Settings

Settings

Open Options > Settings (Ctrl+I) to configure WinDirStat. Settings are saved between sessions. Changes to scan filters and some advanced options can restart the scan; language and dark-mode changes can require an application restart.

General

Setting	Use it for
Show sizes in GiB/MiB/KiB/bytes format	Use binary size suffixes instead of raw byte counts.
Run in portable mode	Store settings in WinDirStat.ini beside the executable instead of the user registry.
Automatically elevate on startup	Relaunch with administrator rights when possible.
Automatically resize columns	Resize list columns after view changes.
Add WinDirStat to Explorer right-click context menu	Add WinDirStat to drive and folder context menus. An unelevated instance can register an entry for the current user; an elevated instance manages the system entry.
List Style	Toggle full-row selection, grid lines, and alternating stripes.
Dark Mode	Use dark mode, light mode, or the Windows setting.
Language	Choose the display language. A restart may be required.
Use Windows settings for date, time, and number formatting	Use Windows regional formatting for displayed values.
Show seconds in timestamps	Include seconds in displayed times; off by default.

If Explorer integration is already registered for all users, its setting is disabled until WinDirStat is elevated.

Options > Font Size and Options > Toolbar Size independently offer 100%, 125%, 150%, 175%, 200%, or Use Windows Setting. The Windows setting follows the system text-size preference and is the default for both controls.

Filtering

Filters apply during scanning. They are persistent settings and also affect command-line CSV/JSON scans.

Setting	Use it for
Folder paths to exclude	Skip matching folders and descendants.
File name patterns to exclude	Skip matching file names.
Folder paths to include	Scan only matching folders and descendants, while traversing needed ancestors.
File name patterns to include	Include only matching file names.
Use regular expression instead of glob patterns	Interpret entries as regex patterns instead of glob patterns.
Exclude files by size	Omit files with logical sizes < or > the selected size threshold; zero disables size filtering.
Exclude files by age	Omit files whose last-change age is < or > the selected number of days; zero disables age filtering.

See Search, Filters, and Duplicates for examples.

Folder List

Setting	Use it for
Pacman Animation	Show or hide scan animation in the tree.
Show time spent during scan	Display scan time information.
Optional Columns	Show or hide percentage, items, physical size, logical size, file count, folder count, last change, attributes, and owner.
Size Proportion Color	Choose the colors used for nested size bars in the file tree.

Right-click a list header to choose its visible columns. View > Show Absolute Percentages switches between percentages of the whole scan and percentages of each item's parent folder.

Graphs

Setting	Use it for
Brightness	Adjust overall visualization brightness.
Cushion Shading	Adjust depth shading.
Height	Adjust the apparent height of cushions.
Scale Factor	Adjust how cushion heights change through folder levels.
Style	Choose Rows, Squarified, Hilbert, or Moore treemap layouts.
Show Grid	Draw borders between rectangles.
Grid Color	Set the grid color.
Selection Border	Set the selection/highlight border color.
Light Incidence	Change the virtual light direction.

View selects the treemap, flame graph, or sunburst, and controls logical/physical size, extension labels, folder frames, and zoom. Options > Show Visualization hides or shows the pane.

The Preset selector and View > Color Presets offer Classic, Calm, Flat, Pastel, High Contrast, and Custom. Presets adjust colors, grid, and shading without changing the layout. Custom restores saved appearance adjustments. Automatic grid colors adapt to light and dark modes and appear as Grid Color (Auto); choosing a color overrides that automatic color. The settings preview updates as you make changes.

Cleanups

Custom cleanup entries add commands under Clean Up > Custom Cleanup.

