diff --git a/CliClient/tests/models_Folder.js b/CliClient/tests/models_Folder.js
index 846fe6d88e..30d2bd8a43 100644
--- a/CliClient/tests/models_Folder.js
+++ b/CliClient/tests/models_Folder.js
@@ -127,4 +127,27 @@ describe('models_Folder', function() {
 		expect(folders[3].id).toBe(f2.id);
 	}));
 
+	it('should add node counts', asyncTest(async () => {
+		let f1 = await Folder.save({ title: 'folder1' });
+		let f2 = await Folder.save({ title: 'folder2', parent_id: f1.id });
+		let f3 = await Folder.save({ title: 'folder3', parent_id: f2.id });
+		let f4 = await Folder.save({ title: 'folder4' });
+
+		let n1 = await Note.save({ title: 'note1', parent_id: f3.id });
+		let n2 = await Note.save({ title: 'note1', parent_id: f3.id });
+		let n3 = await Note.save({ title: 'note1', parent_id: f1.id });
+
+		const folders = await Folder.all();
+		await Folder.addNoteCounts(folders);
+
+		const foldersById = {};
+		folders.forEach((f) => { foldersById[f.id] = f; });
+
+		expect(folders.length).toBe(4);
+		expect(foldersById[f1.id].note_count).toBe(3);
+		expect(foldersById[f2.id].note_count).toBe(2);
+		expect(foldersById[f3.id].note_count).toBe(2);
+		expect(foldersById[f4.id].note_count).toBe(0);
+	}));
+
 });
diff --git a/CliClient/tests/models_Tag.js b/CliClient/tests/models_Tag.js
index a959d1674a..3a8c5c93ae 100644
--- a/CliClient/tests/models_Tag.js
+++ b/CliClient/tests/models_Tag.js
@@ -59,4 +59,42 @@ describe('models_Tag', function() {
 		expect(tags.length).toBe(0);
 	}));
 
+	it('should return tags with note counts', asyncTest(async () => {
+		let folder1 = await Folder.save({ title: 'folder1' });
+		let note1 = await Note.save({ title: 'ma note', parent_id: folder1.id });
+		let note2 = await Note.save({ title: 'ma 2nd note', parent_id: folder1.id });
+		await Tag.setNoteTagsByTitles(note1.id, ['un']);
+		await Tag.setNoteTagsByTitles(note2.id, ['un']);
+
+		let tags = await Tag.allWithNotes();
+		expect(tags.length).toBe(1);
+		expect(tags[0].note_count).toBe(2);
+
+		await Note.delete(note1.id);
+
+		tags = await Tag.allWithNotes();
+		expect(tags.length).toBe(1);
+		expect(tags[0].note_count).toBe(1);
+
+		await Note.delete(note2.id);
+
+		tags = await Tag.allWithNotes();
+		expect(tags.length).toBe(0);
+	}));
+
+	it('should load individual tags with note count', asyncTest(async () => {
+		let folder1 = await Folder.save({ title: 'folder1' });
+		let note1 = await Note.save({ title: 'ma note', parent_id: folder1.id });
+		let note2 = await Note.save({ title: 'ma 2nd note', parent_id: folder1.id });
+		let tag = await Tag.save({ title: 'mytag'});
+		await Tag.addNote(tag.id, note1.id);
+
+		let tagWithCount = await Tag.loadWithCount(tag.id);
+		expect(tagWithCount.note_count).toBe(1);
+
+		await Tag.addNote(tag.id, note2.id);
+		tagWithCount = await Tag.loadWithCount(tag.id);
+		expect(tagWithCount.note_count).toBe(2);
+	}));
+
 });
diff --git a/ElectronClient/app/app.js b/ElectronClient/app/app.js
index a9fdb8d787..1cfb9aab75 100644
--- a/ElectronClient/app/app.js
+++ b/ElectronClient/app/app.js
@@ -939,6 +939,14 @@ class Application extends BaseApplication {
 					label: Setting.settingMetadata('folders.sortOrder.field').label(),
 					screens: ['Main'],
 					submenu: sortFolderItems,
+				}, {
+					label: Setting.settingMetadata('showNoteCounts').label(),
+					type: 'checkbox',
+					checked: Setting.value('showNoteCounts'),
+					screens: ['Main'],
+					click: () => {
+						Setting.setValue('showNoteCounts', !Setting.value('showNoteCounts'));
+					},
 				}, {
 					label: Setting.settingMetadata('uncompletedTodosOnTop').label(),
 					type: 'checkbox',
diff --git a/ElectronClient/app/gui/SideBar.jsx b/ElectronClient/app/gui/SideBar.jsx
index af64888dab..2393ff93f3 100644
--- a/ElectronClient/app/gui/SideBar.jsx
+++ b/ElectronClient/app/gui/SideBar.jsx
@@ -190,6 +190,10 @@ class SideBarComponent extends React.Component {
 				marginBottom: 10,
 				wordWrap: 'break-word',
 			},
+			noteCount: {
+				paddingLeft: 5,
+				opacity: 0.5,
+			},
 		};
 
