Many times, we create a lot of separate folders for our special needs and then forget about them. As the number of empty folders increases over time, we realize how bothersome they are. Getting rid of hundreds of empty folders scattered across multiple top-level directories is not an easy task. However, there are applications like Fast Empty Folder Finder to find and delete them.

Apart from the reason mentioned above, there are other reasons behind the creation of empty folders. Here are some of them:

• When you uninstall an application, some applications may leave behind a lot of empty folders. You may not even notice when that happens.
• If you're regularly obtaining data from your co-workers, any empty folders from their data may also get transferred simultaneously.
• There are also occasions when internal bugs in Windows and other applications result in creation of empty folders.

Do Empty Folders Eat Up Storage?

No, they don’t. Empty folders are zero-sized. Their approximate size on your disk is 0 bytes. Deleting them will not free up any space. Instead, deleting them will help you keep your files in an orderly manner and easily locate them when required.

Is it Safe to Delete Empty Folders?

In most cases, it is perfectly safe. However, if you’re getting the Folder is in use or any similar error while deleting empty folders, it’s best to leave them unchanged. It may be possible that such folders are in use by other applications installed on your machine, and they may have been created to serve specific purposes. You shouldn’t interfere with the functioning of those applications.

Risks of Manually Deleting Empty Folders

Sometimes a folder may look empty even though it may contain files. For example, if your Windows is configured to hide any files and folders, you may not notice the existence of such files. This is why it's important to make any hidden files and folders visible before deleting the empty folders manually.

Fast Empty Folder Finder

Fast Empty Folder Finder is a freeware application. It is also available as a portable version that doesn’t require any installation.

Fast Empty Folder Finder shows a quick preview of each empty folder so that you can be sure that you’re only deleting empty folders. The application is currently available only in English language.

There are two ways by which you can add folders to the scan window. First, you may drag and drop the top-level folder that you want to scan for empty folders. Second, you may use the Folder Browser dialog to locate it yourself.

Major Drawbacks

• The development of this freeware tool has been long discontinued (since 2011). No further updates and bug-fixes have been provided since then. Using an obsolete tool on a PC with important data and modern Windows versions, there is a chance of data loss or unexpected results. We highly recommend that you only use it only on officially supported versions.
• It is not possible to batch select all the empty folders at once. You need to do that manually.
• It is not possible to add an entire drive (such as, C:\, D:\) for scanning. You must add the top-level folders one by one. If there are many folders that have to be scanned, it may increase the time and effort.

Clone Files Checker: Best Alternative to Fast Empty Folder Finder

Clone Files Checker, as the name describes, is a duplicate files finder and remover software. It is bundled with an in-house Empty Folder Remover that comes at no additional cost.

With the Empty Folder Remover feature in CFC, you can get rid of hundreds of thousands of empty folders scattered across all or selected partitions on your hard disk.

Here are its distinct features:

• 100% safe: This tool is timely updated, maintained and it supports major operating system versions including Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8.1/ 8/ 7.
• Find empty folders on your hard disk and external hard disk.
• Find empty folders on any USB stick.
• You may also use it on cloud storage by installing the local client for your cloud app (such as OneDrive, Google Drive, or Dropbox), syncing your files offline, and then scanning your respective cloud folder.
• One-Click Removal: Automatically remove all empty folders at once without clicking through each one of it.
• Unlike Fast Empty Folder Finder, you can find empty folders inside an entire drive (partition) as well.
• CFC supports finding and removing duplicate documents, music, archives, videos, and more.
• CFC comes with a complimentary subscription to the Cloud Duplicate Finder, a Web-based tool that lets you find duplicate files from OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, Amazon S3, and Box Cloud without downloading them to your PC.
• CFC offers Music Search and iTunes Search features that can find duplicate songs based on their ID3 tags.
• CFC also offers a Dead Track Removal tool that cleans up obsolete, deleted song entries from your iTunes playlist.

Steps:

1. Download and install Clone Files Checker.
2. Click on the System Scan tab.
3. Click on the Remove Empty Folders link.
4. In the new dialog, click on Add Path.
5. Choose a drive or folder you want to scan for empty folders.
6. Click on the Delete Empty Folders button to start the deletion.