Setting	Use it for
Enabled	Show or hide the custom cleanup command.
Title	Menu text for the command.
Command Line	Program or command to run.
Works for	Limit the command to drives, folders, files, or UNC paths.
Recurse into Subdirectories	Run the command through the subdirectory tree using %sp and %sn; this also enables waiting for completion.
Ask for Confirmation	Prompt before running. Recommended for destructive commands.
Show Console Window	Show the console for command-line tools.
Wait for Completion	Wait before returning control to WinDirStat. Required for refresh policies.
Refresh Policy	Refresh nothing, the selected entry, or the parent after the command finishes.

Placeholders:

Placeholder	Meaning
%p	Full path
%n	File or directory name without path
%sp	Subdirectory full path
%sn	Subdirectory name without path

Use the add/remove buttons to maintain any number of cleanup entries and the up/down buttons to reorder them. Ctrl+0 through Ctrl+9 apply to the first ten configured positions; additional entries are available through the menu. Moving or removing entries can therefore change which command a shortcut runs.

Permissions

These settings apply to Tools > Scan Permissions.

Setting	Use it for
Highlight Rules	Configure up to five rules, each with an account-name pattern, permission level, and color. The first matching rule supplies the text color.
Group or user name contains	Match part of an account name using a case-insensitive regular expression; an empty pattern disables the rule.
Permission	Match Any permission or rights that include the selected Full Control, Modify, Read & Execute, Read, or Write level.
Exclude accounts matching (regular expression)	Omit matching account names from subsequent permission scans.

See Reading Results for the report and export behavior.

Prompts

Confirmation prompts can be configured separately for permanent deletion, deletion to the Recycle Bin, emptying the Recycle Bin, deduplication with hardlinks, removing Mark-of-the-Web tags, disabling hibernation, removing shadow copies, component-store cleanup (including /ResetBase), changing folder dates, and removing empty folders. These operation confirmations are enabled by default.

Setting	Use it for
Show privileges elevation prompt	Ask whether WinDirStat should relaunch elevated.
Show cloud links warning prompt during duplicate detection	Warn before cloud placeholders are skipped.
Show Microsoft progress dialogs when moving or deleting files	Use standard Windows progress UI for file operations.

Advanced

The defaults below apply to new settings; existing preferences are retained when upgrading.

Setting	Default	Use it for
Use Backup / Restore Privileges	On	Let elevated scans read more protected metadata.
Skip reading cloud links during duplicate detection	On	Avoid downloading cloud placeholders during hashing.
Scan drives and display hardlink information	On	Improve physical-size accounting for hardlinked files.
Directory Scanning Exclusions: Volume Mount Points	On	Avoid scanning mounted volumes through another path.
Directory Scanning Exclusions: Junctions	On	Avoid duplicate paths and loops.
Directory Scanning Exclusions: Symbolic Links	On	Avoid following linked directories by default.
Directory Scanning Exclusions: Hidden	Off	Skip hidden directories when enabled.
Directory Scanning Exclusions: Protected	Off	Skip hidden system directories when enabled.
File Scanning Exclusions: Symbolic Links	On	Avoid counting linked files by default.
File Scanning Exclusions: Hidden	Off	Skip hidden files when enabled.
File Scanning Exclusions: Protected	Off	Skip hidden system files when enabled.
Process priority	Normal	Set CPU and I/O priority to Low, Normal, or High.
Threads per drive	4	Control scan worker threads per volume, from 1 to 16. Higher is not always faster.
Large files display count	50	Control how many files appear in Largest Files, from 0 to 10,000.
Folder history entries count	10	Control saved folder history in the Select Drives dialog, from 0 to 100.
Hash algorithm	xxHash (XXH3)	Choose the file-hashing algorithm.
Use sparse hashes for duplicate detection in files over 64 MiB	Off	Compare sampled parts of large files to reduce hashing I/O. Matches are labeled Probable duplicates; use full hashes when you need the entire contents compared.
Ignored by Dropbox	Off	Exclude files and folders marked ignored by Dropbox.
Reset All Preferences		Restart WinDirStat with preferences cleared.

Leave the default reparse-point exclusions enabled unless you specifically need to follow linked directories or mounted volumes.