Copyright: Copyright © 1994-2001, Sanjay Kanade


CTXOPT sort size
Turn on this option to sort the report by size of the folders


CTXOPT sort name
Turn on this option to sort the report by name of the folders


CTXOPT sort count
Turn on this option to sort the report by file count of the folders


CTXOPT sort waste
Turn on this option to sort the report by wasted space within the folders


CTXOPT sort natural
Turn on this option to use no sorting and to get the report in the natural order. This results in a rescan.


CTXOPT sort desc
Turn on this option to use a descending sort. For example, if you select "sort by size" and then turned on this option, you will get a report in the order of decreasing sizes.


CTXOPT limit tree
Select a level here so that the tree report is shown only up to that level. The rest of the levels are collapsed but you can still open them by clicking on the + button in the tree report.


CTXOPT include wasted
Turn on this option to include the wasted space in the calculation of the total occupied size.


CTXOPT show wasted
Turn on this option to add another column to the report that shows the wasted space for each folder


CTXOPT no print larger
Enter a size here to exclude folders larger than that size in the printed report


CTXOPT no print smaller
Enter a size here to exclude folders smaller than that size in the printed report


CTXOPT start in last used
Turn on this option to let ShowSize always start up in the last used folder unless a command line option tells it to start elsewhere


CTXOPT start in
Use this option to specify a folder that ShowSize should always start up in (unless a command line option tells it to start elsewhere)


CTXOPT adv explorer
Turn on this option to show the list of files in an Explorer window. This list comes up when you click on the Files button to open the folder window with a list of files.


CTXOPT adv fillall
Turn on this option to fill all the reports or views in a single scan operation. This is the default. You would turn this option off only if you face memory shortage problems when the reports become excessively large.


CTXOPT adv usecompressed
Turn on this option to let ShowSize use the compressed sizes of the files in its calculations, available only on compressed volumes on Windows NT. This option is grayed if it is not supported in your Windows version.


New features, bug fixes and known problems

This topic discusses Known problems, bug fixes and other version history information on ShowSize. It is suggested that you at least read the Known problems section. A new ShowSize FAQ Area has also been started on ShowSize web site.

We appreciate all the feedback!

More and more network administrators are finding ShowSize useful, mainly because of its speed and flexibility. There are many who are using the command line options for batch operations. Many users have given suggestions to improve the product. We are happy that we have been able to accommodate most of these suggestions. ShowSize will continue to get better and better because we give more importance to the feedback of the actual users rather than making cosmetic changes to the product. For instance, we have not spent any effort on improving the pie chart as not a single user has actually recommended it. In fact, we doubt whether the serious users use it at all. Instead, we spent more time on improving the speed, documentation and other more important features requested by the users. We hope you see the point and spread the word. Thank you for all the support!

known problems

•	Known problems: If you use ShowSize on CD-ROM drives, NTFS volumes or Netware volumes, you MUST READ the Known problems section under the topic Understanding wasted space in partial clusters.

•	Better error reporting: PLEASE DON'T GET ALARMED IF YOU SEE SOME ERROR REPORTS that the old version didn't catch. These are usually the errors introduced by other file systems like Macintosh. ShowSize does a better job of detecting errors and tries to recover before giving you the report.

•	Better logon to networks on Windows 95: In the licensed version, you can use UNC path names. If this requires a logon, ShowSize presents you with a logon dialog and attempts it. This had some bugs in Windows 95 which have been fixed. However, please note that on Windows 95, you must be logged on as the same user and must have same group name in order for the logon to succeed. In other words, if ShowSize logon fails, please confirm first with Explorer map drive operation for the same UNC path before reporting it as a ShowSize bug.

•	Known problem: If you compare the occupied size of a folder reported by ShowSize with that reported by the Explorer properties menu, it should match except when the folder is the root folder of a drive. In that case, Explorer uses another method to find the occupied size. It calculates it on the basis of the total clusters which have been used. This includes the space needed to store the directory entries too. This is OK except that it is inconsistent. ShowSize always adds up the file sizes to find the occupied size, irrespective of whether the target folder is a root folder or not. Please keep this in mind when you compare the occupied size reported by ShowSize with other tools.

Fixes/new information in version 3.2.1

•	The sort options were not working properly when specified on the command line. This has been fixed.

•	Known problem related to Netware volumes: You should disable Wasted space options on Netware volumes. A description of this issue is given at the end of the topic Understanding wasted space in partial clusters.

Fixes in version 3.2

•	Some junk characters were printed in the reports after the Disk: information. This has been fixed.

•	For NTFS volumes, the cluster size reported by ShowSize was unreliable. Now, ShowSize contains some improved logic to find the correct cluster size. But, the fix only works when ShowSize is running on Windows NT and a particular system DLL is present.

•	In any case, for known file systems, if ShowSize can't find the correct cluster size by special logic, it now puts on a Question mark by the side of the Cluster Size display. This means that the cluster size obtained is unreliable.

New Features in version 3.1

•	Better progress display and cancel processing, especially on network drives.

•	Easy to remember web site name: The ShowSize web site and support email address are now easy to remember: showsize.com and support@showsize.com. Please see ShowSize web site.

•	Easy navigation to a target folder: The drive selection at the bottom left corner has been removed. Instead, now you can directly type a target folder name in the box above to scan it.

•	Revisiting used folders: The same box also allows you to quickly select a previously visited folder by clicking on the down arrow.

•	Network Neighborhood support (only in the licensed version): You can also type a UNC path name directly to scan a network folder. Or, you can select a folder by browsing the Network Neighborhood. There is no need to map the network path to a drive letter. If the network path requires you to logon, ShowSize presents a Logon dialog for you. There are command line features for auto logon too when you run ShowSize from within a batch file.

•	Better summary in printouts: On the basis of user suggestions, we have added such information as Total Disk Space, Cluster Size, etc in the reports too. In the previous versions, ShowSize displayed all this information but didn't include it in the printouts.

