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How to Check File/Folder Size on Mac in Finder/Using Terminal

Updated on Tuesday, August 27, 2024

iBoysoft author Connie Yang

Written by

Connie Yang
Professional tech editor

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Jessica Shee

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When you check files by list in Finder, you'll find that the folder sizes are not showing up on your Mac, instead, they come with two dashes. That's because Finder won't show folder sizes by default. Calculating them usually takes a longer time than a single file and can slow down your Mac.

So, how to check the folder size on your Mac/MacBook? Don't be so worried. It's just a problem with the Finder settings. You can follow this post to reset your Finder preferences. Then you can view a single or multiple folder sizes on your Mac.

check folder size on Mac

How to check a folder size on a Mac?

Since Mac's folder size is not showing by default, you can manually check them in one of the following ways.

If there's no size column in your Finder, you need to display it first.

  1. Open Finder and go to your target destination like Documents or Downloads.
  2. Click "View" on the Finder menu bar > "Show View Options," or you can press Command + J.
    select Show View Options
  3. Check "Size" on the view options window.

Show a folder size on Mac by resetting Finder settings

Open Finder and choose the specific location that contains the folder you want to check the size, such as Documents, Downloads, Desktop, etc. Then, follow the steps below to show its folder size on your Mac.

  1. Select the target folder in Finder.
  2. Click "View" in the Finder menu bar and then choose "Show View Options." Or, you can directly press Command + J.
    select Show View Options
  3. Check "Calculate all sizes" on the pop-up settings window.
    check Calculate all sizes

Then, you can see the folder size in that specific location.

Also, you can use the Get Info button in Finder to check the folder or file size on your Mac.

  1. Open a Finder window and select the target folder.
  2. Click "File" on the Finder menu bar and choose "Get Info." Also, you can press Command + I to open the Get Info window.
    select Get Info

After that, you'll see the Get Info window appear and view the folder size.

Get Info shows folder size

Check the size of multiple folders on a Mac with Finder's Preview 

If you want to calculate the size of multiple folders on your Mac or check the sizes of folders more global rather than in a fixed location, you need to open the Preview panel.

  1. Launch Finder.
  2. Select View on the Finder menu bar > Show Preview. Alternatively, you can press Command + Shift + P.
    select Show Preview
  3. Press Control and select the folders that you want to calculate their total size. Or just click a single folder to check its size.

Then, you can see the folder size on the right Preview panel.

calculate multiple folders on Mac

Check a folder size on Mac with Terminal

If you are familiar with Terminal, of course, you can run a command to check the folder size on your Mac.

Show the size of a single file: du -h path_to_a_file

Show the size of the contents of a directory, each sub-directory, and each individual file: du -h path_to_a_directory

Show the size of the contents of a directory: du -sh path_to_a_directory

 Note: You need to replace path_to_a_file and path_to_a_directory with the actual file path and directory path.

Go to tell others how to show folder size on a Mac with Finder or using Terminal.

 

How to find out what folder takes up the most space on Mac?

If you want to know what folder is the largest one on your Mac and consider whether to delete it, you can use the Size button in Finder to list the items in each location from large to small orderly.

list files from the large size to small in Finder

Then, compare the largest folder in each location and find out the largest one. Also, you can refer to this guide to find the largest folder on your Mac: How to find large files on Mac?

What to do if Mac calculating size takes forever for a folder?

If you use the Get Info button in Finder or another function to check the folder size but find the calculating time seems to take forever, please wait a longer time. The amount of time your Mac takes to calculate the file size is proportional to the number of files in the folder.

If the target folder has a lot of files, it will take a long time to calculate. If the folder doesn't contain so many files, you can relaunch Finder to make a refresh. Go to the Apple menu > Force Quit, and then select Finder and click Relaunch.

If you know how to check folder size on a Mac after reading this post, share it with others.