What's actually in the free edition
The core of TreeSize Free is a directory scanner that walks every folder on a chosen drive or path and totals the size of everything underneath it. The result is a sortable list, ordered from the heaviest folder down, so you never have to click through a full folder structure by hand.
Beyond the scan itself, the free edition adds a handful of practical extras: a right-click entry in File Explorer, a switch between logical size and allocated space, and a basic export of the current view. It does not include scheduled scans, saved report templates, duplicate file search, or the file-search/filter tools that the paid editions add — those are covered on the free vs. Professional comparison.
Scanning never deletes or moves anything on its own. Space is only freed when you explicitly delete, move or compress a file or folder from inside the program.
Tree view and treemap: two ways to see the same data
The default view is a folder tree, similar to the left-hand pane in File Explorer, except each row carries a size column and a bar showing what share of the parent folder it takes up. That percent-of-parent figure is usually more useful than the raw size, because it tells you in one glance whether a folder is worth opening at all.
The treemap (sometimes called a chart view) turns the same numbers into rectangles: the bigger the folder, the bigger its tile, and tiles are nested to reflect the folder hierarchy. It's a fast way to spot one enormous file sitting inside an otherwise ordinary folder — something that's easy to miss when you're scrolling through a long sorted list.
Neither view changes what's on disk. Switching between them just changes how the same scan result is presented, which is worth remembering if a number looks different from what File Explorer's Properties dialog shows — see our notes on checking a folder's size for the usual causes.
Scanning a whole drive or a single folder
You can point a scan at an entire drive letter, at a single folder such as C:\Users\YourName\Downloads, or at a removable disk. A full system-drive scan takes longer because it has to read metadata for every file on the volume, while a scan limited to one folder finishes almost instantly.
- Scanning
C:\gives you the complete picture, but some system folders will show as inaccessible unless the program is run with elevated rights — see running TreeSize as administrator. - Scanning a single user folder is the quickest way to check whether Downloads, Videos or a game library is the actual problem.
- External and USB drives can be scanned the same way; our external drive guide covers drive letters that change between plug-ins.
The Explorer right-click entry
During setup, the installer typically offers to add a context-menu entry so you can right-click any folder in File Explorer and jump straight into a scan of just that folder. It's optional, and it can be turned off during installation or removed later without affecting the rest of the program.
This shortcut is convenient for one-off checks — right-click a suspicious folder, scan it, and decide in seconds whether it's worth investigating further, instead of opening the full application and browsing to the path manually.
Exporting results, and where the limits sit
The free edition lets you export a scan result for reference, but it doesn't include the scheduled exports, multiple report formats, or automated report distribution that the paid editions build around. If your goal is a one-time cleanup, that's rarely a problem. If you need a report that regenerates itself every week for a team, it is.
Search across the whole tree for files matching a name pattern or extension, and duplicate-file detection, are also missing from the free edition. Both come up often enough for IT work that JAM Software reserves them for the paid line — details on the Professional page.
The private-use licensing question
TreeSize Free is generally positioned by its developer as free for private, non-commercial use, with different terms applying to business or organizational use. Exact wording changes over time and we're not going to paraphrase it here and risk getting it wrong.
If you plan to install it on a work computer or in any organizational context, check the current license terms directly on JAM Software's own site before you do. That's the only source that's authoritative on this point.
We're an independent site, not JAM Software. We don't host installers or set license terms, and we can't confirm licensing questions on the developer's behalf.
Questions about TreeSize Free
Does TreeSize Free show hidden and system files?
Yes, once it has permission to read them. Files hidden in File Explorer's default view still get counted, but folders that require elevated permissions may show as inaccessible unless you run the scan as an administrator.
Can TreeSize Free find duplicate files?
Is there a size or drive limit on the free edition?
Do I need to uninstall TreeSize Free before installing Professional?
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