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Folder sizes should be checked to determine if they are using too much storage space. Additionally, you’ll also want to see folder sizes if you’re transferring a folder over the Internet or to another storage device.

Fortunately, viewing folder sizes is very easy on Windows devices. There are graphical and command-line based applications available in windows that give you several ways to do this.

How to show folder size in Windows

You can easily see the folder size using Windows File Explorer. File explorer also provides information of other folders such as creation date, size, folder path and many more. Also, you can also use CLI applications like Powershell and CMD to get the folder size details. We will detail how to do it.

Using the file explorer

File Explorer provides easy access to file and folder details in Windows. As mentioned above, you can also view other details related to the folder using it.

Here’s how to view folder size using it;

1. Navigate to the file explorer and go to the folder directory.
2. Hover your mouse cursor over the folder for a few seconds.
3. You’ll see the folder tips inside a yellow box, which shows you the folder size, creation date, and other related information.

Note: You will not be able to use this feature if it is disabled in the folder option.

To enable the Folder tipsfollow these steps;

1. Press Windows key + R to open To run.
2. type CMD in the countryside and press enter.
3. Now, run this command in CMD. This command will open the file Folder options. C:\Windows\System32\rundll32.exe shell32.dll,Options_RunDLL 0\

4. Go to the I will see tab
5. Now, check the Show size information in folder tips to enable this feature.
6. Finally, click on To apply.

Note: You can also open the Folder options by clicking the three dots in the top panel of File Explorer and then going to options

Using folder properties

You can use folder properties to check different folder information such as its size, creation date, attributes and more. To see the folder size with this, follow these steps;

1. Choose the folder you want to view the size of and right-click it.
2. Go to properties.
3. Now you will be able to see the details like size i Size on disk of this specific folder.
   

Using CMD

There are command lines you can use to check the folder size on the fly. It just requires you to run the command and it shows you all the details you want about the folder. To use this to view folder size, follow these steps;

1. Open an elevated command prompt. To do this, press the Windows key + R and type CMD. Now, press Ctrl + Exchange + come in.
2. Now, enter the command cd/d to change the file directory. Instead of E:\folderuse the folder location where the file you want to view is located.
   cd/d E:\folder
3. Now the file directory will be changed to the desired file location.
4. Now, write dir and press enter. This will give you a detailed overview of this directory.
5. Search for the file name and you will see its size next to it.

Using PowerShell

Powershell is another advanced CLI tool that you can use to check folder sizes. There are several command lines you can use for this. However, this article will suggest some useful and efficient ones. Here’s how to use Powershell to check file sizes.

1. Press Windows key + R. Type Powershell and press enter.
2. Now, use the cd command to change the directory to the desired folder.
3. For example, we want to see the size of a folder called images located on the E:\ drive, so we need to change the directory to that specific folder location. In this case, run the command like this
   Cd E:\images
4. Then copy and paste this command into the Powershell window. Now you will immediately get the folder size in KB, GB or MB.

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" }
 }

There is another command you can use to see the contents inside the folder along with their file sizes. To use it, paste this command into powershell. Just remember to change the folder directory E:\images to your wish
Get-ChildItem -Path E:\images\ -Recurse | Where-Object {$_.PSIsContainer -eq $false}  

This command does not require changing the root directory, so it is also easy to use. However, it does not show the total size of the folder.

Frequently asked questions

How to see hidden folders in Windows 11?

To see hidden folders, go to File Explorer. Then click on the View tab and from the tab Show option check the hidden elements. You can also see which folders are kept hidden in the system using CMD. For this, open CMD and run this command;
dir C: /a:h /b /s

Change the drive letter (it’s C: in this order) to any of your desired drives. This will instantly show hidden folders on that drive. This command will also work for older version of Windows.

How to fix if file explorer doesn’t show folder size?

When a folder path is longer than 260 characters, File Explorer cannot display its size. The solution for this is to reduce the path length or you can use other processes mentioned in this article to check the folder size.