A lightweight macOS menu bar app that monitors folder sizes in real time.
Built for photographers using Capture One, works with any folder.
- Live updates — file system watcher fires the moment files change, no polling
- Capture One session detection — auto-detects Capture / Output / Trash / Selects structure
- Generic folder mode — works as a watcher for any folder
- RAW, JPG & TIFF counts — tracks image file types separately across the whole session
- Per-subfolder breakdown — size bars, folder counts, file type stats per folder
- CaptureOne folder excluded — proxy caches and catalog files don't skew your numbers
- Desktop widgets — small, medium and large widgets for your desktop or Notification Center
- Persistent — remembers your folder across launches
- Menu bar only — no dock icon, no ⌘-Tab clutter
The easiest way to get started is to download the pre-built app directly from the Releases page. No Xcode required.
- Download
FolderMeter.zipfrom the latest release - Unzip and move
FolderMeter.appto your Applications folder (the widgets won't work reliably if you run it straight from Downloads) - Launch it
Since FolderMeter is not distributed through the App Store, macOS may block it on first launch. If that happens:
- Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security
- Scroll down and click Open Anyway next to the FolderMeter message
- You'll only need to do this once
When you pick a folder for the first time, macOS will ask if FolderMeter can access it. Click Allow. That's the only permission it needs — no Full Disk Access required.
Requires macOS 14.0+ and Xcode 15+.
- Clone the repo
- Open
FolderMeter.xcodeprojin Xcode - Set your development team in Signing & Capabilities for both the
FolderMeterandFolderMeterWidgetExtensiontargets — the app group they share is derived from your team ID automatically - Build & Run (
⌘R)
To release a new version, bump Version and Build on the FolderMeter target only; the widget picks them up at build time.
FolderMeter includes widgets that show your session at a glance without opening the menu bar:
| Size | Shows |
|---|---|
| Small | Session name, total size, RAW / JPG / TIFF counts |
| Medium | Everything in Small, plus a size bar for each folder |
| Large | Everything in Medium, with file counts for each folder |
To add one: right-click your desktop → Edit Widgets, search for FolderMeter, and drag in the size you want. You can also add them to Notification Center.
- Widgets update whenever FolderMeter finishes a scan — immediately when you pick a new folder, and at most every 30 seconds while files are arriving during a shoot. macOS limits how often widgets can refresh, so the menu bar stays the live view.
- FolderMeter also refreshes the widgets when your Mac wakes and once an hour, which helps them recover if macOS leaves one blank.
- FolderMeter needs to be running for the widgets to stay current, so turn on Launch at Login in the menu to keep them going after a restart. Each widget shows when it was last updated.
Detects a Capture One session when the watched folder contains all four subfolders: Capture, Output, Trash, and Selects. Once detected, named rows are shown with context-aware icons:
| Folder | Color | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Capture | Orange | Shows RAW file count badge |
| Output | Blue | Shows JPG count and subfolder count |
| Trash | Red | |
| Selects | Green |
The CaptureOne system folder (proxies, cache, catalog) is excluded from all file counts and size totals.
CR2 CR3 NEF ARW ORF RW2 DNG RAF 3FR FFF IIQ MRW NRW PEF RWL SR2 SRF X3F ERF RAW
FolderMeter is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0. Free for personal and non-commercial use. For commercial licensing contact fainimade.com.
If you find FolderMeter useful, consider supporting development:
By FAINI MADE