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swansystem's avatar
swansystem
New member | Level 2
11 days ago

Need to know how many subfolders and files are nested inside any given folder, server-side

Good day
we are evaluating migrating two companies from Sharepoint to Dropbox.

We need a way to know how many subfolders and files are contained, server-side, under any given top-level folder.

This is an extremely simple information, and it is of fundamental importance in order to check complete sync after a large file upload, download or move.

Of course such information must be available rapidly, without browsing each single subfolders (there are dozens thousands) and without limiting to check desktop-side (which is entirely useless, given that we want to survey the status of data moves SERVER-SIDE).

So, for instance, suppose we have:

- top-level folder "A"
- inside "A": 3 files and the 2 subfolders "B" and "C"
- inside "B": 7 files and 1 subfolder "D"
- inside "C": 5 files and 1 subfolder "E"
- inside "D": 12 files and no subfolder
- inside "E": 8 files and 1 subfolder "F"
- inside "F": no files and no subfolders....

... I need a way to know that inside "A" there are:

- 35 files
- 5 subfolders

In Sharepoint it is ridiculously complex to achieve such a basic information, but at least I can use PowerShell and some additional module.

$FilesCount = (Get-PnPFolderItem -FolderSiteRelativeUrl "Top-Level-Folder-Name" -Recursive -ItemType File).Count

$SubFoldersCount = (Get-PnPFolderItem -FolderSiteRelativeUrl "Top-Level-Folder-Name" -Recursive -ItemType Folder).Count

Write-Host "Number of files: $FilesCount" && "Number of subfolders: $SubFoldersCount"

HOW exactly can I have such information with Dropbox?

Many thanks
Enrico Penco

2 Replies

  • Hannah's avatar
    Hannah
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

    Hey swansystem, thanks for joining the Dropbox Community.

    Except for the way you mentioned in your post, there's no other way to count all your files and folders through the Dropbox website.

    If you're using the Dropbox desktop app, depending on your OS, you can use the info found in "get info" or "properties" for each top-level folder to find out this info.

    We've passed your feedback to our team about this, though, and if you have any other questions, please let us know.

    Thanks.

    • swansystem's avatar
      swansystem
      New member | Level 2

      Dear Hannah

      many thanks. 

      ....no, I have not mentioned any method for doing what I need with Dropbox.
      The method I mentioned is offered by Sharepoint, but NOT by Dropbox.

      Consequently, you are telling me that there is no way to know how many files and folders we have on the Dropbox server.

      I trust you understand you're keeping quite a few businesses out of your door this way.
      A fast synchronization is important... but verifying synchronization is still more important.

      I hope this incredible limitation will be soon addressed.
      It takes literally nothing to introduce such function.

      The only reason for not allowing such count, is that either you're pushing your drives at such limit to not be able to keep up with recursive counting... or you don't trust the quality of your own synchronization.

      Both would be quite worrying, anyway.

      Kind regards
      E