Auto delete un-used/un-generated files in publishing folder

[Nick27]

RH8 HTML.

Wondering if there is a setting somewhere that will delete files in the generated and/or publishing folder based on whether or not they are being generated/published.

Ive got a few left over topics now that have since been removed from my proejcts etc, but their output .htm files are still loitering around in publishing folders. Can I get rid of these automatically? or do I need to find each one manually and do it?

I tried the Republish All, and Check for Deleted Files but this didnt work.

Thanks.

[RoboColum_n_]

Unfortunately not Nick although you may want to suggest there is in a future version. You have two choices going forward. One is to manually delete all files from the publish location before you publish. The second is to use of the many shareware folder compare utilities that are available.

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[Captiv8r]

Hi there

Hopefully Colum won't mind my offering an explanation for what may seem to you at this point to be somewhat of a bug.

Here is how the "Check for deleted files" option actually works in the publishing dialog.

When you first publish, every file in the output folder is dutifully copied over. In addition to this, a log file is created to keep track of the files. Every time you publish afterwards, the log file is checked to see if the source file in question is newer or otherwise needs to be replaced on the server end. You will notice that some of the options become disabled if you choose the "Republish all" option. This is because if you are simply replacing the whole schmear, there is no need to compare notes. Just blast them across the pipe.

So here we are after a few changes. You click Publish and one by one each file is compared and either skipped or copied depending on its status and whatnot. So what does this "Check for deleted files" option do? Well, actually it will slow your publish process down by adding an additional check.

Here's the deal. Perhaps you are publishing to a fairly volatile location. One where many other users have full access to copy, move, delete or whatever they want to do with the files. In this case, it's possible that another user could inadvertently delete a file. Enter the option and its use.

During the publishing process an additional check is performed. Not only are files compared to see if they are new or newer than existing files, but a further check is performed to see if the file in question still exists in the publishing destination. The check is to see if the file has been deleted. And if so, it needs to be replaced. So even though it's not newer or a new file to the file set, it no longer exists in the destination location so it will then be copied.

Hopefully this helps... Rick

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