How to Check Folder Size in Windows 11
You check a folder’s size in Windows 11 by right-clicking it and selecting “Properties,” which immediately shows you its total disk space usage.
Understanding folder sizes is crucial for effective disk management, especially when your Windows 11 storage is running low or your PC performance dips. This allows you to identify space-hungry culprits, like large game installs or extensive video libraries, which can consume many gigabytes.
Knowing which folders occupy the most space lets you decide what to delete or move to external drives. This simple technique helps maintain your Windows 11 PC’s speed by freeing up valuable storage.
Right-click the folder and select “Properties” to see its total size. Alternatively, hover your mouse cursor over the folder in File Explorer for a quick size estimate. This helps manage disk space effectively.
View folder size in File Explorer
Checking folder size in Windows 11 is simple using File Explorer. Just open File Explorer, find the folder you want to know the size of, right-click it, and select ‘Properties’ to see how much space it takes up.
- Open File Explorer.
- Find the folder you want to check.
- Right-click on the folder.
- Select “Properties” from the menu that appears.
A new window will open. Look for the “Size” and “Size on disk” fields to see how much space that folder is using. 
This window also shows you when the folder was created and how many files are inside it.
How to view folder size by hovering your mouse
A really quick way to check folder size in Windows 11 is by using your mouse. Open File Explorer, move your cursor over the folder you’re curious about, and wait a moment for a small box to pop up showing its size.
- Open File Explorer.
- Move your mouse cursor over the folder you want to check.
- Wait a second, and a small box will pop up showing the size.
This tip might not work for every single folder on your computer, but it is great for a quick look.
Advanced Tip: Using the Command Prompt
For those who like using text commands, you can check folder size in Windows 11 with the Command Prompt. Open Command Prompt, type ‘dir’ followed by the folder’s location (like ‘dir 📁C:\Users\YourUsername\Documents’), and it will show you the folder’s contents and total size.
To check the size of a specific directory (that’s a folder, in Windows terms), you can use this command:
dir C:\Users\GenericUser\DocumentsThis will list the contents and the total space used within that path.
Summary
- Checking folder sizes helps you manage your storage space and improve PC performance.
- You can view folder size by right-clicking a folder and selecting “Properties.”
- Hovering your mouse over a folder is a quick way to see its size without opening extra windows.
- Regularly checking your folders prevents your computer from getting clogged with unnecessary data.
Knowing how to check folder size in Windows 11 helps you manage your computer’s storage better. You can quickly see a folder’s size by right-clicking it for ‘Properties’ or by simply hovering your mouse over it in File Explorer.
Was this guide helpful?
About the Author
Richard
Tech Writer, IT Professional
Richard, a writer for Geek Rewind, is a tech enthusiast who loves breaking down complex IT topics into simple, easy-to-understand ideas. With years of hands-on experience in system administration and enterprise IT operations, he’s developed a knack for offering practical tips and solutions. Richard aims to make technology more accessible and actionable. He's deeply committed to the Geek Rewind community, always ready to answer questions and engage in discussions.
And 3th? How to show folder size in the column ‘Size’. That would be handy too.
We the People have been begging MS to allow Folder Size to be represented in the Size column Since before Windows 95!!!! We are still waiting….This is 2022….are you kidding me!
This post lacks how to show the size of a selection of folders. By default, selecting several folders only shows the size of the first folder.
Sadly, this information is rather useless. This is neither a “handy” way to view folder sizes, nor is it practical when checking many folders for their size, for instance when wanting to free disk space. Which I would say is one of the very few times that you need to see a folder’s size in the list.
Is there no way to display the folder size in the “size” column? Not even third party programs can do that (if you manage to find one, “Folder Size” is impossible to locate and needs a secondary window to display what you want to see, nothing changes in the native explorer window).
What I see is, a “size” column. But it has been empty for all folders in existence for decades, for no apparent reason. If the reason is that calculating the size of a folder would take so long (because you need to scan the entire directory, which can take some time) then why not add a checkbox in the explorer options menu? “Display folder sizes. []” Easy. Just why does it have to be so complicated, and why does Windows seem to just deliver useless updates, for such a long time now? Since Win7, it has been going down. Win7 is best Windows, change my mind.
[…] This drive can also be mounted in a folder. To do that, create an empty folder. […]
[…] might use File Explorer to determine the size of directories to look at your files, but it does not count the size correctly. To get the real number, you must […]