How to Find Large Files on Windows 10 or 11: 3 Easy Ways

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Locate large files taking up your computer's disk space
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If your PC is running low on storage space, you're probably wondering which files are taking up the most room. The Windows File Explorer has a search function that lets you see and sort a list of your largest files. Keep in mind that Windows sometimes creates large files that are required for the system to run properly—don't delete large files unless you know exactly what the file is and what it does. This wikiHow teaches you how to find the largest files on your Windows 10 or 11 PC.

Finding Large Windows Files

  • Open your main drive in File Explorer and search for *, which shows all files. Then, narrow the search down to large files only, and sort by size.
  • Go to the Storage menu in your Windows Settings to see which files take up the most space.
  • Use a third-party tool for easier navigation and location of large files.
Section 1 of 3:

Using File Explorer

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  1. This opens the File Explorer . You can also open File Explorer by right-clicking the Windows Start menu and selecting File Explorer from the menu, or by clicking the folder icon on the taskbar.
  2. Set your PC to show hidden files and folders (optional). If you want to accurately search for the largest files on your PC, it can be helpful to include hidden system files in your search. Just keep in mind that you shouldn't delete hidden system files because they are usually required by Windows to operate. If you want to delete large system files, such as old system restore points and old updates, use the Disk Cleanup Tool instead. To show hidden files and folders:
    • Windows 10:
      • Click the View tab at the top of File Explorer.
      • Click Options in the upper-right corner of the window.
      • Click the View tab at the top of the new window.
      • Select Show hidden files, folders, and drives and click OK .
    • Windows 11:
      • Click the View option at the top of File Explorer.
      • Hover the Show menu item.
      • Click Hidden items .
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  3. This displays all of the drives connected to your PC in the right panel.
  4. The search bar is in the upper-right corner of the File Explorer window. This tells Windows to display every single file and folder on your computer. It also opens the Search tab at the top of the screen.
    • It might take a while for all files to appear.
  5. How you do this depends on if you have Windows 10 or Windows 11:
    • Windows 10: Click Size in the toolbar. It's in the "Refine" section.
    • Windows 11: Click Search options at the top of the window, then hover over Size .
      • Alternatively, you can click the Search tab at the top of the window.
  6. Once you do this, File Explorer will take a few moments to fetch and display all files that are larger than 4GB on your PC.
    • If, instead of files, you see "No items match your search," you don't have any files that are larger than 4 GB. Click the Size button in the toolbar again and select Huge (1 – 4 GB) .
    • You can also specify that you want to see all files larger than a certain size by typing a filter into the search bar. If you wanted to see all files larger than 500 MB, you'd type size: >500MB in the search field and press Enter . Replace 500MB with any file size.
  7. Look for the two small icons at the bottom-right corner of the window—the first of the two icons (it looks like a checklist) is the Details View button. When you click this button, it switches to a view that more clearly displays each file's name, date, type, size, and location.
  8. In the dropdown, choose Size . This makes the biggest files in the selected size range appear at the top of the list. If you click this header again, the order will reverse.
  9. This helps you avoid accidentally deleting a required system file. Here's how to do so after you're finished browsing your files:
    • Click the View tab at the top of File Explorer.
    • Click Options in the upper-right corner of the window.
    • Click the View tab at the top of the new window.
    • Check Don't show hidden files, folders, or drives and click OK .
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Section 2 of 3:

Using Settings

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  1. 1
    Open your storage settings. To do this, type storage in the taskbar search bar, then click on Storage settings . [1]
  2. 2
    Click on Show more categories . It's under the "Windows (C:)" header (or whatever your main drive name is). The page will list how big your drive is, how much space has been used, and the top four categories with the highest disk usage.
  3. 3
    Click on a category to view the largest files and folders. The largest files on your computer are most likely installed apps or programs. However, you might also have large files in your Downloads folder or Documents folder.
    • If you click the Installed apps folder, you'll be taken to your list of installed apps. You can sort by size by clicking the dropdown next to "Sort by."
    • If you click the System & reserved folder, you can see how much each category is taking up, but you won't be able to edit them.
    • If you click Other , you'll be shown which folders are taking up the most disk space.
    • If you click Temporary files , it will show you how much space each area or folder is taking up. You can also clear out files from this menu, if you choose.
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Section 3 of 3:

Using Third-Party Tools

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  1. 1
    NirSoft SearchMyFiles NirSoft's SearchMyFiles utility gives you greater flexibility in how you search your files. You can specify a minimum and maximum file size it should search for. It's also a portable program, which means you can run it from a USB drive without needing to install the program on the computer itself.
  2. 2
    WinDirStat WinDirStat, which is short for Windows Directory Statistics, is a program that lets you view statistics about your disk usage. WinDirStat's directory list shows you all of the files in your computer but sorts them into directories that are organized by size. This makes it especially easy to find the biggest files on your computer.
  3. 3
    VoidTools Everything Everything is a tool by VoidTools that allows you to quickly search through your files. To sort your files by size, simply click on the Size column. This program will give you the size of every file on your computer, whereas some of the Windows tools don't readily show file sizes (especially in your computer's storage settings).
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      Tips

      • Use the Disk Cleanup tool regularly to avoid running out of hard drive space. Just type cleanup in the Windows search bar and click Disk Cleanup in the search results to launch the tool.
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      • Never delete a file if you're not sure of what it is. That file could be required by a program you use, or by the Windows operating system.
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      References

      1. ↑ https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/free-up-drive-space-in-windows-85529ccb-c365-490d-b548-831022bc9b32#windowsversion=windows_11

      About This Article

      Article Summary X

      1. Open File Explorer.
      2. Click This PC .
      3. Type an asterisk into the Search bar and press Enter .
      4. Click the Size button on the toolbar.
      5. Select a size range to view.
      6. Click the Details button to view details.
      7. Click the Size column header to organize in size order.

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