How to Delete Files and Folders with Exclusion Circumstances

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Dany· Answered on Mar 10, 2023

Using PowerShell, you can directly exclude or include particular files that do not satisfy criteria in the deletion process.  You can delete files older than X days from your computer using Storage Sense and the Windows Command Prompt.

First, you need to define your dates for deletion. To automatically delete files older than X days in Windows 11/10 using Storage Sense, follow these steps:

• Press "Win+I" to open Windows Settings.
• Select System - Storage and then Storage Sense.
• Toggle the Automatic User Content Cleanup button.
• Choose a setting from the Run Storage Sense menu.
• Click the button to launch Storage Sense.

Then set your exclusions. In Command Prompt, Use a file exclusion range to exclude files from a DEL command. Delete all files in the current directory except those with the extension, for example. TXT, use the following command:

del /[!*.TXT] *

When using exclusion ranges or other more sophisticated parameters, you may wish to use the N switch first to see how the DEL works without actually deleting any files.

Unless the option is supplied, DEL displays the amount of disk space reclaimed. It compares the amount of free disk space before and after executing the DEL command. If you use a deletion tracking system that maintains deleted files in a hidden directory or another software performs a file operation while the DEL command runs, this number may be wrong.

Keep in mind that DEL destroys both file descriptions and files. Even if they can save or recover the data in a file, most deletion tracking systems will not be able to save or recover the file's description. This is also true when using DEL with the Windows Recycle Bin - the description will be lost. Then, how to solve the lost description? The four most commonly used solutions - Attrib CMD (Command Prompt), CMD tool, Windows Control Panel, and EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard to show hidden files on a Windows computer are available here to help.