Delete old files in Elements

Elements
1

Hello everyone :slight_smile:
Do you know when the old files on the server are deleted?

Does the “Re-Publish all files” function delete files that are no longer needed on the remote server?

Thank you and have a good day.

2

Basically, no files are deleted by RapidWeaver, neither in Classic nor in Elements. You always have to remove them yourself using an appropriate file manager.

1 Like
3

HI @Pegasus

It’s a real shame that an option isn’t available for this.

Thank

4

Yes, at first glance it may seem unfortunate that this option doesn’t exist. But this discussion is actually as old as RapidWeaver itself.

At the same time, it’s completely understandable why this feature isn’t available. If such an option existed, the forum would probably be full of posts saying: “My site no longer works because RapidWeaver deleted this or that file.” Providing support for situations like that would be nearly impossible. Not to mention the frustration it would cause for affected users.

This way, everyone is responsible for deciding which files they delete from their own server—which actually makes a lot of sense.

And if we’re honest, there usually aren’t that many “old” files piling up anyway. Most files simply get overwritten during updates. The biggest “data clutter” probably comes from images, SVG icons, and similar assets. That’s something you just need to manage yourself from time to time.

Personally, I clean up my server completely every two or three months and then simply republish my projects from scratch. It takes about 10 minutes.

5 Likes
5

I do the same - delete all - then republish all every now and then…

1 Like
6

I am on a Linux server and use
rm -rf *
inside the site folder to clean every once in awhile. Especially .md CMS files do not sync at all.

7

Famous last commands :slight_smile:

1 Like
8

While that “solution” is indeed the current situation, I’m not sure it still should be. And one reason for that is the CMS. It is not unusual in a blog/news/cmsarticle to publish, find something wrong, go back and fix it, then republish. However, this now results in a duplicate CMS file that needs to be deleted manually. Until we have a CMS component that allows in place entry and editing, this is going to be annoying and just as problematic as deleting the wrong file would be.

1 Like
9

I had an issue with “outdated” files not being deleted from the server. (ie. index.html to index.php) (unused images etc.)

I just use Cyberduck to check folders and files now and then.

1 Like