•	Selective printing: In the printouts, now you can choose to include the folders above or below a given size. This helps reduce the size of the printouts.

•	More command line options: From the beginning, ShowSize has been designed so that you can use it in batch files for running reports on large number of drives. More command line options have been added based on the suggestions of heavy-duty users.

•	Better error reporting: PLEASE DON'T GET ALARMED IF YOU SEE SOME ERROR REPORTS that the old version didn't catch. These are usually the errors introduced by other file systems like Macintosh. ShowSize does a better job of detecting errors and tries to recover before giving you the report.

•	Option to use compressed sizes: You can use an advanced option so that ShowSize uses the compressed sizes of files in the calculations. This is only supported on Windows NT on compressed volumes.

•	Better documentation: You can get context sensitive help on the Options dialog. Just click on the "?" icon and click on an item to get its help.


Introduction
Help Version 3.21
Help authoring tool used: HelpHikes Pro

ShowSize
 Fast, flexible disk space reporting tool
Copyright © 1994-2001, Sanjay Kanade

Introduction

ShowSize is fast!

Get BONUS utility when you buy ShowSize!

Developer Member,

What you can do with ShowSize

See how your disk space is distributed in various folders and file types! An Explorer style interface gives detailed reports on the folder sizes and wasted space. You get to choose between a top level folder view, a tree view, a pie chart and a file extensions view with many sorting options. ShowSize scans are fast Many Windows NT managers are already using it to scan and monitor very large network drives.

Use ShowSize and know your disk space better. For instance, you might discover those big unused folders, wasting 600 MB of space on your disk! Or, you may discover that all those ZIP files you downloaded and forgot to delete, are taking up 250 MB of your precious space! With that knowledge, you are in a better position to make room for new software.

Having doubts? Please read Why do I need ShowSize?.

 No disk is big enough!

OK, so you bought a new computer with a bigger hard disk. Do you think that ends all your problems of disk space shortage? The hard truth is NO. At one time, even a 20MB hard disk was thought to be a big one. But, the programs became bigger and bigger, and when Windows came, the whole scene changed. Windows itself needed lots of hard disk space. In the early days of Windows 3.1, computers with 200MB hard disks were common. Now, with all those Internet downloads and CDs, you might install a number of really big programs on your hard disk. You will find that even 2 GB of hard disk is not enough! The point is that unless you get organized, your hard disk will have little space left out. By 'getting organized,' I mean, knowing the space usage on your hard disk in terms of the useful stuff and temporary, unused stuff. It also means, regularly deleting the unused stuff which may be taking lots of space on your hard disk.

 Explorer and its limitations

There is no utility built into Windows or DOS which gives you a report on the sizes occupied by various folders on your hard disk. Let's say, you need to create space for a new software. You know there are many unused programs and temporary folders on your hard disk. Can you quickly identify which ones are occupying the most space? If you were to get a report, it might turn up some big unused folders so that you can remove them and install your new software.

To take a concrete example, can you tell me which are the folders bigger than 2 MB on your C: drive? You can't find that easily in Explorer. If you were to use Explorer, you will need to do the following:

1.	Select the first folder on drive C:. Don't be mistaken into believing that what Explorer shows at the bottom, on its status line, is the size of the folder. It isn't! It's only the total size of the files at the top level and doesn't include the files which are further down, in the subfolders. Also, no sizes are listed on the right for any of the subfolders of the selected folder.

To get the total size of the selected folder in Explorer, you need to right-click on the menu item "Properties." The total size of the folder is only shown in the properties box.

2.	So to find the folders bigger than 2 MB, you will need to perform the above step one by one on all the folders on drive C:. Quite painful, isn't it?

Now, if I ask you which are the three biggest folders, your job becomes even more difficult as you need to note down all the sizes which you found above and then compare them. Finally, if you were to analyze several levels of sizes in a folder, it might become practically impossible.

Just finding folders bigger than 2 MB as shown above is an awful amount of work! No, to keep track of folders and their occupied sizes, you need a good reporting tool. That's where ShowSize comes in. Besides, ShowSize has extra features to report the wasted space and the space occupied by file extensions (types).

 List of features

Please see a list of the key features in List of features.

Network administrators will also find ShowSize immensely useful as they have to manage the files created by other users, a difficult task!

Start using ShowSize and get a better handle on your disk space usage. The program is pretty simple to use. Please see the topic Getting started.

   Related topics


Getting started

ShowSize is very simple to use. Start it and you should see a screen similar to the following.

The folder which I selected in this case is C:\Program Files\Borland\Delphi 3, where I have installed the Delphi 3 software. Let us try to understand this report in the following points:

•	The Occupied size column in the report shows the total size of all the files in a subfolder of the selected folder. Note that this total includes all the lower level subfolders further down in the tree. For example, if you were to add up the size of all the files in the Demos subfolder and its subfolders at lower levels, then you will get a total Occupied size of 8,369,268 bytes.

•	Next comes the Wasted Space column. If you don't see this column then click on the Options button, then on Wasted Space tab and check the option "Show wasted space." This will get you this column. This Wasted Space column shows the total space being wasted in partial clusters in all the files in a subfolder of the selected folder. You can understand wasted space by reading the topic Understanding wasted space in partial clusters. In short, each file on your disk takes space in the form of fixed size clusters. Naturally, the last cluster of a file may not be fully used, resulting in the wasted space. What you see is a total of the wasted space of all the files in a subfolder, including all the lower level subfolders further down in the tree.

The above report has been sorted by the Wasted Space in reverse order. ShowSize gives you many sorting options, and sorting by wasted space is one of them. If your report is not sorted by wasted space, just click on the top of the wasted space column and ShowSize will sort it by wasted space. Click again and it will reverse the sort by wasted space. It is that simple to sort stuff with ShowSize.

A larger cluster size on a disk wastes more space. That's why in FAT file systems, you will see more wasted space as compared to FAT32 where, in general, the cluster size is only 4K as compared to the 32K cluster size for FAT. If you are interested, you can read more details on the wasted space in the topic Understanding wasted space in partial clusters.

