How to save a report of your disk usage

After a scan, Disk Sort by Zaweba can save a report of your disk usage as an HTML page or a CSV file, covering the top folders, top files and space by type. It can also save the treemap as a PNG picture, and any file list can be saved as CSV. That gives you something to keep, compare or send to whoever looks after the computer.

A report is useful whenever the answer has to leave the screen. You might be explaining to a family member why their laptop is full, keeping a record before a big tidy, or sending a clear summary to someone who helps with your IT.

Which format to choose

An HTML report opens in any web browser, looks tidy and is easy to read without any special software. It is the one to attach to an email for a person.

A CSV report opens in a spreadsheet such as Grid by Zaweba or any other. Choose it when you want to sort, total or chart the figures yourself, or keep a running record over several months.

The PNG of the map is a picture of the treemap as it looks on screen. It shows the shape of the problem at a glance, which numbers alone do not, and it drops neatly into a document or a message.

Making the report

Scan first. Click a drive in the strip at the top, or use Scan this folder (Ctrl+O) for one folder. When the scan is complete, save the report as HTML or CSV. It covers the top folders, the top files and space by type, the same information you would otherwise gather from the tree and the TYPES tab.

For the map, open the MAP tab and set it up the way you want before saving. Zoom to the folder you are talking about with a double-click or Enter, choose treemap or sunburst with V, and pick a colouring: by type, by age or by growth since the previous scan. Folder name bars help a reader who has not seen the drive. Then save the map as a PNG.

Any file list can also be saved as CSV. That is handy for a narrower question: the results of a duplicate search listed in the FILES tab, the files in OLD & LARGE, or a Showall list of every file on the drive.

Getting a clear report

Decide whether sizes should be plain size or space on disk, and switch with F4. Space on disk is closer to what the drive has actually lost, while plain size is what most people expect to see beside a file name.

Make one report before you tidy and another after. The difference is the clearest proof of what you saved, and the pair gives you a baseline for next time. Disk Sort also keeps its own snapshot of folder totals after every full scan, and the CHANGES tab compares the current scan with it, but a saved report is something you can share.

Think about what the report shows. File and folder names appear in it, so read it through before sending it outside the family or office.

Keeping it private

Disk Sort by Zaweba works offline and the report is written to a file on your own computer. Nothing is uploaded when you make one. Problem reports, which you choose to send, carry command names and never file names, so your folder names only leave the PC when you send a report yourself.