Not copying empty folders

james.stoner · November 10, 2025, 11:44am

Hi all,

I’ve just used rClone to copy about 800Gb of Data from SharePoint to Dropbox.

Little did i know at the time It would not copy empty folders. We need empty folders to keep the file structure.

So I found the switch that I can use to copy empty folders: - -create-empty-src-dirs and figured this would resolve my issue.

But when I’ve tried using this switch it did not work. Please see logs below.

C:\rclone-v1.71.2-windows-amd64>rClone copy "SharePoint:Projects/2021/LD000135 2 Workshops/" "Dropbox:Projects/2021/LD000135 2 Workshops/" --create-empty-src-dirs -P -vv
2025/11/10 11:30:55 DEBUG : rclone: Version "v1.71.2" starting with parameters ["rClone" "copy" "SharePoint:Projects/2021/LD000135 2 Workshops/" "Dropbox:Projects/2021/LD000135 2 Workshops/" "--create-empty-src-dirs" "-P" "-vv"]
2025/11/10 11:30:55 DEBUG : Creating backend with remote "SharePoint:Projects/2021/LD000135 2 Workshops/"
2025/11/10 11:30:55 DEBUG : Using config file from "C:\\Users\\JamesStonerAdmin\\AppData\\Roaming\\rclone\\rclone.conf"
2025/11/10 11:30:56 DEBUG : fs cache: renaming cache item "SharePoint:Projects/2021/LD000135 2 Workshops/" to be canonical "SharePoint:Projects/2021/LD000135 2 Workshops"
2025/11/10 11:30:56 DEBUG : Creating backend with remote "Dropbox:Projects/2021/LD000135 2 Workshops/"
2025/11/10 11:30:56 DEBUG : Dropbox: Loaded invalid token from config file - ignoring
2025/11/10 11:30:56 DEBUG : Saving config "token" in section "Dropbox" of the config file
2025/11/10 11:30:56 DEBUG : Keeping previous permissions for config file: -rw-rw-rw-
2025/11/10 11:30:56 DEBUG : Dropbox: Saved new token in config file
2025/11/10 11:30:56 DEBUG : fs cache: renaming cache item "Dropbox:Projects/2021/LD000135 2 Workshops/" to be canonical "Dropbox:Projects/2021/LD000135 2 Workshops"
2025/11/10 11:30:57 DEBUG : Request/1Design for Workshop_.msg: Size and modification time the same (differ by 0s, within tolerance 1s)
2025/11/10 11:30:57 DEBUG : Request/1Design for Workshop_.msg: Unchanged skipping
2025/11/10 11:30:57 DEBUG : Lighting Plots/LD000135 2 Workshops - Proposed Lighting Design.pdf: Size and modification time the same (differ by 0s, within tolerance 1s)
2025/11/10 11:30:57 DEBUG : Lighting Plots/LD000135 2 Workshops - Proposed Lighting Design.pdf: Unchanged skipping
2025/11/10 11:30:57 DEBUG : Relux/LD000135 2 Workshops - Proposed Lighting Design.rdf: Size and modification time the same (differ by 0s, within tolerance 1s)
2025/11/10 11:30:57 DEBUG : Relux/LD000135 2 Workshops - Proposed Lighting Design.rdf: Unchanged skipping
2025/11/10 11:30:57 DEBUG : Relux/LD000135 2 Workshops - Proposed Lighting Design.rdf.log: Size and modification time the same (differ by 0s, within tolerance 1s)
2025/11/10 11:30:57 DEBUG : Relux/LD000135 2 Workshops - Proposed Lighting Design.rdf.log: Unchanged skipping
2025/11/10 11:30:57 DEBUG : Quotation/Q032749.PDF: Size and modification time the same (differ by 0s, within tolerance 1s)
2025/11/10 11:30:57 DEBUG : Quotation/Q032749.PDF: Unchanged skipping
2025/11/10 11:30:57 DEBUG : Dropbox root 'Projects/2021/LD000135 2 Workshops': Waiting for checks to finish
2025/11/10 11:30:57 DEBUG : Dropbox root 'Projects/2021/LD000135 2 Workshops': Waiting for transfers to finish
2025/11/10 11:30:57 INFO  : There was nothing to transfer
Transferred:              0 B / 0 B, -, 0 B/s, ETA -
Checks:                 5 / 5, 100%, Listed 26
Elapsed time:         0.6s
2025/11/10 11:30:57 INFO  :
Transferred:              0 B / 0 B, -, 0 B/s, ETA -
Checks:                 5 / 5, 100%, Listed 26
Elapsed time:         0.6s

2025/11/10 11:30:57 DEBUG : 8 go routines active
2025/11/10 11:30:57 INFO  : Dropbox root 'Projects/2021/LD000135 2 Workshops': Committing uploads - please wait...

It says ‘There was nothing to transfer’, but I know there are empty folders within the SharePoint directory that has not copied to Dropbox.

I am using this command wrong or have I misunderstood it?

The version of rClone I am using is as follows:

C:\rclone-v1.71.2-windows-amd64>rclone version
rclone v1.71.2

os/version: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro 25H2 25H2 (64 bit)

os/kernel: 10.0.26200.6899 (x86_64)

os/type: windows

os/arch: amd64

go/version: go1.25.3

go/linking: static

go/tags: cmount

Thanks in advanced,

James

Animosity022 · November 10, 2025, 12:20pm

That’s by design:

      --create-empty-src-dirs   Create empty source dirs on destination after copy

rclone copy

james.stoner · November 10, 2025, 12:50pm

Thanks.

