Show folder size in explorer

[GooGuiz]

Summary of the new feature/enhancement

Add the sum of the size of all files contained in the size file zone of the file explorer.

Proposed technical implementation details (optional)

[AssafTzurEl]

Might take forever on large folders (think about selecting C: on the left pane: Now the PowerToy has to go through Program Files, Windows, and all other huge folders. Suggested alternatives:

1. Have a toolbar checkbox/switch in the toolbar you can activate to get the folder sizes (it will have to be deactivated when you change folders, or maybe start blinking when it encounters huge folders)
2. Create a tool that shows folder sizes and can be launched from Explorer (my personal favorite is Steffen Gerlach's Scanner, and it even has some kind of Explorer integration)

[Asagrim]

This worked fine with a Windows XP shell extension called Folder Size on my 266MHz PII MMX 18 years ago, and I would very much like to see it return, it was one of the reasons it took me ages to switch to Windows 7, I even skipped Vista for it. Those who find this feature to be missing from Windows Explorer already use alternatives, 3rd party software like WinDirStat or Folder Size (different from the aforementioned shell extension), and are quite aware of how much time it takes to calculate all this from a root folder, so dismissing the suggestion just because it would take too much time for someone who wouldn't want to bother enabling the feature the first place because of that is just not logical.

[skagon]

I'll second this one. Had been using "Folder Size" way back when, on my AMD Athlon XP (or was it the K6?) and I would very much like to see that functionality return.

[crutkas]

Agree, this would be cool. also would help me track down where i left those pesky VMs when i need to clear disk space

[jakobbouchard]

I'm not sure how they do it, but at my workplace (it's where you can make the greatest purchase), we have a special internal tool that does that. It's a separate file explorer actually, but it has that feature. It says "calculating size" when it doesn't have the results yet and it's pretty quick, much quicker than when checking properties, at least it feels like it. There's ways to download the tool online, I think. I can't provide files though since they're closed source and I'd lose my job.

[malham88]

I would like this also - I still install foldersize now, but it would be better not to rely on too many 3rd party apps. Its easier to trust the code from a reliable source.

[scala65]

Well, if something like this can work in MacOS, why shouldn't it work in Windows...?! :-) More seriously, I guess some kind of low-priority process could take care of the calculation without perturbing user activity. Moreover, this is already done for folders in the recycle bin, although in that case it might be done as a static one-off calculation.

[Jay-o-Way]

Large folders (high in the root dir) take quite a lot of time to calculate "by hand", but isn't this information already available somewhere in the MFT? Oh wait, when you open the Properties window of a folder, it explorer also calculates the size on request.

Maybe, we can start with information that Windows Search has? Or use the "desktop.ini" file in basically every folder, to store its size?

[Jay-o-Way]

Hold on, Explorer already has the ability to show size info in the hover tooltip of (some, not all) folders. There must be a way to tap into that.

[fourteen-1]

Any updates on this?

[jakobbouchard]

Large folders (high in the root dir) take quite a lot of time to calculate "by hand", but isn't this information already available somewhere in the MFT? Oh wait, when you open the Properties window of a folder, it explorer also calculates the size on request.

Maybe, we can start with information that Windows Search has? Or use the "desktop.ini" file in basically every folder, to store its size?

WizTree seems to be using the MFT to scan and it takes like 5 seconds to scan a full drive.

[Jay-o-Way]

FYI the app Files does have this :)

[Asagrim]

FYI the app Files does have this :)

The screenshot shows no size information alongside folders in the Size column, neither does the description mention any such functionality, and last but not least, it's a separate software, not an Explorer shell extension.

I don't want to replace Explorer, because that never worked out for me, even things like XYplorer had deal breaker issues, instead I want the default file manager of Windows to make sense. I should not have to launch different software to do different things to the same folders. It's like expecting me to launch a media viewer to be able to see my thumbnails instead of expecting it to be basic file manager functionality.

And since the feature request was opened, not only did the entire PC case industry in general ditch hard drives, to the point that even large towers only have two token 3.5" bays with 7+ 2.5 slots for SSDs, Windows 12 will have a hard requirement of having to be installed to an SSD, so the performance hit on trying to calculate folder sizes is 100% moot.

There is ZERO reason by today to not implement such a feature INTO Explorer directly, except if you are unable to do so because Microsoft removed the ability to write explorer shell extensions that could seamlessly embed information into it.

[Jay-o-Way]

The screenshot shows no size information alongside folders in the Size column, neither does the description mention any such functionality

Probably because it's off by default.

so the performance hit on trying to calculate folder sizes is 100% moot.

Well, there's a bit of load for the CPU though. Not a problem for high end pc's, but you never know on a low end device... (that's why it's optional in Files)

Besides... Just trying to help :)

[anton-hystrix]

I second this idea. I would like the implementation like in Total Commander. Folders sizes are not scanned every time. But you have a command to scan the sizes of all selected folders. Without it searching for big folders to clean in app data is a pain!

[Welding-Torch]

+1 It's high-time this feature should be considered.

[namakeingo]

I use https://foldersize.sourceforge.net/ regularly. However, given that it loads in a side pop-up it is definitely not great. Having folder size integrated in Explorer would definitely be great. The change should be part of "Explorer add-ons". Using PowerToys Peek on a folder already gives size instantaneously so this add-on could tap into that capability.

[Welding-Torch]

Yeah I used https://foldersize.sourceforge.net/ wayy back when I was on Windows XP. Can't believe it's been so long, and it still isn't implemented by default in File Explorer.

