By default, Apple designs the macOS interface to be as clean and minimalist as possible. While this aesthetic is beautiful, it often hides useful information from power users. One such missing piece of information is the total number of items in a folder and the amount of free storage space remaining on your hard drive.
Instead of constantly right-clicking your hard drive to “Get Info” just to check your available space, you can permanently enable the Finder Status Bar.
In this guide, you will learn how to turn on the Status Bar so you always know exactly how much storage you have left at a glance.
How to Enable the Finder Status Bar
- Click the Finder icon (the smiling blue face) in your Dock to open a new Finder window.
- Move your mouse to the very top of your screen to access the Mac menu bar.
- Click on View.
- In the drop-down menu, click on Show Status Bar.
Instantly, a thin gray strip will appear at the very bottom of your Finder window (or just above the Path Bar, if you also have that enabled).
Understanding the Status Bar Information
Once enabled, the Status Bar dynamically updates to provide two highly useful pieces of information based on your current view:
- Item Count: The text on the left will tell you exactly how many files and folders are contained within your current directory (e.g., “15 items”). If you highlight several files, it will instantly change to show how many items you have selected (e.g., “3 of 15 selected”).
- Available Storage: The text on the right will display exactly how much free space is remaining on the physical hard drive or partition that the current folder resides on (e.g., “45.2 GB available”).
This setting is persistent. Once you turn it on, the Status Bar will appear at the bottom of every new Finder window you open in the future.