Windows 7: Windows Explorer Status Bar: does not show file size

If my Windows Explorer showed that I wouldn't be here! It does not have the "size" column. How can I make it show file size (like Windows XP did)? If I put my cursor on the files one at a time, it will show all kinds of info, including file size. But that's slow and ponderous. I would like to be able to just look at the list of files, and see the sizes of everything right there (like with Windows XP) and like the screen shot you provided in your message.
Thanks.

Orbital Shark & Kari - I suggest you open a Trash and select all files or a folder with subdirectories and different file types and select them all. Will you still be that smart? Then do the same on some XP machine to compare. Windows 7 sucks. They removed a bunch of handy features we were used to for years.

Hi guys,


If you are using the windows explorer shell extension I made for showing the file size on the status bar, I have just committed some updates to it to the public web site. Nothing fancy (and you may not even notice the changes) but here they are:

1. Use documented methods to access the status bar window handle.
2. Use documented methods to watch for selection changes. This will reduce the amount of unnecessary work the extension does, but you probably won't really notice.
3. Show the size of the whole folder if there is nothing selected. This won't show when you first navigate to a folder (the performance of that was not good so I disabled it), but you can refresh the displayed size manually by clicking Escape.
4. Add two keyboard shortcuts that I find useful:
   • Escape - Deselect all. If nothing is already selected, refresh the displayed folder size.
   • Ctrl+U - Navigate up one folder.

Source code and installers can be found here:

file-size - Windows 7 shell extension to show the size of the selected file(s) on the status bar. - Google Project Hosting

Please try it out if you are interested and let me know if you have any problems.

Thanks,

Chris

This is such a basic need. Thanks so much to ChrisJR for providing something that M/S in their infinite stupidity deemed unimportant.

No, it is not MS's stupidity. It is the standard user's stupidity. They are so stupid that they freak out when they see technical data around (e.g.; file sizes). Apple company targets the stupid most, and Microsoft has just decided to race with Apple on this recently. It is a matter of profit, since the stupids cover a larger percentage of the total humanity.

Besides the fact that I have no idea what you mean by "They are so stupid that they freak out when they see technical data around (e.g.; file sizes).", you have escalated this thread from a complaint about M/S, that has been voiced often and that has been resolved by a thoughtful user, to a criticism about the intelligence of users here and myself specifically.

I feel that I am an astute and experienced enough windows and computer user to see a shortcoming where it exists. Calling me stupid (even by inference) simply points to your own failings.

No, I didn't call you stupid. I was referring to the average computer user who can't even find or visit this forum in the first place.
Average computer user don't understand about computers. So they would like to see simplicity. They are in great numbers and they make the most money for software companies. That's why, us, the experienced ones are experiencing frustrations like the one being discussed under this forum topic.

OK. Now I understand the point you were making. But I stand with my original statement. M/S is stupid for trying to meet the "needs" of the ignorant or non-involved computer user in the same fashion that Apple does. You can't blame those users. They are not so much "stupid" as not interested. M/S could EASILY have provided the options for both 'them' and 'us'. Instead, their M/S's laziness and/or stupidity is causing them to slowly abandon and pi$$ off the base of users that appreciate the nuances of effective and efficient computer use.

I've been seeing this in all types of M/S software. My latest beef is with the Outlook module of Office 360. There are many areas where they tried to 'simplify' and ended up killing excellent tools, adjustments, tweaks, etc.

So we agree on the symptom but not on the cause.

TURN ON THE DETAILS PANE to see dETAILS (what you are calling the status bar).
If you are still using Windows 7, what you are looking for is the Details Pane (not info bar, status bar etc etc).
You may have inadvertently unselected it and then wondered where it was.
To fix this, follow this path
Start
Computer
Organize
Layout
Details pane (click to turn it on and off).
That's it.
One can get so focused on the arcane architecture which makes up the computer operations that basics get overlooked.

Cheers