Why doesn’t Finder show folder sizes?

List view shows folder sizes only if you turn it on: View › Show View Options (⌘J) › Calculate all sizes. It can be slow on big folders.

How do I find large files in System Data?

Most of System Data lives in folders macOS protects, and Finder searches skip them. Restart, empty the Trash and let macOS clear its caches and local snapshots before deleting anything there by hand.

Mac file guides

How to find large files on a Mac

By Vishva Variya · Updated October 31, 2026 · 4 min read

Short answer

Open System Settings › General › Storage and click the ⓘ next to Documents, then the Large Files tab, for a list sorted by size. In Finder, press ⌘F, add the File Size criterion (choose Other… to enable it) and set it to greater than 1 GB. In Terminal, find ~ -size +1G lists every file over 1 GB.

How do I see large files in Storage settings?

1Open System Settings › General › Storage.
2Click the ⓘ next to Documents.
3Choose Large Files. Everything is sorted by size, largest first.

Deleting from this list skips the Trash. It also only covers your documents, not apps or media libraries.

How do I search Finder by file size?

1Open a Finder window and press ⌘F.
2Click This Mac to search everywhere.
3Click the Kind menu and choose Other…, then tick File Size and click OK.
4Set File Size › is greater than › 1 › GB.
5Switch to list view and sort by Size.

Save it with Save (top right) to keep it as a Smart Folder in the sidebar.

What’s the Terminal command for large files?

find ~ -type f -size +1G -exec du -h {} + 2>/dev/null | sort -hr

Change +1G to +500M for anything over 500 MB. It lists; it never deletes.

What are the usual large files on a Mac?

Video: screen recordings, iPhone videos, exports from Final Cut or iMovie.
Disk images and installers: .dmg, .pkg, .xip (Xcode’s installer is several GB).
Archives: .zip backups of projects or photo folders.
Virtual machines and iOS device backups.
Photo and music libraries (manage these inside their apps, not in Finder).

Finding large files with Peekaboo

In Peekaboo you type the size the way you’d say it, and it becomes a filter you can see and edit. Space Map shows where the big files sit, folder by folder, and you can send anything to the Trash straight from the map.

1Press ⌘F and type “videos over 1 GB” or “zips bigger than 1 GB older than 6 months”.⌘F
2Open Space Map and click a slice to drill into it.⇧⌘M
3Save the search to the sidebar; it stays live as files change.

Questions

Why doesn’t Finder show folder sizes?: List view shows folder sizes only if you turn it on: View › Show View Options (⌘J) › Calculate all sizes. It can be slow on big folders.
How do I find large files in System Data?: Most of System Data lives in folders macOS protects, and Finder searches skip them. Restart, empty the Trash and let macOS clear its caches and local snapshots before deleting anything there by hand.