[RespectIsEverything]

Mind-boggling this is not implemented by Microsoft themselves. Min specs for Win 11 is a 4-thread CPU, so "performance" concerns of 2006 are moot. As @Jay-o-Way mentioned, info is already tabulated- viewable in the hover tooltip. Any way to extract that data & utilize in a Sort field?

[Asagrim]

Mind-boggling this is not implemented by Microsoft themselves. Min specs for Win 11 is a 4-thread CPU, so "performance" concerns of 2006 are moot. As @Jay-o-Way mentioned, info is already tabulated- viewable in the hover tooltip. Any way to extract that data & utilize in a Sort field?

What's really mind-boggling is that this already worked with a Windows XP explorer shell extension called "folder size" on my Pentium II MMX Compaq Deskpro (96 MB RAM, 266 MHz, 6.7 GB HDD), and even though I've had to wait for large folders to be calculated, it was a far cry away from being a nuisance to have to wait for.

2+ decades later we have M.2 SSD drives with random4k sequential reading capabilities surpassing the total reading speed of the UDMA devices then. If I am using a standalone application, it finishes scanning my half-terabyte PCIe Gen 3 M.2 SSD in eight seconds. There is zero reason for Windows not to do this by default in the size column!

[RespectIsEverything]

Not in the habit of quoting myself, but "concerns of 2006" - 2006 was the year of Vista's release. Plugins were disabled in 2006. Vista-W10 is the same explorer.exe, with the same lack of plugins.

But with Explorer's complete rewrite in W11, perhaps it is possible...

[nlisker]

There shouldn't be any performance issues these days, but I don't think that you need this feature to be always on as most times you're not concerned with sizes. This should be a toggle or a single triggered scan on a folder and its subfolders. It can update on a change rather easily (adding or subtracting).

The information is already calculated in the properties or on-hover, and the size column can be updated from there.

[Asagrim]

The reason why you want this to be always on is especially because you don't use it always. If you turn it on on demand, and make the calculations in situ, the calculations will be slower, whereas if the calculations would periodically update in the background, they would appear instantaneously, and all it would take is some background I/O activity and a few percent of your CPU performance coming off your idle overhead.

[nlisker]

If you turn it on on demand, and make the calculations in situ, the calculations will be slower, whereas if the calculations would periodically update in the background, they would appear instantaneously,

This is not accurate. It depends on the caching strategy. When you have it always on, you need a huge cache to map the whole drive(s), and then a background process to watch the whole file system. Things like windows update and other installations can write a lot to the disk and quickly, which can be a non-negligible load for no gain whatsoever, unless you employ some conditional observer. There's no indication that such a cache is useful judging by the comments in this section where the use case is mainly for cleaning, which is something that once in a while.

When you have it on a toggle, you do a one time caching of the folder tree you want to inspect, which is faster and consumes less memory for the cache, and then you can turn it off to release the resources. The performance difference depends of course on the hardware. When you have a 2TB hard disk you're not going to see the same behavior as a 256GB NVME,

[namakeingo]

Everyone here is discussing how they should implement it. However, the reality of the situation is that they should just let us enable it. The code to get the size is all already there, like in the recycle bin for example Or like the tooltip that appears when you hover over a folder

[Welding-Torch]

Everyone here is discussing how they should implement it. However, the reality of the situation is that they should just let us enable it.

+1

[bobbintb]

Everyone here is discussing how they should implement it. However, the reality of the situation is that they should just let us enable it. The code to get the size is all already there, like in the recycle bin for example Or like the tooltip that appears when you hover over a folder

I never noticed that! Yeah, what the heck is up with that? If you look at the column options, there are columns such as "Date Deleted" that are available for the Recycle Bin but, obviously, not for regular folders. Perhaps there are two Size columns, one for the Recycle Bin that will do folders, and one that won't. Perhaps there is a registry hack that can make that option available to other folders?

[gestate-8]

Explorer is full of bugs. Slow, constantly flickers or freezes, very unstable. It's no wonder they have no idea what's going on in their code.

After Windows 7 they completely forgot how to build software. Now everything they make is slow and unstable.

[Welding-Torch]

Perhaps there is a registry hack that can make that option available to other folders?

I really hope someone figures out a hack for this, if it can be done in the explorer for one folder(the Recycle Bin), then surely it must be possible for all folders.

[Jay-o-Way]

if it can be done in the explorer for one folder(the Recycle Bin)

Recycle bin is no ordinary folder.

[Asagrim]

I don't care anymore, I already replaced Explorer with Directory Opus.

• tabbed view
• folder sizes
• custom columns/context menu/tooltips
• folders ordered with files (optionally) . persistent search results that auto-update and allow you to select and drag multiple files into programs (instead of just the one above the mouse and the rest of the selection is ignored)
• scripting support

... the list just goes on and on. Anything you want it to do, there is a menu option for it. You don't want any of the bells and whistles, you can debloat the interface to only do what Explorer does plus folder sizes and nothing more.

[nlisker]

I don't care anymore, I already replaced Explorer with Directory Opus.

Does solve a lot of problems, but that's not a free solution.

[Asagrim]

I don't care anymore, I already replaced Explorer with Directory Opus.

Does solve a lot of problems, but that's not a free solution.

Well, anything from QTTabbar to XYplorer is hot garbage. If you have considered all the free solutions, the paid ones are all that's left.

[Welding-Torch]

I also replaced using Explorer with Directory Opus. Been using it for over a year now, this software is so good I'm not looking back at Explorer or any other tool at all. Directory Opus is the platinum standard for Software Engineering.

But bringing this thread back to the issue on hand, 99% of people are going to keep using File Explorer, and it should have File Sizes as a feature.

PowerToys team PLEASE do something about this.