•	Please also note that the item ":Wasted space, total" shows the total of the wasted space of the selected folder and all of its subfolders. For example, the total wasted space in our folder C:\Program Files\Borland\Delphi 3 is 30,467,259 bytes.

•	Now, what is the total occupied size of our folder C:\Program Files\Borland\Delphi 3? This is shown at the bottom of the right pane as 124,059,648 bytes. This includes the wasted space of 30,467,259 bytes as described in the previous point. ShowSize gives you an option to include or to exclude the wasted space in the total shown at the bottom. Just click on the Options button to change that option.

•	Now, look at the last column, Total files. This column shows the total number of files in a subfolder, including the files in all the lower level subfolders further down in the tree. The grand total of the files is shown in the column header. Sometimes, the file count is useful and helps to support the wasted space figure. For example, it might be interesting to note that the largest subfolder by occupied size is HELP. But, it is wasting very little space as compared to the Demos subfolder. As you can see, Demos contains the largest number of files. In general, more the number of files, more the wasted space.

•	Finally, note the item labeled ":Other non-folder files." This shows the total size of non-folder files in our selected folder, C:\Program Files\Borland\Delphi 3. This is what Explorer would have shown you for this folder in the bottom of its right pane. But, as I explained in Introduction, that is only one of the items to count for to get the real total that ShowSize shows.

•	To see another folder, you just need to click on it. To switch to another drive or folder, simply type it in the box above and click on the Go button or hit Enter key. A history of the folders that you visit is also maintained so that you can click on the down arrow and select a previously visited folder.

Network Neighborhood support (only in the licensed version): You can also type a UNC path name directly to scan a network folder. Or, you can select a folder by browsing the Network Neighborhood. There is no need to map the network path to a drive letter. If the network path requires you to logon, ShowSize presents a Logon dialog for you. There are command line features for auto logon too when you run ShowSize from within a batch file.

•	If you want to look at the list of files in a subfolder, just select that subfolder and click on the tool button Files. This will open the subfolder in Explorer.

•	You can also view a pie chart of the report. See, Viewing the Pie Chart.

Knowledge is power, and ShowSize gives you enough knowledge of your hard disk space so that you can manage it wisely. For example, in case of the above report, if you don't anticipate using the stuff in Demos, you may back this folder up, or zip it, or move it to a compressed drive to save about 18MB of disk space.

As you can see, using ShowSize is easy! Start using ShowSize straight away, and identify and get rid of those unused files occupying various folders. It might be some game or other software which you never use, and till now you never knew it wasted so much space! Now, with ShowSize, you can. So why not recover that precious disk space?

 Three different views of the report

ShowSize gives you three different views of the size report. What you saw above was an example of the Normal Report View which you get when you start ShowSize for the first time. After that, it remembers your viewing preferences if you change them to another view.

You can switch to two other views:

1	Tree View - Shows a complete tree of subfolders at all the levels and their sizes, file count, etc. What is more, the sorting is available in the tree view too and works at all the levels!

2	Extensions View - Shows the file extensions (types) with their sizes.

   Related topics


Other operations

You should read about the following ShowSize operations to get the maximum benefits from its reporting features.

Sorting the report in a different order

Viewing the Pie Chart

Changing the options

Going directly to another folder

Speed considerations

Turning off automatic processing

Viewing or removing the left pane

Installing ShowSize menu in Explorer

Getting the list of files in a folder

Removing a folder

Getting a printed report

Copying the report to paste it in another document

Copying a folder name to the clipboard

Saving the report to text file

Understanding wasted space in partial clusters

Specifying ShowSize options on the command line

   Related topics


How to order ShowSize

Developer Member,

Convenient update downloads!

Note that the following prices include a special access to the User Support Area from where you can download updates FREE of charge for one year from the date of your purchase. Imagine, you don't need to keep a back up copy of the software! You can download the latest version 24 hours a day from anywhere in the world! You  may not find another software company giving this facility.

The same user support area also gives you upgrade offers and special price offers for other products.

 Price and ordering choices

Here are various versions, delivery methods and the prices. Note that all the versions include a copy of File Sniffer utility that is installed automatically along with ShowSize.

Product Version	Delivery method	Price	From where to order
ShowSize Single user license	Instant download	US$25	Web: ShowSize web site
ShowSize on CD Single user license RegNet #7315	CD mailed  Optional: Download link on request	US$30	Phone: From RegNet (see note) Web: ShowSize web site
ShowSize on CD 5 user site license RegNet #7248	CD mailed  Optional: Download link on request	US$95	Phone: From RegNet (see note) Web: ShowSize web site
ShowSize on CD 10 user site license RegNet #7249	CD mailed  Optional: Download link on request	US$150	Phone: From RegNet (see note) Web: ShowSize web site
ShowSize on CD 50+ user site license RegNet #7250	CD mailed  Optional: Download link on request	US$600	Phone: From RegNet (see note) Web: ShowSize web site
Special upgrade price for registered users	Instant download only	**	Web only:  User Support Area
ShowSize Lite version: Please note that a ShowSize LITE version with limited features is available separately for a low price. For the latest details, please visit the ShowSize web site.

 Ordering a CD from RegNet:

You can order the software on CD from RegNet by phone or by web based ordering. The instant download is not available automatically when you order a CD. But, you can request it from RegNet when placing the order or later by email. In any case, within a business day, you get access to the User Support Area from where you can download a copy. To order a CD by phone, please use the following numbers. Please don't forget to mention the RegNet product number as indicated above.

