Remove Empty Directories - a freeware tool to batch delete empty folders
One might think that searching and deleting empty directories is a trivial thing, but once you have hundreds of them it get’s really exhausting. That’s the reason I made RED. It’s a small and simple tool that searches and deletes empty directories recursively below a given start folder. And before deleting anything it let’s you check all empty directories it found.
Features
- Shows empty directories before deleting them
- Supports multiple delete modes (including Delete to recycle bin) (Version 2.2)
- Allows white and black listing of directories by using filter lists
- Can detect directories with empty files as empty
Screenshots
Update: I finally managed to upload the latest source code of RED to Github (a collaborative revision control service)! You can now watch what’s going on, download the latest code and you can also contribute code. So if there are any C#/.NET developers out there using RED, feel free to contribute to the project. I would be happy to have some help making RED even better :)
BTW: You can also vote for new features — more info.
Download latest version (2.2)
| Description | Release date | Size | Download mirrors |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Version 2.2 - Windows installer (Normal edition) - Recommended Works without Administrator rights but therefore can’t clean some system directories. |
Feb 2011 | 395 KB | sourceforge.net, box.com |
|
Version 2.2 - Windows installer (Admin edition) This edition forces your system to start RED as Administrator everytime you start it if you didn’t disable the UAC. (Provides the same functionality as normal edition) |
Feb 2011 | 395 KB | sourceforge.net, box.com |
|
Version 2.2 - Portable (ZIP file, no installer) Full featured version for portable devices such as USB drives. |
Feb 2011 | 78 KB | sourceforge.net, box.com |
| Version 2.2 - Sourcecode (ZIP file) (Hosted at github.com) | Feb 2011 | 309 KB | github.com |
Found a bug? I created a new RED feedback page which holds more information on how to submit a bug or a idea.
Download old versions
You can still download old versions of RED, but it is not recommended.
System requirements
- Windows XP, Vista or 7 and RED might also work with Windows 8 and Linux (by using Mono)
- Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 or later (the installer should check that)
License
RED is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
Feel free to have a look into the sourcecode behind RED to fix it, fork it, extend it, learn from it, improve it, …
Feedback
Feedback is always appreciated. Please look at the RED feedback page where you will find the latest informations on how to submit your feedback.
Donations
You can support my work by making a small donation through Paypal. Thank you very much :) !
Related software
If RED is not what you wanted, you could try these freeware tools that basically do the same job.
Disclaimer: I’m not responsible for the software listed below.
- FSlint (really good Linux application)
- DirClean (command-line application)
- Delete Empty Directories - Perl & Bash version
- Empty Folder Nuker (Windows GUI tool)
- DelEmpty (Windows GUI tool)
- Delete Your Empty Folders with a windows batch script
Miscellaneous
There is also a PAD file for all software archive sites (what is that?).
Last update of this page: January 22, 2013