A Windhawk mod for Windows Explorer that appends rich file metadata to the status bar when a single file is selected.
| Field | Example | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Dimensions | 1920 x 1080 |
Images and video |
| Date modified | 15.05.2026 14:32 |
System locale & timezone |
| Duration | 01:24:35 |
Video / audio |
| Bitrate | 8.4 Mbps |
Video → audio → estimated |
| Frame rate | 23.98 fps |
Video |
| File type | PNG Image |
Windows description (always aligned to the right edge) |
Via Windows Property System (indexed): JPEG, PNG, BMP, GIF, HEIC, MP4, MKV, AVI, MOV, MP3, FLAC, and most other common formats.
Via custom binary parser (not indexed by Windows):
| Format | Notes |
|---|---|
| SVG | viewBox priority, width/height fallback |
| HDR | Radiance RGBE |
| EXR | OpenEXR dataWindow |
| TIFF / TX | Little-endian and big-endian |
| TGA | Truevision TARGA (types 1–3, 9–11) |
| PSD / PSB | Adobe Photoshop File (Dimensions extracted from fixed 26-byte header) |
| WebM / MKV | EBML/Matroska — dimensions + fps from DefaultDuration |
- Zero polling. Metadata is computed only when the selected file changes.
- Robust & Language-Independent. Hooks
PSFormatForDisplayAlloc(the exact property formatting function Explorer calls), eliminating text-matching heuristics and false positives. - Path-keyed cache (up to 1000 entries). Same file = instant return, zero COM calls.
- True LRU eviction. Cache hits dynamically move entries to the back of the queue, protecting frequently accessed files from being evicted.
- Thread-safe. Securely handles cross-thread messaging between shell worker threads and UI processes using strict Process ID guards.
- Live Settings. Changes made in the Windhawk UI (e.g., toggling network drives) clear the cache and apply instantly without requiring an Explorer restart.
Configurable in the Windhawk UI:
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Enable metadata on network drives | Off | |
| Enable metadata on removable drives | On | Disable for slow USB/SD media |
| Cache eviction count | 10 | Entries removed when cache hits 1000 |
Search for "Explorer Status Bar Metadata" in the Windhawk mod catalog and click Install.
- Open Windhawk → click the + button → Load unpublished mod
- Paste the contents of the
.cppfile. - Click Compile & Apply
- Windows 10 or 11
- Windhawk v1.4 or later
Search for Explorer Status Bar Metadata in the Windhawk application catalog (Explore) and click Install.
- Copy the source code from
explorer-status-metadata.wh.cpp. - Open Windhawk and click Create a New Mod at the bottom of the window.
- Paste the code and click Compile Mod.
MIT © 2026 VitalS