1. Support
  2. Knowledge base
  3. 100017586

Removing empty folders from Archive Explorer or Enterprise Vault Search (EVS)

Article: 100017586
Last Published: 2015-05-20
Ratings: 2 0
Product(s): Enterprise Vault

Problem

Empty folders are not removed from the archive and are displayed in Archive Explorer or Enterprise Vault Search (EVS)

 

Solution

Empty folders may appear over time, either by a user deleting all archived items from a folder, or because of running Storage Expiry during which all the expired items in a folder get deleted.  The following registry key helps in deleting those unwanted empty folders.


To delete the empty folders:

Warning : Incorrect use of the Windows registry editor may prevent the operating system from functioning properly. Great care should be taken when making changes to a Windows registry. Registry modifications should only be carried-out by persons experienced in the use of the registry editor application. It is recommended that a complete backup of the registry and workstation be made prior to making any registry changes.

1. Open registry editor on the Storage Service computer.
 
2. Create a new DWORD entry called DeleteEmptyFolders under the following key:
 
For 32 bit operating system
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\KVS\Enterprise Vault\Storage
 
For 64 bit operating system
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\KVS\Enterprise Vault\Storage
 
3. Give DeleteEmptyFolders a value of 1.
 
4. Restart the Storage Service.

When the Storage Service is restarted it searches for and deletes the empty folders in all archives. At the end of the search, the DeleteEmptyFolders value is automatically reset to 0 to turn off this functionality.
For a Single Archive having Empty Folders, One needs to export the archive into a PST. Delete the existing archive. Create a New archive and import the PST with Empty folders. The Import PST process will not import the Empty folder into the new archive for the same user.
 
NOTES:
 
1. For EV 7.0 and  7.5 the functionality has changed. Due to the new Orphan Shortcut delete functionality, EV now tracks items for 14 days before they are really gone. Therefore if archived items are deleted from a folder, it will be at least 14 days before the folder can be deleted from Archive Explorer by setting the registry key to 1 and restarting the Storage Service.
 
2. For EV 8.0 and up the functionality has changed again (due to Vault Cache).  It will be at least 32 days before the items are truly 'deleted' from the database and a folder can be deleted from Archive Explorer using this method.
 
3. The registry setting DeleteEmptyFolders set to 1 only to 0 automatically when the processing completes.  The value will need to be set to 1 again for the process to run and remove the empty folders. If doing many deletions, consider adding a process to set the registry value to 1 in the nightly backup scripts.

4. If Vault Cache and Virtual Vault are enabled delete the empty folder from Virtual Vault, and then do a Vault Cache Synchronization to update the Enterprise Vault archive folders with the desired changes.

Was this content helpful?

Article Languages