So how do i copy empty folders?

Animosity022 · November 10, 2025, 1:27pm

The flag I shared in my post - did you see that?

--create-empty-src-dirs   Create empty source dirs on destination after copy

james.stoner · November 10, 2025, 1:39pm

Yes I did.

However in my original post I advised I had already tried this flag which failed.

Did you see the logs I posted?

Animosity022 · November 10, 2025, 2:05pm

Can you share a rclone lsd of the area you are trying to copy?

root@gemini:/mnt/user/data/scripts/rclone/test# mkdir one two three
root@gemini:/mnt/user/data/scripts/rclone/test# cd two
root@gemini:/mnt/user/data/scripts/rclone/test/two# touch two.txt
root@gemini:/mnt/user/data/scripts/rclone/test/two# cd ..
root@gemini:/mnt/user/data/scripts/rclone/test# cd ..
root@gemini:/mnt/user/data/scripts/rclone# cd test
root@gemini:/mnt/user/data/scripts/rclone/test# ls
one/  three/  two/
root@gemini:/mnt/user/data/scripts/rclone/test# cd ..
root@gemini:/mnt/user/data/scripts/rclone# ls
Dropbox/  Two/  rclone*  test/  test2/
root@gemini:/mnt/user/data/scripts/rclone# rclone copy -vv --create-empty-src-dirs test test2
2025/11/10 09:04:13 DEBUG : rclone: Version "v1.70.1" starting with parameters ["rclone" "copy" "-vv" "--create-empty-src-dirs" "test" "test2"]
2025/11/10 09:04:13 DEBUG : Creating backend with remote "test"
2025/11/10 09:04:13 NOTICE: Config file "/root/.config/rclone/rclone.conf" not found - using defaults
2025/11/10 09:04:13 DEBUG : fs cache: renaming cache item "test" to be canonical "/mnt/user/data/scripts/rclone/test"
2025/11/10 09:04:13 DEBUG : Creating backend with remote "test2"
2025/11/10 09:04:13 DEBUG : fs cache: renaming cache item "test2" to be canonical "/mnt/user/data/scripts/rclone/test2"
2025/11/10 09:04:13 DEBUG : one: Making directory with metadata
2025/11/10 09:04:13 INFO  : one: Made directory with metadata (mtime=2025-11-10T09:03:46.571296994-05:00)
2025/11/10 09:04:13 DEBUG : Added delayed dir = "one", newDst=one
2025/11/10 09:04:13 DEBUG : three: Making directory with metadata
2025/11/10 09:04:13 INFO  : three: Made directory with metadata (mtime=2025-11-10T09:03:46.591297231-05:00)
2025/11/10 09:04:13 DEBUG : Added delayed dir = "three", newDst=three
2025/11/10 09:04:13 DEBUG : two: Making directory with metadata
2025/11/10 09:04:13 INFO  : two: Made directory with metadata (mtime=2025-11-10T09:03:49.627333298-05:00)
2025/11/10 09:04:13 DEBUG : Added delayed dir = "two", newDst=two
2025/11/10 09:04:13 DEBUG : two/two.txt: Need to transfer - File not found at Destination
2025/11/10 09:04:13 DEBUG : Local file system at /mnt/user/data/scripts/rclone/test2: Waiting for checks to finish
2025/11/10 09:04:13 DEBUG : Local file system at /mnt/user/data/scripts/rclone/test2: Waiting for transfers to finish
2025/11/10 09:04:13 DEBUG : two/two.txt: md5 = d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e OK
2025/11/10 09:04:13 DEBUG : two/two.txt.82c848a3.partial: renamed to: two/two.txt
2025/11/10 09:04:13 INFO  : two/two.txt: Copied (new)
2025/11/10 09:04:13 INFO  : one: Set directory modification time (using SetModTime)
2025/11/10 09:04:13 INFO  : two: Set directory modification time (using SetModTime)
2025/11/10 09:04:13 INFO  : three: Set directory modification time (using SetModTime)
2025/11/10 09:04:13 INFO  :
Transferred:              0 B / 0 B, -, 0 B/s, ETA -
Checks:                 0 / 0, -, Listed 4
Transferred:            1 / 1, 100%
Elapsed time:         0.0s

2025/11/10 09:04:13 DEBUG : 4 go routines active

Animosity022 · November 10, 2025, 2:08pm

Output of lsd ls in my example:

root@gemini:/mnt/user/data/scripts/rclone# rclone lsd test2
2025/11/10 09:07:23 NOTICE: Config file "/root/.config/rclone/rclone.conf" not found - using defaults
           6 2025-11-10 09:03:46        -1 one
           6 2025-11-10 09:03:46        -1 three
          29 2025-11-10 09:03:49        -1 two
root@gemini:/mnt/user/data/scripts/rclone# rclone ls test2
2025/11/10 09:07:27 NOTICE: Config file "/root/.config/rclone/rclone.conf" not found - using defaults
        0 two/two.txt

james.stoner · November 10, 2025, 4:05pm

Apologies I have resolved this myself.

Turns out I was copying files to my Dropbox personal folder, but looking in the shared folder, so obviously was not going to see them.

Thanks for you support.

system · December 10, 2025, 4:06pm

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