Phone numbers for calling RegNet

Toll free within the US: (1-800-999-2734) (ORDER ONLY)

Outside the US: +1 (719) 576-0123

Fax: +1 (719) 623-0399

     The Registration Network (Reg.Net)

675 Southpointe Ct Ste 250

Colorado Springs CO 80906

USA

http://www.reg.net

 Site License

The single user license of ShowSize allows you to use ShowSize on any of your machines, provided you are the only user and it is not used simultaneously by many users. If that is not the case, you need to purchase a site license. You also need a site license if you want to share the program on a network. When you order a site license, you get a copy of the software on CD that you can use to install as many copies that you bought the license for.

   Related topics


What you get in the licensed version

Here are the benefits of buying a licensed copy of ShowSize:

Legality

You get a single user license for unlimited use of the software. You can purchase a site license allowing a copy of ShowSize to be shared by many users. Otherwise, your evaluation license for use of the software expires after 30 days from the date of the first install.

Bonus utility, File Sniffer

When you purchase the licensed version of ShowSize, you also get the File Sniffer, an additional utility, for FREE. With File Sniffer, you can sniff up unused files on your hard disk. Another bonus utility is under development. For the latest details, please see the ShowSize web site.

Extra features!

You get the following extra features in the licensed version. For the latest details on the extras, please visit the  ShowSize web site.

1.	The initial evaluation reminder screen doesn't pop up to delay the starting of the program.

2.	Network Neighborhood support: You can also type a UNC path name directly to scan a network folder. Or, you can select a folder by browsing the Network Neighborhood. There is no need to map the network path to a drive letter. If the network path requires you to logon, ShowSize presents a Logon dialog for you. There are command line features for auto logon too when you run ShowSize from within a batch file.

3.	On your report printouts, the comment that the report was produced using the unlicensed copy of ShowSize, is removed.

4.	You get the ability to copy the report to the clipboard or to save it to a text file.

5.	You get the print preview feature.

Latest version and FREE updates for one year

You get the most recent version of ShowSize. Also, you get special access to the User Support Area from where you can download updates FREE of charge for one year from the date of your purchase. Imagine, you don't need to keep a back up copy of the software! You can download the latest version 24 hours a day from anywhere in the world! You  may not find another software company giving this facility.

Support

Free Technical Support is available to the licensed users from the support web site and by email.

We appreciate all the feedback!

More and more network administrators are finding ShowSize useful, mainly because of its speed and flexibility. There are many who are using the command line options for batch operations. Many users have given suggestions to improve the product. We are happy that we have been able to accommodate most of these suggestions. ShowSize will continue to get better and better because we give more importance to the feedback of the actual users rather than making cosmetic changes to the product. For instance, we have not spent any effort on improving the pie chart as not a single user has actually recommended it. In fact, we doubt whether the serious users use it at all. Instead, we spent more time on improving the speed, documentation and other more important features requested by the users. We hope you see the point and spread the word. Thank you for all the support!

   Related topics


Support information
Help Version 3.21
Help authoring tool used: HelpHikes Pro

Support information

It's recommended that you first access the following web sites for the latest support information:

ShowSize FAQ Area

ShowSize web site

If you can't find an answer to your question on the web site, please send an email to ShowSize Support:

email: support@showsize.com

If you are a registered user, you can login to the User Support Area anytime to download the latest version of ShowSize.

Do this before sending a message for technical support:

•	Consult online help by searching on keywords:

Special care has been taken to include all possible keywords in the online help so that you can search for the desired information quickly. The developer will appreciate any suggestions on more keywords to be added for a help topic.

•	Consult the ShowSize web site

Please access the ShowSize web site to get the latest information.

   Related topics


Other products by the same developer
Help Version 3.21
Help authoring tool used: HelpHikes Pro

Other products by the same developer

WhizFolders -- Keep thousands of notes, properly indexed

Are you still keeping your notes in separate text files? Do not limit yourself. Use WhizFolder documents to group thousands of notes and find them easily. Brainstorm your ideas better with hypertext links and multiple views. Create your own hypertext reference notes; bookmark web sites, files & folders; study a subject; keep a diary,... Hundreds of uses.

For more details, or to download an evaluation version, please visit the Developer's web site. If you are a registered user of ShowSize, you can get WhizFolders Organizer Pro version at a special discounted price! For more details, please login to the User Support Area.

HelpHikes Pro -- Start WinHelp authoring in minutes!

Note that HelpHikes Pro was used to create this help file for ShowSize!

Use HelpHikes Pro and start Windows Help authoring in minutes! Just add topics to a document, insert hyperlinks by a simple drag and drop, and push a button to create help. To learn advanced usage, you can see the accompanying sample projects. HelpHikes is also a better notepad for those who directly use HTML to edit web pages.

HelpHikes Pro supports the Microsoft Help Workshop compiler (HCW) for creating Windows 95 help files with version 4.0. It can also use the old DOS based Help Compilers to let you create Windows 3.1 help files.

For more details, or to download an evaluation version, please visit the Developer's web site.


Using the Normal Report View
To view the basic or normal report

1	Click on the menu "View--Normal Report View" (or press Ctrl-R).

2	A report appears in the report pane on the right. From this report, you can find out how much space is occupied by each subfolder of the selected folder. This space includes the space in all the lower level subfolders further down in the tree. The total occupied size of the selected folder is also shown at the bottom.

3	Using the Options dialog, you can sort the report in a different order. For example, you can sort by folder names, by sizes, by wasted space, by file count or by the natural order of the folders. You can also click on the column headers to sort by that column. If you click again, the sort is reversed.

For a detailed discussion of a normal report and what it shows, please see the topic, Getting started.

Tip

•	To get more information on an item in the report, right-click on it to get a menu. Then click on the menu item "What's this?"

   Related topics


Using the Tree View
To view the complete tree of sizes

1	Click on the menu "View--Tree View" (or press Ctrl-T).

2	A tree of folders and their sizes appears in the report pane on the right. Click on the boxes to collapse or expand the tree items.

3	Using the Options dialog, you can sort the report in a different order. For example, you can sort by folder names, by sizes, by wasted space, by file count or by the natural order of the folders. Note that the above sorting occurs at each level, separately.

See a sample screen shot of this Tree View.

