How to show the number of files & folders in SharePoint

In this short post, we take a look at how you can show the number of files/ folders in a folder within a given document library in SharePoint.

Intro

Document libraries in SharePoint come with a bunch of hidden columns as standard that aren’t visible in the default views. Although they aren’t shown, they can be really useful when needed for the right purpose. One example of this is when you want to display the number of files & folders within a folder – here’s how to do it:

Show the number of files & folders in a document library

Navigate to the document library you wish to change
In the default view, press add column > show or hide columns
In the edit view columns pane > select the file size column > press apply

💡 If you wish to save this change to the default view, remember to select your view > save as > save to commit your changes.

*Select the File Size column in the default library view to display the number of files & folders.*

The total number of files and folders combined are shown within the file size column. If you want to break it down further you can with two other in-built columns:

Item Child Count: Displays the total number of items (files) within the parent folder
Folder Child Count: Displays the total number of folders within the parent folder

If you want to see this information also, just follow the same steps as above to add in the additional columns:

*Add the item child count and folder child count columns to your view if you want to breakdown the number of files/ folders further.*

One final point, you can also use the count function to show the total number of items in view. To do this:

Left-click on the column name you wish to display the totals against
Select totals > count

Remember, this will only show a count of the number of items being displayed in the current view. For example: if you are displaying items from the root of your document library it will only show the top-level count of items.

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