 		style.tagItem = Object.assign({}, style.listItem);
@@ -260,10 +264,10 @@ class SideBarComponent extends React.Component {
 	}
 
 	async itemContextMenu(event) {
-		const itemId = event.target.getAttribute('data-id');
+		const itemId = event.currentTarget.getAttribute('data-id');
 		if (itemId === Folder.conflictFolderId()) return;
 
-		const itemType = Number(event.target.getAttribute('data-type'));
+		const itemType = Number(event.currentTarget.getAttribute('data-type'));
 		if (!itemId || !itemType) throw new Error('No data on element');
 
 		let deleteMessage = '';
@@ -431,6 +435,10 @@ class SideBarComponent extends React.Component {
 		return this.anchorItemRefs[type][id];
 	}
 
+	noteCountElement(count) {
+		return <div style={this.style().noteCount}>({count})</div>;
+	}
+
 	folderItem(folder, selected, hasChildren, depth) {
 		let style = Object.assign({}, this.style().listItem);
 		if (folder.id === Folder.conflictFolderId()) style = Object.assign(style, this.style().conflictFolder);
@@ -457,6 +465,7 @@ class SideBarComponent extends React.Component {
 		);
 
 		const anchorRef = this.anchorItemRef('folder', folder.id);
+		const noteCount = folder.note_count ? this.noteCountElement(folder.note_count) : '';
 
 		return (
 			<div className="list-item-container" style={containerStyle} key={folder.id} onDragStart={this.onFolderDragStart_} onDragOver={this.onFolderDragOver_} onDrop={this.onFolderDrop_} draggable={true} folderid={folder.id}>
@@ -475,7 +484,7 @@ class SideBarComponent extends React.Component {
 					}}
 					onDoubleClick={this.onFolderToggleClick_}
 				>
-					{itemTitle}
+					{itemTitle} {noteCount}
 				</a>
 			</div>
 		);
@@ -486,6 +495,7 @@ class SideBarComponent extends React.Component {
 		if (selected) style = Object.assign(style, this.style().listItemSelected);
 
 		const anchorRef = this.anchorItemRef('tag', tag.id);
+		const noteCount = Setting.value('showNoteCounts') ? this.noteCountElement(tag.note_count) : '';
 
 		return (
 			<a
@@ -503,7 +513,7 @@ class SideBarComponent extends React.Component {
 					this.tagItem_click(tag);
 				}}
 			>
-				{Tag.displayTitle(tag)}
+				{Tag.displayTitle(tag)} {noteCount}
 			</a>
 		);
 	}
diff --git a/ReactNativeClient/lib/BaseApplication.js b/ReactNativeClient/lib/BaseApplication.js
index c8fa8a72da..f21845458c 100644
--- a/ReactNativeClient/lib/BaseApplication.js
+++ b/ReactNativeClient/lib/BaseApplication.js
@@ -440,7 +440,7 @@ class BaseApplication {
 			await this.refreshNotes(newState, refreshNotesUseSelectedNoteId, refreshNotesHash);
 		}
 
