Ubuntu – Display folder sizes in file manager

filemanagerfilesystemnautilus

In nautilus (or nemo) file manager, the "Size" column shows the filesize for files and the number of items contained in a folder for subdirectories:

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Number of items is not that important for me, it would be more useful if I could make this column show the total size contained under the directory. I had an extension on windows called foldersize which shows what I mean:

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I think it involved a service which ran in the background monitoring filesystem modifications in order to make sure the column was kept up to date.

I am interested to know if there is any similar extension to nautilus, I would also be open to switching to another file manager to get this functionality. I am aware of the Disk Usage Analyser in Ubuntu, but what I'm looking for is a solution with file manager integration.

Best Answer

Not sure if this will help as it's not exactly what you're looking for, but you can display the file size under the icon:

Open the file explorer
Go to places
Select preferences
Select display tab

http://www.ubuntugeek.com/how-to-tweak-nautilus-to-display-size-of-files-under-their-name.html

However, this is probably a more direct answer to your question: Show current folder size in Nautilus

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – Can the Nautilus Properties page show size in bytes for multiple-selects, and for directories

The value displayed is called by the function g_format_size_for_display of GLib. You have to edit the source code of nautilus to change this behaviour by just adding an %i to the output:

Step 1: Download source, install dependencies and open the file to edit

mkdir -p .p/nautilus && cd .p/nautilus
sudo apt-get build-dep nautilus
apt-get source nautilus && cd nautilus*
gedit src/file-manager/fm-properties-window.c

Step 2: Change the code

Now go to line 2338 (in Nautilus 2.30) and change with size %s to with size %s (%i Bytes). Do the same for totalling %s. Change it to totalling %s (%i Bytes) It should now look like this:

    text = g_strdup_printf (ngettext("%'d item, with size %s (%i Bytes)",
                     "%'d items, totalling %s (%i Bytes)",

Step 3: Compile

Now you can simply compile Nautilus like every other application

./configure --prefix=/usr
make
sudo make install
nautilus -q

Note that Nautilus will be overwritten whenever there will be an update to it through package management. This means you have to build and install it again manually.

There is also an alternative way by using an Nautilus script, but this would add another entry in the right click meny instead of having the value in the properties window.

Ubuntu – How to find the total size of the contents of the Trash folder

You can right click on folders in the trash (and those not in the trash) and select Properties to see the total size.

If you want to see the total size of your trash, press Ctrl+a to select everything, and then right click and select Properties.

Item properties

Best Answer

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Ubuntu – Can the Nautilus Properties page show size in bytes for multiple-selects, and for directories

Ubuntu – How to find the total size of the contents of the Trash folder

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