Tip

•	To get more information on an item in the report, right-click on it to get a menu. Then click on the menu item "What's this?"

•	You can also limit the tree to a certain level on the Options dialog.

   Related topics


Using the Extensions View
To view the sizes occupied by files with various extensions (types)

1	Click on the menu "View--Extensions View" (or press Ctrl-E).

2	A report appears in the report pane on the right. From this report, you can find out how much space is occupied by the files having a certain file extension. For example, you can find out how much space is occupied by .ZIP files in that folder.

3	Using the Options dialog, you can sort the report in a different order. For example, you can sort by extension names, by sizes, by wasted space, or by the file count.

See a sample screen shot of this Extensions View.

Tip

•	To get more information on an item in the report, right-click on it to get a menu. Then click on the menu item "What's this?"

•	You may see two report items for a file extension, one at the top level and other for the inner levels. The top level size is the added size of the files with that extension which are at the top level in the folder which you selected. The inner level size is the total added size of the files with that extension which are in one or more subfolders of the selected folder.

   Related topics


Sorting the report in a different order
To sort the report in a different order

1	Use the Options dialog to change the sorting options.

2	Or, use the following methods for columnized reports that you see in Normal Report View or in Extensions View.

•	Click on the a column header to sort by that column.

•	Click again to reverse the sort.

Tip

•	For Tree View, you can set a sorting option only by the Options dialog, and the sorting occurs at each level, separately.

   Related topics


Changing the options
To change the options

Click on the menu "Tools--Options" (or press F2), and the Options dialog appears.

Note: You can get help on each item of this dialog by a simple procedure. Just click on the "?" at the top of this dialog, and then click on an item to get its help.

Here are the various options available on this dialog.

Sorting

Sort by size

Sort by name

Sort by file count

Sort by wasted space

Show in the natural order, use no sorting

Descending or reverse sort

Tree Report

Limit the tree to level

Wasted Space

Include the wasted space in the total size

Show wasted space in all the levels of the report

Selective Printing

Do not print items larger than given

Do not print items smaller than given

Startup

Always start the program in the last used folder

Always start the program in the given folder

Advanced

When viewing files in a folder, open it in Explorer style list

Fill up all the views simultaneously in a single scan

Show and use compressed file sizes on compressed volumes

Tip

•	The Options dialog can also be accessed by right-clicking in the report pane.

•	You can get help on each item of this dialog by a simple procedure. Just click on the "?" at the top of this dialog, and then click on an item to get its help.

   Related topics


Going directly to another folder
To go to another folder

1	Select the folder in the left pane.

2	If the target folder is a subfolder, double-click on its parent folder name to expand it.

3	If the target folder is on another drive, just type the folder path in the box above and hit Enter key or click on the Go button.

Network Neighborhood support (only in the licensed version): You can also type a UNC path name directly to scan a network folder. Or, you can select a folder by browsing the Network Neighborhood. There is no need to map the network path to a drive letter. If the network path requires you to logon, ShowSize presents a Logon dialog for you. There are command line features for auto logon too when you run ShowSize from within a batch file.

4	You can also click on the Browse button or on the menu "File--Go to Folder..." (Ctrl-O) to select another folder.

Tip

If the folder you wish to go to is a subfolder shown on the right in the report pane, you can also right-click on the pop up menu item "Show at this level."

   Related topics


Speed considerations

If you are accessing a slow or busy drive, such as a network drive, it may take more time to fill up the ShowSize panes. This includes the tree of folders in the left pane. ShowSize offers two solutions for you:

Turn off the automatic processing

You can turn off the automatic processing so that only the left pane is filled up. The processing doesn't start till you select the proper folder and perform refresh on it.

Turn off the view of the left pane

You can save on the time to fill up the left pane by switching off the view of the left pane of folders.

It is even better to install the ShowSize menu in Explorer. This gives you the best of both worlds. You can see the folder tree in the Explorer, and you can also right-click on a folder to get its size with ShowSize. In this case, ShowSize automatically starts up with the left pane off. The left pane is not needed as you already came from Explorer which has the folder tree.

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Turning off automatic processing
To turn the automatic processing off or on

1	Click on the menu "View" and see the check mark on the menu item "Automatic Processing."

2	Click on the above menu item to turn the automatic processing off or on. See the tip at the end to find out why you may want to turn off the automatic processing.

3	If you turn off the automatic processing, ShowSize doesn't start processing when you select a new folder or change to another drive.

4	After selecting another folder, you can start the processing by right-clicking on it and performing Refresh on it.

5	You can also press Enter to start the processing.

Tip

Why would you like to turn off the automatic processing? It entirely depends on your personal preference. In general, if you often change to another drive or if most of your folders are big, you may want to hold off processing till you start it explicitly. Turning off automatic processing lets you select a folder without interrupting you with a find size operation for each folder change operation. This may be particularly helpful on slow network drives with very big folders.

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Viewing or removing the left pane
To view or remove the left pane

1	Click on the menu "View" and see the check mark on the menu item "Left Pane."

2	Click on the above menu item to remove or to restore the left pane of folders. See the tip at the end to find out why you may want to remove the left pane.

3	If you remove the left pane, the report pane occupies the entire ShowSize window.

Tip

You may want to remove the left pane for better speed. For details, please see Speed considerations.

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Installing ShowSize menu in Explorer
You can add two convenient menu items in Explorer so that you can quickly right-click on a folder and run ShowSize on it to get a size report or to print out a report.

To install ShowSize menu in Explorer

1	First select the proper viewing options which you want to use for this feature. For example, if you always prefer the Tree View with descending sizes, select those options before you install the menu.

2	Click on the menu "Setup--Install ShowSize menu item in Explorer."

3	A dialog comes up which reminds you to use proper viewing options before the install. You already did that in Step 1 above. So, just press OK.

4	A message comes up to show that the installation was successful.

5	To see how it works, start Explorer and right-click on a folder name. You will see new menu items "Get Size with ShowSize" and "Print ShowSize Report." Just click on one of them to start the proper ShowSize operation on that folder.

