Can't see folder size in Explorer

painthacker said:

So the consensus seems to be that although all previous versions of Windows was able to calculate the total size of files in a folder, Windows 10 can't? This is silly. What computers do more easily than anything else is add up numbers. Yeah, if you have a million files it might take a while. And you'd probably not be surprised if it took a long time. But most of the time, a tree of folder does NOT contain a million files. For me this is just one more of the many failings and annoyances of Windows 10. It seems to be more entertainment than work.

Welcome to the forum.

The folder properties will show the disk space consumed. This is the same as in previous versions of Windows. But be aware that this value is only an approximation. This is far more complex than merely adding up a series of numbers. This situation is not unique to Windows. And it really can't be any other way.

Windows Explorer does not show folder sizes in a column as it does for file sizes. This is the same as in previous versions of Windows. I have explained the reasons for this elsewhere in this thread and I will not repeat it here.

painthacker said:

So the consensus seems to be that although all previous versions of Windows was able to calculate the total size of files in a folder, Windows 10 can't? This is silly. What computers do more easily than anything else is add up numbers. Yeah, if you have a million files it might take a while. And you'd probably not be surprised if it took a long time. But most of the time, a tree of folder does NOT contain a million files. For me this is just one more of the many failings and annoyances of Windows 10. It seems to be more entertainment than work.

Mouse hover tips?

And yet Apple has been doing it since at least os 7, which was released in 1991. If Apple can do it without slowing the system down why can Windows not do the same?

Arguing Speed on this is a cop-out. Each node should know what is stored in it. Implementation error. Bad one. Data is likely stored in the File System, the API must have been changed to obfuscate it. Information hiding you know.

It is quite interesting to note that when you delete a folder and look in the Recycle Bin, the size of the folder shows there.

Wonder what difficulty is involved in making that work for the rest of the undeleted folders on the computer.

SSYBESMA said:

It is quite interesting to note that when you delete a folder and look in the Recycle Bin, the size of the folder shows there.

Wonder what difficulty is involved in making that work for the rest of the undeleted folders on the computer.

The situation here is quite different. When viewing folders in the recycle bin there are no issues in showing folder sizes because the cost of calculating them was paid when the folder was moved to the recycle bin. This is necessary because the size of the recycle bin is limited making it necessary to know the size of files and folders moved there.

Calculating the disk space consumed by a folder is not a simple thing and can in fact consume considerable time. It is necessary to recursively examine all of the folders subfolders and files. That can run into the millions and you can't know how many until you are done. Doing this on a local SSD is one thing but on a large and slow drive and you have a problem. And do this with a large corporate server over a slow network link that is already busy with normal traffic, then you have a very serious problem.

For these reasons, and there are more, Microsoft chose not to show folder sizes in Windows explorer listings. This decision has been much criticized in this thread. It is very easy to criticize when you haven't considered the implications.

LMiller7 said:

The situation here is quite different. When viewing folders in the recycle bin there are no issues in showing folder sizes because the cost of calculating them was paid when the folder was moved to the recycle bin. This is necessary because the size of the recycle bin is limited making it necessary to know the size of files and folders moved there.

Calculating the disk space consumed by a folder is not a simple thing and can in fact consume considerable time. It is necessary to recursively examine all of the folders subfolders and files. That can run into the millions and you can't know how many until you are done. Doing this on a local SSD is one thing but on a large and slow drive and you have a problem. And do this with a large corporate server over a slow network link that is already busy with normal traffic, then you have a very serious problem.

For these reasons, and there are more, Microsoft chose not to show folder sizes in Windows explorer listings. This decision has been much criticized in this thread. It is very easy to criticize when you haven't considered the implications.

I got your point and it makes sense, but you missed me entirely. There was no criticism meant. In my case all my machines have SSDs. I'm not that interested in the reason it wasn't done as much as I'm interested in how to make it work. Would it be possible to implement folder sizes in Windows with what already exists in the registry and with various CLSID/GUID shell extensions put into the appropriate places?

I suppose the column in the Recycle Bin that shows folder size is some type of shell extension. I know what you're saying about folder size calculation done as the files are put into the Recycle Bin, but maybe there's a way to get the info from the indexing service which keeps track of where everything is to begin with.

Just a question of interest in what it would take to make that work within the OS without having to use any 3rd party apps. I think it would be pretty neat now that many (most?) of us have SSDs.