rclone Cleanup

rclone cleanup removes backend-specific trash, temporary files, and old file versions. Many cloud providers keep deleted files in a trash/recycle bin that still consumes your storage quota — cleanup empties that trash.

Quick Summary

Think of cleanup as "empty the recycle bin" for your cloud storage. It's backend-dependent — some providers support it, others don't. After running cleanup, deleted files are permanently gone.

Basic Syntax

rclone cleanup REMOTE: [flags]

# Clean up trash on Google Drive
rclone cleanup gdrive:

# Clean up trash on OneDrive
rclone cleanup onedrive:

# Dry run — see what would be cleaned
rclone cleanup gdrive: --dry-run -v

Key Flags

Flag	Description
--dry-run / -n	Preview what would be cleaned
--verbose / -v	Show what's being removed
--log-file PATH	Write log to file

Backend Support

Backend	cleanup Behavior
Google Drive	Empties trash
OneDrive	Empties recycle bin
Dropbox	Permanently deletes trashed files
S3	Removes old versions (if versioning enabled)
GCS	Removes old versions (if versioning enabled)
Box	Empties trash
SFTP / Local	Not applicable

Practical Examples

Empty Google Drive Trash

# Check what's in trash first
rclone cleanup gdrive: --dry-run -v

# Clean up
rclone cleanup gdrive: -v

Reclaim Storage After Bulk Delete

# Step 1: Delete old backups
rclone delete gdrive:old-backups -v

# Step 2: Files are now in trash — empty it
rclone cleanup gdrive: -v

# Step 3: Verify reclaimed space
rclone about gdrive:

S3 Version Cleanup

# Remove old object versions (versioned bucket)
rclone cleanup backup-s3:my-versioned-bucket -v

Scheduled Cleanup

weekly-cleanup.sh

#!/bin/bash
LOG="/var/log/rclone/cleanup-$(date +%Y-%m-%d).log"

for remote in gdrive: onedrive:; do
  echo "Cleaning ${remote}" >> "$LOG"
  rclone cleanup "${remote}" --log-file "$LOG" --log-level INFO -v
done

Common Pitfalls

Pitfall	Consequence	Prevention
Running on unsupported backend	Error or no-op	Check backend support table
Not running --dry-run first	Permanently deletes trashed files	Always preview
Expecting path-level cleanup	cleanup usually operates at account level	Check backend-specific behavior
Cleaning up shared drives	May affect shared content	Be cautious with team/shared storage

What's Next

Examples with Output

1. Empty Google Drive Trash

Permanently remove all items currently in your Drive's trash. Command:

rclone cleanup gdrive:

Output:

(Google Drive trash is emptied; space is reclaimed)

2. Clean up OneDrive Recycle Bin

Clear out deleted items to free up account storage. Command:

rclone cleanup onedrive:

Output:

(OneDrive recycle bin emptied)

3. Remove old S3 object versions

Clean up non-current versions in a versioned S3 bucket to save costs. Command:

rclone cleanup s3-backup:my-versioned-bucket -v

Output:

2024/01/15 12:00:00 INFO  : data.zip: Deleted 5 old versions

4. Dry run of trash cleanup

Safely check if the backend supports cleanup before executing. Command:

rclone cleanup remote: --dry-run

Output:

2024/01/15 12:00:00 NOTICE: Trash cleanup would remove 150 items (dry run)

5. Check storage after cleanup

Verify how much space was recovered. Command:

rclone cleanup gdrive: && rclone about gdrive:

Output:

Total:   15 GiB
Used:    5.2 GiB (was 5.5 GiB)
Free:    9.8 GiB