not quite sure if this is a bug, I’m probably doing something wrong. I have a folder with two sub-folders that are empty. I tried deleting them but when I re-open my project, it pops up back and proves it has not been deleted permanently. I tried right-clicking the folders and clicking on “Fix up redirectors in folder”. I tried that on each folder and still won’t delete them after I have re-opened my project.
Before this started happening, I move some stuff around to get myself more organized. I also tried using the content browser filter “Show redirectors”, It doesn’t show me any redirectors…
Hmm…maybe you can go to your Project Folder? Mine is located in “My Documents” —> “Unreal Projects”.
Then open the folder with the project name where you have the problem, go to the “Content” folder and delete the folder that keeps reappearing, if it is there.
Ah! Why didn’t I think of that. So I went to my directory and noticed that there was 3 textures that are being redirected to a different directory. So I re-import those 3 textures then moved them back to the folder that couldn’t be deleted then saved, then moved them back to the new location. Re-opened my project and then delete the folders in both content browser and project folder. Finally solved this issue. Thanks.
You are very welcome!
Yay! You are the first person I have helped. And this is my second post! I am happy that it worked!
Good luck with your project and do your best!
It is indeed superannoying to cleanup empty folders due to redirectors being present… when deleting an empty folder it shows as being deleted in the editor, but on your next startup the folder will be back.
I think it’s because it’s storing them as temporary files while you are using the editor.
I know, it’s annoying that you have to close Unreal, delete the file and go back to rename it or whatever. I just think it might be safety measures in order to prevent it from crashing.
Well now it just doesn’t delete at all in 4.14. Its not a big deal to delete it manually just that little puzzles like this confuse us newbies. Still think Unreal is the best engine out though personally.
I think this issue is related to unreal leaving files on the folder which seems to still reference content currently in use. Unreal seems to think its deleted these files, but its left in the file system.
I find that if I delete the entire folder manually via explorer then on some rare occasions I get content referencing errors on Unreal. I experienced these issues when cleaning up assets and moving folders.
I would recommended this:
Delete the folder in Content Browser.
If the deleted folder doesn’t disappear then right-click on the folder and give ‘show in explorer’
Find the folder you are trying to delete. Right click and check properties. You’ll find that there are files in these -folders. Unreal thinks these files are gone, but its there in the file system.
Find and delete these files (not folders)
Delete the folder again in content browser and unreal should now correctly delete the folder from the content browser.
Sometimes you’ll need to delete twice in the content browser for it work.
This way I don’t get any potential referencing errors.
I think the problem might be that Unreal seems to delete these files in the content browser but not from the file system due to it thinking that these files are being used?? not 100%.
Ran into this in 4.23 also. Came up with a fix. Rename folder to something that won’t collide with another folder name, “refprobfolder”. Then delete it. Hope this works for you guys too. Drove me insane…
CORRECT SOLUTION: The thing is that there’s still a redirector inside the folder that doesn’t get deleted. show redirectors in content browser: Click on the content menus filter drop down box and enable displaying redirectors (i think you’ll find that at the bottom somewhere probably the last option). fix up redirectors: right click the folder that can’t get deleted and click on “fix up redirectors in folder”. This will get all redirectors worked out and when it’s done, you should have no issues deleting the folder.
DO NOT JUST DELETE THE FILES IN THE OS FILE BROWSER
CORRECT SOLUTION: The thing is that there’s still a redirector inside the folder that doesn’t get deleted. show redirectors in content browser (optional): Click on the content menus filter drop down box and enable displaying redirectors (i think you’ll find that at the bottom somewhere probably the last option). fix up redirectors: in UE content browser right click the folder that can’t get deleted and click on “fix up redirectors in folder”. This will get all redirectors worked out and when it’s done, you should have no issues deleting the folder.
DO NOT JUST DELETE THE FILES IN THE OS FILE BROWSER
its not always redirectors, its a bug I have found many times, the editor is a hot mess of trash and it leaves files behind. I’ve done the whole show redirectors, fix up redirectors restarted the engine, the files are still there and the editor thinks the folder is empty and doesn’t show a SINGLE redirector. so no this is NOT THE CORRECT SOLUTION all the time
