash-green">Results: {result.total || 0}</span>
-        {/key}
+      <div class="count">
+        {#if counting}
+          <span>Counting items…</span>
+        {:else if countResult?.error}
+          <span>{countResult.error}</span>
+        {:else if countResult?.total === -1}
+          <span>Something went wrong</span>
+        {:else if countResult?.total}
+          <!-- svelte-ignore a11y-invalid-attribute -->
+          <a href="" on:click|preventDefault={countItems}>Results: {countResult.total}</a>
+        {:else if result?.total === -1}
+          <!-- svelte-ignore a11y-invalid-attribute -->
+          <a href="" on:click|preventDefault={countItems}>Count items</a>
+        {:else if result?.total}
+          {#key result}
+            <span class="flash-green">Results: {result.total || 0}</span>
+          {/key}
+        {/if}
       </div>
+
       <div>
         <label class="field inline">
           <select bind:value={collection.viewKey}>
@@ -388,4 +416,8 @@
     justify-content: space-between;
     align-items: center;
   }
+
+  .count {
+    text-overflow: ellipsis;
+  }
 </style>
diff --git a/frontend/wailsjs/go/app/App.d.ts b/frontend/wailsjs/go/app/App.d.ts
index e81ed40..2cfe510 100755
--- a/frontend/wailsjs/go/app/App.d.ts
+++ b/frontend/wailsjs/go/app/App.d.ts
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ export function Aggregate(arg1:string,arg2:string,arg3:string,arg4:string,arg5:s
 
 export function AskConfirmation(arg1:string):Promise<boolean>;
 
+export function CountItems(arg1:string,arg2:string,arg3:string,arg4:string):Promise<app.CountItemsResult>;
+
 export function CreateIndex(arg1:string,arg2:string,arg3:string,arg4:string):Promise<string>;
 
 export function DropCollection(arg1:string,arg2:string,arg3:string):Promise<boolean>;
diff --git a/frontend/wailsjs/go/app/App.js b/frontend/wailsjs/go/app/App.js
index f8fb15c..aa5ee21 100755
--- a/frontend/wailsjs/go/app/App.js
+++ b/frontend/wailsjs/go/app/App.js
@@ -14,6 +14,10 @@ export function AskConfirmation(arg1) {
   return window['go']['app']['App']['AskConfirmation'](arg1);
 }
 
+export function CountItems(arg1, arg2, arg3, arg4) {
+  return window['go']['app']['App']['CountItems'](arg1, arg2, arg3, arg4);
+}
+
 export function CreateIndex(arg1, arg2, arg3, arg4) {
   return window['go']['app']['App']['CreateIndex'](arg1, arg2, arg3, arg4);
 }
diff --git a/internal/app/collection_find.go b/internal/app/collection_find.go
index 2b2a986..6c7303a 100644
--- a/internal/app/collection_find.go
+++ b/internal/app/collection_find.go
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 package app
 
 import (
+	"context"
 	"encoding/json"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/wailsapp/wails/v2/pkg/runtime"
 	"go.mongodb.org/mongo-driver/bson"
@@ -23,6 +25,11 @@ type FindItemsResult struct {
 	ErrorDescription string   `json:"errorDescription"`
 }
 
+type CountItemsResult struct {
+	Total int64  `json:"total"`
+	Error string `json:"error"`
+}
+
 func (a *App) FindItems(hostKey, dbKey, collKey, formJson string) (result FindItemsResult) {
 	var form Query
 
@@ -75,12 +82,14 @@ func (a *App) FindItems(hostKey, dbKey, collKey, formJson string) (result FindIt
 		Sort:       sort,
 	}
 
-	total, err := client.Database(dbKey).Collection(collKey).CountDocuments(ctx, query, nil)
-	if err != nil {
+	ctx2, cancel := context.WithDeadline(ctx, time.Now().Add(time.Second))
+	defer cancel()
+	total, err := client.Database(dbKey).Collection(collKey).CountDocuments(ctx2, query, nil)
+	if err == nil {
+		result.Total = total
+	} else {
+		result.Total = -1
 		runtime.LogWarningf(a.ctx, "Encountered an error while counting documents: %s", err.Error())
-		result.ErrorTitle = "Error while counting documents"
-		result.ErrorDescription = err.Error()
-		return
 	}
 
 	cur, err := client.Database(dbKey).Collection(collKey).Find(ctx, query, &opt)
@@ -102,7 +111,6 @@ func (a *App) FindItems(hostKey, dbKey, collKey, formJson string) (result FindIt
 		return
 	}
 
-	result.Total = total
 	result.Results = make([]string, 0)
 
 	for _, r := range results {
@@ -119,6 +127,34 @@ func (a *App) FindItems(hostKey, dbKey, collKey, formJson string) (result FindIt
 	return
 }
 
+func (a *App) CountItems(hostKey, dbKey, collKey, query string) (result CountItemsResult) {
+	var q bson.M
+	err := bson.UnmarshalExtJSON([]byte(query), true, &q)
+	if err != nil {
+		runtime.LogInfof(a.ctx, "Invalid count query: %s", err.Error())
+		result.Error = "Invalid query"
+		return
+	}
+
+	client, ctx, close, err := a.connectToHost(hostKey)
+	if err != nil {
+		return
+	}
+	defer close()
+
+	ctx, _ = context.WithDeadline(ctx, time.Now().Add(2*time.Minute))
+	total, err := client.Database(dbKey).Collection(collKey).CountDocuments(ctx, q, nil)
+	if err == nil {
+		result.Total = total
+	} else {
+		result.Total = -1
+		result.Error = err.Error()
+		runtime.LogWarningf(a.ctx, "Encountered an error while counting documents: %s", err.Error())
+	}
+
+	return
+}
+
 func (a *App) UpdateFoundDocument(hostKey, dbKey, collKey, idJson, newDocJson string) bool {
 	var id bson.M
 	if err := bson.UnmarshalExtJSON([]byte(idJson), true, &id); err != nil {