How To Show Folder Size In Windows

Your system may become very slow in performance, as the space in your disk fills up with all your files and programs. It would be helpful to know which folder is what size, so you can delete unwanted content from that particular folder to free up some space.

Unfortunately, Windows File Explorer does not show the folder sizes. Only file size information is shown when the View is set to Detailed under the File Explorer options.

There are a few methods to display folder size inside File Explorer, and other methods to view it too.

There are also a few ways to view the sizes of each folder, so you know which folder consumes the most space on your disk. There are also some utility programs as well through which we can check the folder size.

In this article, we will discuss some native ways, as well as third-party programs, through which you can easily check folder size in bulk.

View Folder Size in File Explorer

There are two methods for showing folder size in Windows Explorer natively, without having to use a third-party application.

By Hovering

One way to check the folder size in Explorer is to open File Explorer and hover your mouse pointer over the folder you want to get the size of. If you hover for a few seconds, it will open a small tooltip where you can see the folder size, among other information.

If you do not find the Size information in the snippet, the option has likely been turned off. Follow the steps below to enable it:

1. Open File Explorer, click the ellipses (3 dots) from the top, and then click “Options.”

   

2. Switch to the View tab and then check the box next to “Display file size information in folder tips” under Advanced Settings. Then click Apply and Ok.

   

You should now be able to see the folder’s size by hovering over it, as in the image below.

Through Folder Properties

Another way to know the folder size is to right-click on the folder and select “Properties.” Although this is not the most convenient way, it is still possible without a third-party app.

Right-click on the folder and click “Properties” from the context menu. The open window will display folder properties that include folder size, the size of the folder on the disk, the number of sub-folders and files inside the folder, its creation date, and other attributes. You can now see the “Size” of the folder it takes up on your disk.

Both methods tell the size of a folder. However, this only shows the size of one folder at a time.

View Folder Size using Command Prompt

You can also view the size of a folder using the Command Prompt. Here is how:

1. Launch an elevated Command Prompt.

2. Use the following cmdlet to display the size of the folder (in bytes) while replacing [PathToFolder] with the complete path of the folder:

   dir /s [PathToFolder]

   

Alternatively, you can also use the CD cmdlet to change the directory to the folder you want to know the size of, and then run the command “dir” to view its size. The results will be similar to the one we have discussed above.

View Folder Size using Windows PowerShell

Alternatively, you can also find the size of a folder using a PowerShell script. Of course, you will first need to allow running scripts within PowerShell. Click on the link to learn how, and then use the following steps to view any folder’s size in PowerShell:

1. Run an elevated PowerShell instance.

2. Change the directory to the folder of which you want to view the size using this cmdlet:

   CD [PathToFolder]

   

3. Now copy and paste the following script in Powershell and hit Enter.

   switch((ls -r|measure -sum Length).Sum) {
    {$_ -gt 1GB} {
        '{0:0.0} GiB' -f ($_/1GB)
        break
      }
      {$_ -gt 1MB} {
        '{0:0.0} MiB' -f ($_/1MB)
        break
      }
      {$_ -gt 1KB} {
        '{0:0.0} KiB' -f ($_/1KB)
        break
      }
      default { "$_ bytes" }
    }

   

The script used in the method above will automatically convert the size of the folder into GBs, MBs, or KBs – whichever seems appropriate to the script.

Utility Programs to Show Folder Sizes

There are a few reliable folder size Explorer apps that can help you check the folder sizes of all the folders in the drive.

Folder Size

Folder Size is a free-to-use tool that you can easily download.

Download Folder Size

When you install it in a few easy steps, the tool will add a new column in your Windows Explorer, which shows the size of the folders as well as the files. So by viewing the size you can easily see which folder is taking up the most amount of space on your disk.

Main features:

• It automatically updates the folder size when changes occur in a particular folder.
• You don’t need to use any other program or open anything else to view the size of the folder.
• It doesn’t scan anything upon startup. It shows the size of each folder when you open Windows Explorer.
• Large folders will scan in the background.

Whenever you start the system, a window will pop up and tell you the size of the folders. But sometimes it becomes irritating for users.

Here is the solution for this. Just right-click on its icon from the Quick Access menu and uncheck the option for “Show Folder Size popups”. So now no pop-up will appear. Or you can also uncheck the option “Start on Windows startup”. This will prevent Folder Size from starting on Windows startup.

So this is one utility to check the size of a folder. Below are some more utilities for the same purpose.

TreeSize

TreeSize is another utility program that helps you clear your disk space by telling you the size of a folder, so you can delete some extra files from that large size folder.

Download TreeSize

TreeSize is free software for your Windows. Download and install the tool, and after installing it, click on “Scan” from the menu and choose the drive you want to check for its size.

After selecting a drive, you will see all the folders in this drive, and their sizes will also be displayed. You can sort them according to size.

You can also expand each folder to see the size of its subfolders. So this is how you can easily check the folder size of any of your folders and clean your disk by removing any unwanted content. This will also allow you to scan the folders present in any external storage devices, such as CDs, DVDs, or USB flash drives.

Disktective

This is another free utility to check the folders size of your system’s folders. It is easy and portable to use, and its interface is also user-friendly.

Download Disktective

When you install it, it will ask you to scan the drive.

After a quick scan, it’ll provide you with the size of each folder within the volume. A pie chart will also be displayed for a quick look at the size of your folders. The tool can also scan any folders that are present in any external storage drive.

GetFolderSize

GetFolderSize is another great utility to scan your system drives and obtain the size of each file and folder. The double-sided display of the tool helps you with quick navigation. The tool can be used in place of File Explorer, as it offers all the same functions, including the same options as the context menu in Explorer.

Download GetFolderSize

WinDirStat

WinDirStat is a great free-to-use utility that tells you exactly which files and folders are taking up space. Once you install it, scan your entire disk or individual drives.

Download WinDirStat

Once the scan is performed, WinDirStat will display the size of each element as colored blocks, giving a visual representation of the size. You can then click on these blocks and WinDirStat will take you to the respective element. You may then remove any space-consuming content using the tool.

Closing Words

These are a few reliable and easy software to check the size of folders from your system so that you can clear the space on your drive by removing some extra folders that take up large space in your storage drives. You can choose any of them that you find best for you.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)