Is your Windows 10 PC’s hard drive or solid-state drive (SSD) filling up fast? Do you want to find out all the files that are taking up the most space on your drive? Want to quickly search for all large files on your PC without the help of third-party software? In this guide, we will see how to use File Explorer in Windows 10 to quickly search for large files.
Search for large files in Windows 10 using File Explorer
There are a few free utilities out there to find out what’s eating up the valuable space on your PC. While anyone can use these disk space analyzers, why use third-party software when you can use the built-in File Explorer’s search in Windows 10 to quickly find large files?
The File Explorer’s search in Windows 10 is better than ever. It has many advanced filters to quickly find out files that you are looking for. The best thing is that you don’t need to remember or search the web for these filters, as the File Explorer now shows all these advanced filters under the Search tab.
The File Explorer search in Windows 10 can be used to search for large files. In fact, you can find files of any size using the built-in search. For instance, you can find all files greater than 1 GB or 2 GB in size.
Using File Explorer to search for large files in Windows 10
Here is how to search for large files using File Explorer search in Windows 10.
Step 1: Open the File Explorer. Navigate to the drive or folder where you want to search for large files.
Step 2: Click on the search field to see the Search tab.
Step 3: Click the Search tab to see all search-related settings and options.
Step 4: Here, click Size and then choose one of the filters. As you can see, it offers a total of seven filters: Empty (0 KB), Tiny (0-10 B), Small (10-100 KB), Medium (100 KB – 1 MB), Large (1-16 MB), Huge (16- 128 MB), Gigantic (>128 MB).
If you select the Gigantic (>128 MB) filter, the File Explorer will automatically search for all files with more than 128 MB size.
Now, what if you want to search for all files greater than 500 MB in size? Simple. In the search field, type size:>500MB to see all files greater than 500 MB. Similarly, use size:>1GB to find all files greater than 1 GB.
Finally, to find out all files with more than 1 GB but less than 5 GB (you can set any size), simply type size:>500MB<5GB in the search field. Of course, you can change these values!
Also, check out our how-to search for large files in OneDrive guide.
Steve Otto says
You have to start a search to open the Search Tab.
type a letter in the search box and press enter.
The search tab opens.
Kino says
Hi Apmogo,
When I click in the search field,
the Search tab doesn’t show up automatically, unfortunately.
You need to type several symbols in the search field
and hit Enter.
Then, the Search tab appears.
You can cancel the search and use the Search tab the way you want.
Thank you,
Hope this helps!
apmogo says
my file explorer looks nothing like this no matter what I try there is no search tab there are no advanced search features that i candetermine how to access. This is very depressing.
Binjamin Man says
I prefer to use a third party tool: Directory Report
It looks just like the MS-Explorer but always shows the folder size
After scanning your hard drive, select menu: Largest / Display Largest Files
This will show all your files in descending size order
admin says
It’s very much present. I just checked.
Vinayak Deshpande says
The search by size option is not available in Windows 10. You are wrong.
Charles Douthit says
How do I get power level display off upper left corner of screen. Came on after power cord problem and not charging.