-		if (action.type === 'NOTE_UPDATE_ONE') {
+		if (action.type === 'NOTE_UPDATE_ONE' || action.type === 'NOTE_DELETE') {
 			refreshFolders = true;
 		}
 
@@ -448,6 +448,10 @@ class BaseApplication {
 			refreshFolders = 'now';
 		}
 
+		if (this.hasGui() && ((action.type == 'SETTING_UPDATE_ONE' && action.key == 'showNoteCounts') || action.type == 'SETTING_UPDATE_ALL')) {
+			refreshFolders = 'now';
+		}
+
 		if (this.hasGui() && action.type === 'SYNC_GOT_ENCRYPTED_ITEM') {
 			DecryptionWorker.instance().scheduleStart();
 		}
diff --git a/ReactNativeClient/lib/components/shared/reduxSharedMiddleware.js b/ReactNativeClient/lib/components/shared/reduxSharedMiddleware.js
index 39af260bcc..8b8655dbf0 100644
--- a/ReactNativeClient/lib/components/shared/reduxSharedMiddleware.js
+++ b/ReactNativeClient/lib/components/shared/reduxSharedMiddleware.js
@@ -20,7 +20,11 @@ const reduxSharedMiddleware = async function(store, next, action) {
 		ResourceFetcher.instance().autoAddResources();
 	}
 
-	if (action.type == 'NOTE_DELETE') {
+	if (action.type == 'NOTE_DELETE' ||
+		action.type == 'NOTE_UPDATE_ONE' ||
+		action.type == 'NOTE_UPDATE_ALL' ||
+		action.type == 'NOTE_TAG_REMOVE' ||
+		action.type == 'TAG_UPDATE_ONE') {
 		refreshTags = true;
 	}
 
diff --git a/ReactNativeClient/lib/folders-screen-utils.js b/ReactNativeClient/lib/folders-screen-utils.js
index cd9cca91e9..eb1728e240 100644
--- a/ReactNativeClient/lib/folders-screen-utils.js
+++ b/ReactNativeClient/lib/folders-screen-utils.js
@@ -25,6 +25,10 @@ class FoldersScreenUtils {
 			folders = await Folder.orderByLastModified(folders, orderDir);
 		}
 
+		if (Setting.value('showNoteCounts')) {
+			await Folder.addNoteCounts(folders);
+		}
+
 		return folders;
 	}
 
diff --git a/ReactNativeClient/lib/joplin-database.js b/ReactNativeClient/lib/joplin-database.js
index 870b7c2b3e..41d94902dc 100644
--- a/ReactNativeClient/lib/joplin-database.js
+++ b/ReactNativeClient/lib/joplin-database.js
@@ -302,7 +302,7 @@ class JoplinDatabase extends Database {
 		// must be set in the synchronizer too.
 
 		// Note: v16 and v17 don't do anything. They were used to debug an issue.
-		const existingDatabaseVersions = [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24];
+		const existingDatabaseVersions = [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25];
 
 		let currentVersionIndex = existingDatabaseVersions.indexOf(fromVersion);
 
@@ -639,6 +639,16 @@ class JoplinDatabase extends Database {
 				queries.push('ALTER TABLE notes ADD COLUMN `markup_language` INT NOT NULL DEFAULT 1'); // 1: Markdown, 2: HTML
 			}
 
+			if (targetVersion == 25) {
+				queries.push(`CREATE VIEW tags_with_note_count AS 
+						SELECT tags.id as id, tags.title as title, tags.created_time as created_time, tags.updated_time as updated_time, COUNT(notes.id) as note_count 
+						FROM tags 
+							LEFT JOIN note_tags nt on nt.tag_id = tags.id 
+							LEFT JOIN notes on notes.id = nt.note_id 
+						WHERE notes.id IS NOT NULL 
+						GROUP BY tags.id`);
+			}
+
 			queries.push({ sql: 'UPDATE version SET version = ?', params: [targetVersion] });
 
 			try {
diff --git a/ReactNativeClient/lib/models/Folder.js b/ReactNativeClient/lib/models/Folder.js
index 06e7817b7a..f994224ad1 100644
--- a/ReactNativeClient/lib/models/Folder.js
+++ b/ReactNativeClient/lib/models/Folder.js
@@ -105,6 +105,28 @@ class Folder extends BaseItem {
 		};
 	}
 
