diff --git a/python/obitools3/commands/import.pyx b/python/obitools3/commands/import.pyx
index 91b0696..895df19 100755
--- a/python/obitools3/commands/import.pyx
+++ b/python/obitools3/commands/import.pyx
@@ -99,6 +99,7 @@ def run(config):
     logger("info", "obi import: imports an object (file(s), obiview, taxonomy...) into a DMS")
     
     entry_count = -1
+    pb = None
     
     if not config['obi']['taxdump']:
         input = open_uri(config['obi']['inputURI'])
@@ -110,7 +111,10 @@ def run(config):
         else:
             entry_count = input[4]
         
-        logger("info", "Importing %d entries", entry_count)
+        if entry_count > 0:
+            logger("info", "Importing %d entries", entry_count)
+        else:
+            logger("info", "Importing an unknow number of entries")
         
         # TODO a bit dirty?
         if input[2]==Nuc_Seq or input[2]==View_NUC_SEQS:
@@ -137,8 +141,6 @@ def run(config):
     
     if entry_count >= 0:
         pb = ProgressBar(entry_count, config, seconde=5)
-    else:
-        pb = None
     
     entries = input[1]
         
@@ -170,6 +172,9 @@ def run(config):
         
         if pb is not None:
             pb(i)
+        elif not i%50000:
+            logger("info", "Imported %d entries", i)
+
                         
         if NUC_SEQS_view: 
             id_col[i] = entry.id
diff --git a/python/obitools3/files/uncompress.pxd b/python/obitools3/files/uncompress.pxd
index e5064a3..c0f976e 100755
--- a/python/obitools3/files/uncompress.pxd
+++ b/python/obitools3/files/uncompress.pxd
@@ -15,4 +15,5 @@ cdef class MagicKeyFile:
     
 cdef class CompressedFile:
     cdef object accessor
+    cdef bint compressed
     
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/python/obitools3/files/uncompress.pyx b/python/obitools3/files/uncompress.pyx
index 59a1fd2..55f755c 100755
--- a/python/obitools3/files/uncompress.pyx
+++ b/python/obitools3/files/uncompress.pyx
@@ -74,8 +74,7 @@ cdef class MagicKeyFile:
 
     
 cdef class CompressedFile:
-    
-    
+        
     def __init__(self,stream):
         cdef int            keylength
         cdef MagicKeyFile   magic
@@ -92,11 +91,13 @@ cdef class CompressedFile:
         magic=MagicKeyFile(stream,keylength)
         
         self.accessor = None
-        
+        self.compressed = False
+
         for compressor in compress:
             k,c = compress[compressor]
             if magic.key.startswith(k):
                 self.accessor = c(magic)
+                self.compressed = True
         
         if self.accessor is None:
             if 'b' in magic.stream_mode:
@@ -110,7 +111,17 @@ cdef class CompressedFile:
             'b' not in magic.stream_mode):
             self.accessor = io.TextIOWrapper(self.accessor)
         
-    
+
+    # compressed property getter
+    @property
+    def compressed(self) :
+        '''
+        Returns a boolean indicating whether the file is compressed
+        
+            @rtype: bint
+        '''
+        return self.compressed
+
     def __getattr__(self,name):
         return getattr(self.accessor, name)
     
diff --git a/python/obitools3/parsers/genbank.pyx b/python/obitools3/parsers/genbank.pyx
index dcce178..8ddcc98 100755
--- a/python/obitools3/parsers/genbank.pyx
+++ b/python/obitools3/parsers/genbank.pyx
@@ -166,9 +166,12 @@ def genbankIterator_dir(dir_path,
                        ):
     path = dir_path
     read = 0
-    for filename in glob.glob(os.path.join(path, b'*.gbff*')):
+    read_files = 0
+    files = [filename for filename in glob.glob(os.path.join(path, b'*.gbff*'))]
+    for filename in files:
         if read==only:
             return
+        print("Parsing file %s (%d/%d)" % (tostr(filename), read_files, len(files)))
         f = uopen(filename)
         if only is not None:
             only_f = only-read
@@ -177,7 +180,8 @@ def genbankIterator_dir(dir_path,
         for seq in genbankIterator_file(f, skip=skip, only=only_f, buffersize=buffersize):
             yield seq
             read+=1
-
+        read_files+=1
+        
 
 def genbankIterator(obj, 
                     int skip=0,
diff --git a/python/obitools3/utils.pyx b/python/obitools3/utils.pyx
index d3a1526..45fafdb 100755
--- a/python/obitools3/utils.pyx
+++ b/python/obitools3/utils.pyx
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@ from obitools3.dms.capi.obierrno cimport OBI_LINE_IDX_ERROR, \
                                          OBI_ELT_IDX_ERROR, \
                                          obi_errno
 
+from obitools3.files.uncompress cimport CompressedFile
+
 import re
 import mmap
 import os
@@ -45,7 +47,7 @@ cpdef int count_entries(file, bytes format):
             return -1
         sep = re.compile(sep)
 
-        if type(file) and (format == b'genbank' or format == b'embl'): # file is actually a directory with multiple files
+        if type(file) == bytes and (format == b'genbank' or format == b'embl'): # file is actually a directory with multiple files
             files = []
             if format == b'embl':
                 extensions = [b"*.dat"]
@@ -66,6 +68,8 @@ cpdef int count_entries(file, bytes format):
         
         total_count = 0
         for f in files:
+            if type(f) == CompressedFile and f.compressed:
+                return -1
             mmapped_file = mmap.mmap(f.fileno(), 0, access=mmap.ACCESS_READ)
             total_count += len(re.findall(sep, mmapped_file))