How to see the size of your folders in the macos finder

On Mac, when you use list mode in the Finder to work with your files and folders, a quick look at the "Size" column allows you to know the size of each of the individual files (videos, documents, images) however In the case of folders, the Finder only shows you a couple of dashes. Let's see how to also see the size of the folders from the Finder of your Mac.

Folder size at a glance in Finder

By default, the Mac Finder does not show the total size of folders since if a folder contains hundreds or thousands of files, calculating its total size could slow down your Mac. Thus, although omitting this information may be annoying for some users On the other hand, it keeps the navigation through the Finder agile.

However, if you use the view in list mode of folders and files in the Finder, you can have the system calculate what size of the folders, and show it to you in the "Size" column in the same way that it does with the rest of individual files. This option can be used both with locally saved folders and with those that you keep synchronized in the cloud. In this example, we will use the synchronized Box folder.

To do this, open the folder in question, select Display → Show display options in the menu bar or press the command + J keys.

Select the Calculate sizes check box . You will automatically see that the folder sizes are already displayed in the Finder. Now hit Use Default and close the screen.

Now repeat these steps for all the folders you manage from the Finder (iCloud Drive, Documents, Images, Videos, Dropbox…)

If you prefer a more global solution, enable the preview panel from the Finder. To do this, open a Finder window and select the menu bar View → Show preview. This option works in any view mode (list, grid…) and allows you to know the size of any folder just by selecting it.