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Exclude a folder and remove it from old snapshots

You've found a folder that never needed backing up, such as a cache, a downloads folder or a build folder. This guide keeps it out of future snapshots and removes it from the old ones, in one step. Exclude & delete is a Pro action. Excluding alone is free.

1. Find the folder

Find it in the Tree, Search or Churn. Open its Details to check:

  • Reclaimable: what removing it gives back.
  • Backed up by: which sources hold it. With several, the delete covers each one you include.

2. Exclude it and delete it

  1. Right-click the folder and select Exclude & delete….
  2. Choose what the rule matches. This item excludes just this folder. Same name excludes every folder with this name, for example every node_modules (Exclude).
  3. Leave Where the rule goes on Smart, unless you have a reason to choose the policies yourself.
  4. Check Leaves out and Changes, then select Next: delete.
  5. Check the list of files to delete. If a source still backs the folder up, the panel says so.
  6. Select Dry run the delete. Kopia checks the delete without changing anything.
  7. Select Exclude and delete… and confirm.

KopiaLens first adds the rule, with a policy backup before each change. Then it removes the folder from the snapshots. If the rule can't be added, the delete doesn't run.

3. Check the result

  • The job panel shows the rules it saved and what the delete freed.
  • KopiaLens updates its index a few minutes later, and the folder disappears from the Tree and Search.
  • The next snapshot of the source leaves the folder out. The Policies tab lists the new rule.

The space comes back after kopia's next full maintenance. Select Run maintenance… in the job panel to start one now (Maintenance).

Exclude only

To keep the folder in your old snapshots and only stop backing it up from now on, select Exclude… instead of Exclude & delete…. That's free.