Tip

•	Each such click on any folder starts a separate copy of ShowSize specially for that folder. Note that in such ShowSize windows, only the report pane is shown. This is to ensure a better speed. For details, please see Speed considerations.

•	If you perform "Print ShowSize Report" on a folder from Explorer, ShowSize starts minimized and starts printing on the default printer. After printing, it automatically exits.

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Getting the list of files in a folder
To view the files in a folder

1	Select the folder in the report pane on the right or on the left pane.

2	Right-click on the pop up menu item "Open Folder Window to View Files". This menu item is also available on the File menu.

3	The folder opens in Explorer where you can view the files and perform more operations on them.

4	If instead, you want the files to be shown in a standard system folder window, put the Explorer option off in the Advanced tab of the options dialog.

Tip

•	If you use the main File menu to perform the operation, the folder selected in the report pane is used. If none is selected, then the folder selected in the left pane is used.

•	To quickly move to the parent folder of the folder window, press Backspace key on the Explorer or press the Up button if available.

•	To quickly perform an operation such as rename, delete on a report item, it's better to open the folder window and then move to the parent folder as described in the previous tip.

•	Of, if you are sure you want to remove the folder without looking at the file list, you may straightaway use the operation "Remove folder" from ShowSize. Please see the topic Removing a folder.

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Removing a folder
To remove a folder

(Only in the licensed version)

1	Select the folder in the report pane. You can select multiple folder items by using the same keys which you use in Explorer to select multiple files.

2	Right-click on the pop up menu item "Remove folder".

3	ShowSize will remove the folder and put it in the Recycle Bin after a confirmation. Then, it will ask you for confirmation to refresh. You may not want to refresh when you plan on deleting more folders before doing a refresh.

Tip

If you didn't refresh but you emptied the recycle bin and now want to see the free space, you can just refresh the Disk Free Space display by the View menu. Or, you can click on the Disk Free Space display to refresh it.

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Getting a printed report
To get a printed report

1	Click on the menu "File--Print Report..." or press Ctrl-P.

2	A printing options dialog comes up where you can select the proper options such as a title for the printout. Press OK.

3	The standard Print dialog comes up where you can change to another printer or select the pages to print. Press OK.

4	ShowSize prints the report which you are presently viewing on the screen.

5	A Print Preview feature is also provided on the File menu (only in the licensed version).

6	Selective printing: In the printouts, you can choose to include the folders above or below a given size. This helps reduce the size of the printouts. See Options for more details.

Tip

You can also install a Print menu in the Explorer and start ShowSize printing from Explorer's right-click menu.

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Copying the report to paste it in another document
To copy the report to clipboard

(Only in the licensed version)

1	Click on the menu "Edit--Copy Report" (or press Ctrl-C).

2	Paste it in another document, such as, a word processor document for further formatting. However, please note that the report is properly formatted in a fixed type font only, such as, Courier.

3	If you want to paste the report in an Excel spreadsheet, you may try the other Copy operation, "Edit--Copy Tab Delimited Report."

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Understanding wasted space in partial clusters

Important note: What ShowSize shows is actually an estimation of wasted space based on the cluster size on the disk. This topic explains the wasted space along. Please don't forget to see the known problems for some file systems at the end of this topic.

What is wasted space in partial clusters?

A file is made up of one or more clusters in the file system. All clusters are of a fixed size on a particular disk. Usually, the last cluster of a file is partially filled. That means, the remaining unused bytes of that last cluster are a waste. They can't be used for any other file.

ShowSize assumes that such a space wastage exists in the file system which is true for today's file systems. It estimates the wasted space on this assumption, and shows you a total of such wasted space for all the files in a folder. It appears as a separate report item called, "Wasted space in partial clusters."

You get an option on the Options dialog to include this wasted space in the total occupied size of that folder at the bottom. The bigger the cluster size on a disk, the more space is wasted in partial clusters. ShowSize shows you the cluster size at the bottom of the report pane.

Then, why do the file systems use the larger cluster sizes? It improves speed. A small cluster will save space but would make the file system slow. But, since the processor speeds are improving, the tendency is to select a lower cluster size. For example, in FAT32 (a file system introduced with Windows 98), the default cluster size used is 4K, resulting in much lower wasted space. What you can do about this wasted space? Once you have selected a file system and a cluster size, you can do little except to know that such wasted space exists. Moving from FAT to FAT32 might be a good idea but may not be easy. Also, in general, a larger number of files results in more wasted space. So, if you store some files on compressed disks, it might save space as the compressed disks use their own internal file system.

Known problems

For all wasted space (and disk free space) calculations, ShowSize depends on the Windows API to return the correct cluster size. Various versions of Windows are known to return a wrong cluster size for certain file systems. ShowSize contains some complex logic to find out the correct cluster size. If ShowSize can't find out the correct cluster size, it makes some assumptions based on the file system, and puts on a question mark by the side of the Cluster Size display.

Note that if the cluster size reported by ShowSize is wrong, there is no simple formula to get the correct wasted space. In a future version, you might get an option to enter the correct cluster size so that a rescan by ShowSize will give correct wasted space results. Hence, please send email to the developer giving all the details of the file system where ShowSize reported a wrong cluster size. Please also include information on how you obtained the correct cluster size.

CD-ROM drives: Somehow, the file system reports a wrong cluster size for CD-ROM drives. This happens with both the new and the old method. Even Explorer gets it wrong. To confirm this, you may see the properties of the root folder on a CD-ROM drive by using the Explorer. You will see a huge allocated space hinting at huge wasted space. Earlier versions of ShowSize reported incorrect wasted space due to this problem. This version of ShowSize uses a cluster size of 2048 for CD-ROM drives. It should be true for most of the drives. But, if you know that it is not true in a particular case, you may calculate the correct wasted space by using the formula given above.

