How to Check Folder Sizes in Google Drive Without Downloading or Syncing

The Google Drive web app doesn’t allow you to check folder sizes. You don’t believe it? Check it yourself. Of course, you can download or sync a folder to your PC or Mac, then check its size. But it is quite complicated if the file contains a lot of data, and you will end up downloading it just to check a small detail. Fortunately, there are a few workarounds for checking the size of folders in Google Drive without having to download your data locally.

If you are using a Windows PC, you can mount Google Drive as a network drive using an app called RaiDrive. Then easily check the size of any folder. Alternatively, you can use the Google Drive backup and sync client itself (on Windows and macOS) to check the size of a folder without syncing anything, provided you know what you’re doing.

Note: Google Drive does not count certain files, such as Docs, Sheets, and Slides, against your storage quota. Therefore, RaiDrive and Google Drive Backup & Sync will not display precise figures for folders containing such files.

Check the size of Google Drive folders – RaiDrive

RaiDrive is a remote file management program for Windows that allows you to add cloud storage services such as Google Drive, Dropbox and OneDrive to your computer. It then allows you to view all files and folders in the service without uploading data to local storage. Therefore, you can use RaiDrive to easily check the size of any folder in Google Drive using File Explorer.

However, you must authorize RaiDrive to view, modify, create and delete content in Google Drive. Check out the next method that involves the Google backup and sync client if you don’t like the idea of ​​allowing access to your data.

Step 1: Download and install RaiDrive.

Download RaiDrive

Note: Be sure to download the free version of RaiDrive as it is more than enough for the job at hand.

2nd step: Open RaiDrive, then click on the option labeled Add.

Step 3: Select Google Drive under the Storage section, then choose an appropriate drive letter (Google Drive will appear as a location in File Explorer). If desired, you can also add a label other than the default “Google Drive”. Finally, click on OK.

Step 4: A “Connect with Google” page will automatically launch in your default web browser. Sign in with your Google Account credentials or choose a Google Account if you were already signed in.

Step 5: Click Allow to grant RaiDrive permissions to access content in Google Drive.

RaiDrive should then add Google Drive as a remote drive location to your computer.

Step 6: Open File Explorer, then double-click the newly added location.

Step 7: Right-click a folder in Google Drive, then select Properties.

You can find the folder size listed on the General tab of the Properties dialog box. Practical, right?

Not only does RaiDrive allow you to display folder sizes in Google Drive, but you can also use it to copy files from your account locally and upload data to the cloud. You can also add other supported Google Drive accounts or cloud storage services to RaiDrive and manage them via file explorer.

Note: If you want to remove Google Drive from RaiDrive, open the RaiDrive program, click Disconnect, and then click Trash. You may want to access your online Google Account portal and remove access from RaiDrive to Google Drive.

Check the size of Google Drive folders – Backup and synchronization

If you don’t like giving RaiDrive access to your Google Account data, or if you’re using a Mac (in which case RaiDrive is not supported), you can instead use the Google Drive Backup & Sync client to check the size of the files. But rather than synchronizing your data locally and then checking the size of the folders using File Explorer or Finder, the following steps should show you a method that involves no downloads – apart from the initial download of backup and synchronization.

Step 1: Download and install Google Drive Backup & Sync.

Download backup and synchronization

2nd step: During the third step of the Welcome to Backup and Synchronization configuration, make sure to uncheck the box next to “Synchronize my drive with this computer”. Click Start to run Google Drive on your PC or Mac without downloading data.

Note: If you do not want to upload your documents or image to Google Drive, you must specify your preferences during the second step of the Welcome to Backup & Sync configuration.

Step 3: Whenever you want to check the size of a folder, click the Google Drive icon in the system tray (PC) or menu bar (Mac), then click the Plus icon (three dots) .

Step 4: Click on Preferences.

Step 5: In the Preferences pane that appears, go to the Google Drive tab, then check the box next to “Synchronize my drive with this computer”.

Follow by clicking on the radio button next to “Synchronize only these folders”. You can then view a list of folders (including subfolders) and their relative sizes in the column view.

After verifying this, click the Cancel button. If you click OK, Backup & Sync will start to synchronize the selected folders locally.

A better way

I don’t know why Google had to make checking the size of folders in Google Drive so difficult. Considering how long the web app has been out of functionality, don’t expect it to be available anytime soon. The two methods listed above are not perfect, but they should be useful to you at the moment.