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Display File Count and Subfolder size in Windows Explorer

I never understood why or really tried to find out how to get the size column in windows explorer to actually show folder sizes. Why the heck does windows only show you sizes of files and not folders in that column? It's extremely frustrating when I need to sort by size for folders to see what all I've got.

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closed as exact duplicate by studiohack♦ Feb 5 '11 at 23:15

This question covers exactly the same ground as earlier questions on this topic; its answers may be merged with another identical question. See the FAQ for guidance on how to improve it.

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The filesystem does not store the size of a folder. To tell you how big the folder the OS has to has to take the time to add up the size of all the files withing the folder. If you had folders with several thousand files in it figuring out the size could take a long time. If that had to happen every time you clicked to a different folder or changed any file your computer would be very show.

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yea that's what I figured. Thanks. – user23511 Jul 27 '10 at 21:22
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wait then why when I mouse over a folder can tell me the size? Must be doing an on request call then..I guess – user23511 Jul 27 '10 at 21:35
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