View and Clean up Empty Files & Empty Folders

You will see a category on the Files by Category page displaying the number of empty files in your Google Drive account.

Empty Files Category that shows empty files in your Google Drive account.

These are files that have no content in them. These files only have a file name.

Your Google Drive account may have files that consume no storage in your account but still have content in the tile. These files will not be displayed in the empty file category as they are technically not empty.

Empty Files Category that shows empty files in your Google Drive account.

What are empty folders?

The summary page will have a category showing the number of empty folders in your account.

Empty folders category

Empty folders are folders that contain no files but may contain empty folders. Below is an example of the empty folder list.

View your Google Drive empty folders

In the above image, the empty folder name and location are displayed. Then on the right, you will see an image of the owner and an info icon. The info icon shows how many empty folders are in this empty folder.

caution Note: Empty folders can be created by deleting duplicate files. Many times there are two folders that have identical files. When the duplicate files are removed, one folder is left completely empty. This empty folder view also makes it easy to clean up the empty folders.

At this point, It is recommended to take a look at the guides for moving, deleting & bulk deleting and using filters as these apply to every category, not just the empty files list.

Is it safe to delete empty files & empty folders?

In most cases, the answer is yes.

However, you should consider how your Google Drive account is being used. For example, if you create empty files or empty folders where each file is a task to be completed, then removing these empty files could remove your tasks. Most Google users do not operate this way, but it is worth mentioning in case you do.