+	// Calculates note counts for all folders and adds the note_count attribute to each folder
+	// Note: this only calculates the overall number of nodes for this folder and all its descendants
+	static async addNoteCounts(folders) {
+		const foldersById = {};
+		folders.forEach((f) => {
+			foldersById[f.id] = f;
+		});
+
+		const sql = `SELECT folders.id as folder_id, count(notes.parent_id) as note_count 
+			FROM folders LEFT JOIN notes ON notes.parent_id = folders.id 
+			GROUP BY folders.id`;
+		const noteCounts = await this.db().selectAll(sql);
+		noteCounts.forEach((noteCount) => {
+			let parentId = noteCount.folder_id;
+			do {
+				let folder = foldersById[parentId];
+				folder.note_count = (folder.note_count || 0) + noteCount.note_count;
+				parentId = folder.parent_id;
+			} while (parentId);
+		});
+	}
+
 	// Folders that contain notes that have been modified recently go on top.
 	// The remaining folders, that don't contain any notes are sorted by their own user_updated_time
 	static async orderByLastModified(folders, dir = 'DESC') {
diff --git a/ReactNativeClient/lib/models/Setting.js b/ReactNativeClient/lib/models/Setting.js
index 6967c4d888..11dd0f5fd9 100644
--- a/ReactNativeClient/lib/models/Setting.js
+++ b/ReactNativeClient/lib/models/Setting.js
@@ -247,6 +247,7 @@ class Setting extends BaseModel {
 					return output;
 				},
 			},
+			showNoteCounts: { value: false, type: Setting.TYPE_BOOL, public: true, appTypes: ['desktop'], label: () => _('Show note counts') },
 			layoutButtonSequence: {
 				value: Setting.LAYOUT_ALL,
 				type: Setting.TYPE_INT,
diff --git a/ReactNativeClient/lib/models/Tag.js b/ReactNativeClient/lib/models/Tag.js
index cb44f29a1f..1a0d96acc2 100644
--- a/ReactNativeClient/lib/models/Tag.js
+++ b/ReactNativeClient/lib/models/Tag.js
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ class Tag extends BaseItem {
 
 		this.dispatch({
 			type: 'TAG_UPDATE_ONE',
-			item: await Tag.load(tagId),
+			item: await Tag.loadWithCount(tagId),
 		});
 
 		return output;
@@ -86,23 +86,24 @@ class Tag extends BaseItem {
 		});
 	}
 
+	static loadWithCount(tagId) {
+		let sql = 'SELECT * FROM tags_with_note_count WHERE id = ?';
+		return this.modelSelectOne(sql, [tagId]);
+	}
+
 	static async hasNote(tagId, noteId) {
 		let r = await this.db().selectOne('SELECT note_id FROM note_tags WHERE tag_id = ? AND note_id = ? LIMIT 1', [tagId, noteId]);
 		return !!r;
 	}
 
-	static tagsWithNotesSql_() {
-		return 'select distinct tags.id from tags left join note_tags nt on nt.tag_id = tags.id left join notes on notes.id = nt.note_id where notes.id IS NOT NULL';
-	}
-
 	static async allWithNotes() {
-		return await Tag.modelSelectAll(`SELECT * FROM tags WHERE id IN (${this.tagsWithNotesSql_()})`);
+		return await Tag.modelSelectAll('SELECT * FROM tags_with_note_count');
 	}
 
 	static async searchAllWithNotes(options) {
 		if (!options) options = {};
 		if (!options.conditions) options.conditions = [];
-		options.conditions.push(`id IN (${this.tagsWithNotesSql_()})`);
+		options.conditions.push('id IN (SELECT distinct id FROM tags_with_note_count)');
 		return this.search(options);
 	}