NTFS volumes: For NTFS volumes, the cluster size reported by ShowSize was unreliable. Now, ShowSize contains some improved logic to find the correct cluster size. But, the fix only works when ShowSize is running on Windows NT. In any case, for known file systems, if ShowSize can't find the correct cluster size by special logic, it now puts on a Question mark by the side of the Cluster Size display. This means that the cluster size obtained is unreliable.

Compressed volumes: Since, compressed volumes use their own internal format, the ShowSize reports do not show the actual compressed sizes on these drives. The wasted space reported won't be correct on the compressed volumes. This is similar to what Explorer would report on these drives.

Novell Netware Volumes: ShowSize has many customers using Netware volumes. According to them, on NetWare volumes, regardless of the default cluster size, a feature called "Block Suballocation" can be enabled.  This feature allows the NetWare file system to "reuse"the wasted cluster space by allowing other files to write to the "wasted" portions of existing clusters. So on NetWare volumes, you should ignore the ":Wasted space" item of the report. Also, you should  turn off the Wasted space options on the Options dialog page "Wasted space."  Otherwise, the total disk space reported by ShowSize would be wrong as it will include the calculated wasted space.

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Specifying ShowSize options on the command line

ShowSize also supports specification of options on the command line. This is mainly useful for using it in batch operations to print out reports on selected folders.

Usage on command line:

ShowSize [options] "folder-name"

Options:

/p - Print the report and exit.

/vr - Use the Normal Report View.

/vt[:n] - Use the Tree View. If n is present, then limit the tree to n levels.

/ve - Use the Extensions View.

/ss - Sort the report in ascending order of the sizes.

/ds - Sort the report in descending order of the sizes.

/sn - Sort the report alphabetically by folder names.

/dn - Sort the report in the descending order of the folder names.

/sw - Sort the report in ascending order of the wasted space.

/dw - Sort the report in descending order of the wasted space.

/sc - Sort the report in ascending order of the file count.

/dc - Sort the report in descending order of the file count.

/snat - Sort the report by natural order of the folders.

/iw - Include wasted space in the total reported.

/aw - Add the wasted space display for all the subfolders.

/niw - Don't include wasted space in the total reported.

/min - Run minimized.

/h - Hide the left pane (used mainly for the menu command installed in Explorer)

/sv:textfilename -- save report to the indicated text file

/ucs -- use compressed sizes on compressed volumes for all calculations if supported

Note that if an option is not given, the default is taken from the last saved preferences of a ShowSize session. ShowSize automatically saves your preferences when it exits. The only exception is when you invoke it from the command line with the '/p' switch or with the 'h' switch.

UNC path related options (only available in the licensed version):

When you specify a UNC path name (network folder) as target (licensed version only), it may require a logon. You can specify the user name and password to use. This is used only once on the first attempt.

/nuser:uuu -- user name for network path logon

/npw:ppp -- password for network path logon

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ShowSize web site
http://showsize.com

http://kanadepro.com/showsize/


Developer Member
This program is produced by a Developer Member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at 157-F Love Ave, Greenwood, IN 46142 USA, FAX 317-888-2195, or send email to omb@asp-shareware.org.


Developer's web site
http://kanadepro.com/


Tree View Screen Shot
Sample Tree View Screen shot


Extensions View Screen Shot
Sample Extensions View Screen shot


Pie chart screen shot
Sample Pie Chart Screen shot


Viewing the Pie Chart
To view the Pie Chart for a report

1	Click on the menu "View--Pie Chart."

2	The report will appear in a pie chart. You can customize it by the options on the pie chart dialog. For example, you can specify how many sections you want and whether you want to view the sizes, wasted space or file counts in the pie chart.

See a sample screen shot of this Pie Chart.

Tip

•	If you view the pie chart while in normal report view or tree view, you will see a pie chart of the folders in the normal report. If you view the pie chart while in the extensions view, you will see a pie chart of the extensions report.

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Saving the report to text file
To save the report to a text file

(Only in the licensed version)

1	Click on the menu "File--Save Report to Text File."

2	You will have to provide a text file name where the report will be saved.

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Copying a folder name to the clipboard
Sometimes, you may want to make yourself some reminder notes for certain folders. For example, you want to remind yourself to check up a certain folder and delete it later. This operation allows you to copy complete folder names to the clipboard so that you can paste them into your notes.

To copy a folder name from report to the clipboard

(Only in the licensed version)

1	Select the folder in the report pane. You can select multiple folder items by using the same keys which you use in Explorer to select multiple files.

2	Right-click on the pop up menu item "Copy folder name."

3	This will copy the complete path name of the folder to the clipboard so that you can paste it in your notes.

   Related topics


File Sniffer web site
http://kanadepro.com/filesniffer


ShowSize is fast!

ShowSize has been designed carefully for optimized performance. It is important to understand the following concepts when you use such a program which can produce huge reports:

Superior design, higher speed

ShowSize has been designed with considerations for speed. Many disk utilities list all the drives and their folders in the left pane. While this might be more convenient, it is certainly slower, specially on systems with large numbers of drives and folders. ShowSize has been designed to show only a single drive's contents in the left folder. Moreover, even that can be switched off for slower network drives. Please see  Speed considerations.

Memory leaks

ShowSize has been thoroughly tested for memory leaks. When you go for a file system utility, you should test it thoroughly to see if it has memory leaks. A good test for such programs would be to run them for a while and repeatedly scan big drives. If you have a resource monitoring program turned on, you should see your system running out of resources gradually. Finally, you might see that many other programs have stopped working and a Windows message appears, "You are dangerously low on resources." Beware of such programs which have memory leaks.

Use of resources

ShowSize has been designed with low resource usage in mind. If a function is performed well by Windows Explorer, ShowSize doesn't provide it. Take for example the list of files. Explorer can show you the list of files and gives you many sorting options. Hence, ShowSize allows you to open an Explorer view to look at the list of files in a folder. ShowSize, itself, specializes in processing and showing folders and only folders. No icons are shown in the report as they are not needed. This saves on resources which other programs need.

