Bug 514063

Summary: Dolphin does not sort folders correctly if you select sorting by size.
Product: [Applications] dolphin Reporter: Konstantin <jon9097>
Component: generalAssignee: Dolphin Bug Assignee <dolphin-bugs-null>
Status: RESOLVED INTENTIONAL    
Severity: normal CC: dolphin-bugs-null, oliver.schramm97
Priority: NOR    
Version First Reported In: 25.12.0   
Target Milestone: ---   
Platform: Arch Linux   
OS: Linux   
Latest Commit: Version Fixed/Implemented In:
Sentry Crash Report:
Attachments: Video

Description Konstantin 2026-01-02 01:26:43 UTC
Created attachment 188146 [details]
Video

Dolphin does not sort folders correctly if you select sorting by size. He arranges them randomly (maybe he only counts some files inside these folders, I do not know).

For more information, see the video.

Operating System: Arch Linux 
KDE Plasma Version: 6.5.4
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.21.0
Qt Version: 6.10.1
Kernel Version: 6.18.2-arch2-1 (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: Wayland
Processors: AMD Ryzen 9
Graphics Processor: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080
Manufacturer: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
Product Name: X870E AORUS ELITE WIFI7
System Version: Default string-CF-WCP-ADO
Comment 1 Oliver Schramm 2026-01-04 20:45:50 UTC
Dolphin does indeed interpret the size of a folder as "number of items inside it". So, it works as intended.

It’s hard to calculate accurate sizes in bytes of folders on the fly, which is why there is a special KDE program called "Filelight". If you want to know which folders take up the most space, you can use that. Dolphin even has a link to Filelight in the context menu. :)

As far as I know, not even Windows uses the size in bytes to sort folders. (I’m not sure, it even uses item count)