Capacity

The capacity of reports is only limited by Windows and how much memory it makes available to the program's listing controls. However, ShowSize contains several features to limit the size of the reports. ShowSize fills three views simultaneously when scanning a drive. These views are normal report view, tree view and extensions view. But, you can always turn off this simultaneous fill in the advanced options. This way, you can deal with a huge listing by only looking at it through the normal report view. Note that a huge report may not result from a big drive or from a large number of files. In ShowSize, a huge report can only result from a large number of folders. By design, ShowSize eliminates huge listings by not giving you the list of files. You can use other tools like Windows Explorer to get that report.

We appreciate all the feedback!

More and more network administrators are finding ShowSize useful, mainly because of its speed and flexibility. There are many who are using the command line options for batch operations. Many users have given suggestions to improve the product. We are happy that we have been able to accommodate most of these suggestions. ShowSize will continue to get better and better because we give more importance to the feedback of the actual users rather than making cosmetic changes to the product. For instance, we have not spent any effort on improving the pie chart as not a single user has actually recommended it. In fact, we doubt whether the serious users use it at all. Instead, we spent more time on improving the speed, documentation and other more important features requested by the users. We hope you see the point and spread the word. Thank you for all the support!

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User Support Area
http://support.showsize.com/


Why do I need ShowSize?

"I can find size of a folder by Windows Explorer 'Properties' menu. Why do I need ShowSize?"

But, you can't compare sizes of different folders using Windows Explorer. It would be a painful process to see the properties for each folder, then write down the folder sizes on paper and compare them. ShowSize gives you convenient reports listing the sizes of all the folders. Moreover, you can sort this report in a different order, for instance, by increasing or decreasing folder sizes.

"I already use another disk utility to see folder sizes. What is different in ShowSize?"

Good question. The reason you came to try out ShowSize shows that for some reason, you are not satisfied with this other utility. Here are some distinct advantages of ShowSize:

•	ShowSize has been designed carefully for optimized performance. Please read all about it in ShowSize is fast! Besides, ShowSize supports many advanced features like wasted space in partial clusters, report by extensions, etc. Many NT administrators are already using ShowSize to scan big disks of the order of hundreds of gigabytes. Moreover, we always listen to our users, whether it is a bug or a request for enhancement. Just see the List of features, and you will see how creative the suggestions from the users can be.

•	Don't settle for a do-all file manager utility that can't do full justice to the task of reporting the folder sizes in all the different formats that we support. If you think a little, you'll get the idea. It's plain common sense. It is the difference between going to a general consultant and to a specialist.

•	If you are serious about knowing your disk space better, go for the specialist. Use software that is dedicated to reporting the folder sizes. See what difference a "focused" utility like ShowSize makes. And, if you continue using it, please buy the licensed version to support our efforts.


List of features

•	Explorer style interface: You get a convenient double-pane interface where the folders are shown in the left pane, and the disk space report for the selected folder appears in the right pane.

•	Speed considerations: ShowSize has been designed for speed. Hence, it only shows the folders for one disk in the left pane. You can go to another folder or a disk by entering it in the top box just like Internet Explorer. A drop-down list also lets you quickly select a previously visited folder anywhere on the system. There are other features for speed, especially useful when working with slow network drives. See more details in ShowSize is fast!.

•	Normal view: In Normal view, you see the total space occupied by a selected folder and its top level subfolders.

•	Tree View: In Tree View, you see a whole tree of the folders and subfolders and how much space each one is occupying.

•	Extensions View: In Extensions View, you see a list of file extensions (types) present in a folder and its subfolders and how much space the files of a particular extension are taking.

•	Simultaneous filling of the views: The above three views are filled simultaneously during a disk scan. This avoids a rescan when you switch to a different view. For huge reports, you can put off this option to fill all the views to save on system resources.

•	Number of files: The above reports also contain number of files to help you further with your analysis of the usage of a folder.

•	Sorting features: You can sort the above reports by file sizes, number of files, wasted space and file names. A change in sorting criteria is processed quickly. It does not cause a rescan of the disk unless you go back to the natural order.

•	Pie chart: You can also view a Pie chart for the above reports where you can select to display only the top X items so as not to complicate the pie chart.

•	Wasted space in partial clusters: The wasted space depends on the cluster size. It is an important piece of information to let you find out the true disk space occupied by the files. You get options to include or exclude the wasted space in the reports. See more details in Understanding wasted space in partial clusters.

•	Integration with Windows Explorer: There is an option to install ShowSize menu items in Windows Explorer. Further, you can customize what report the Explorer menu item will show.

•	Printing: You can print all the reports or can preview them (licensed version only) before printing. There are also features to print a range of selected pages which is helpful in case of big printouts.

•	Exporting to text files: In the licensed version, you can save a report to a text file or can copy it to the clipboard.

•	Powerful command line features: You can run ShowSize from batch files and can control all the features through powerful command line options. Many NT administrators love this feature!

•	Direct support for UNC paths: In the licensed version, you can directly navigate to a network drive. You don't need to map it to a drive letter. This is very convenient on large networked systems.

We appreciate all the feedback!

More and more network administrators are finding ShowSize useful, mainly because of its speed and flexibility. There are many who are using the command line options for batch operations. Many users have given suggestions to improve the product. We are happy that we have been able to accommodate most of these suggestions. ShowSize will continue to get better and better because we give more importance to the feedback of the actual users rather than making cosmetic changes to the product. For instance, we have not spent any effort on improving the pie chart as not a single user has actually recommended it. In fact, we doubt whether the serious users use it at all. Instead, we spent more time on improving the speed, documentation and other more important features requested by the users. We hope you see the point and spread the word. Thank you for all the support!


Screen shot


ShowSize FAQ Area
A new ShowSize FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) web site is now available. Just click on the following link to access it:

http://kanadepro.com/showsize/ssfaqsr.mv