# How Do I Go About Excluding Folders?
**URL:** https://forum.syncthing.net/t/how-do-i-go-about-excluding-folders/22114
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [May 10, 2024, 6:33pm UTC](https://forum.syncthing.net/t/how-do-i-go-about-excluding-folders/22114 "2024-05-10T18:33:45Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@MrGeekman](https://forum.syncthing.net/u/MrGeekman)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2024, 6:33pm UTC](https://forum.syncthing.net/t/how-do-i-go-about-excluding-folders/22114/1 "2024-05-10T18:33:45Z")
Ideally, I’d like to include the file path so I can be sure that only that one folder will be affected. I know a bit about ignore patterns, but I’m not sure how to go about it with a file path.
---
### Author:  [@gadget](https://forum.syncthing.net/u/gadget)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2024, 11:22pm UTC](https://forum.syncthing.net/t/how-do-i-go-about-excluding-folders/22114/2 "2024-05-10T23:22:18Z")
To exclude a specific folder, end the pattern with a folder separator (`/`), e.g. your `.stignore` would look like this if you wanted to ignore a folder named “folder”:
```plaintext
/ignore/the/path/to/this/folder/
```
A file named “folder” under the path `/ignore/the/path/to/this/` would not match the pattern, so it would be synced as usual.
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### Author:  [@MrGeekman](https://forum.syncthing.net/u/MrGeekman)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2024, 3:13am UTC](https://forum.syncthing.net/t/how-do-i-go-about-excluding-folders/22114/3 "2024-05-11T03:13:14Z")
How about spaces? Also, how far back do I need to go into the file path? Can I just go as far as the shared folder? To make it a bit easier, here’s the file path subdirectory/subfolder I’d like to exclude
_/Documents/Home/Physical Media Copying/Subtitles/_
Should I use a tilde at the start?
I’m sorry for asking you all of these questions, but I’m leaving for a trip on Monday morning and I really want to get this squared away ASAP. I’ve tried a few different things, but they haven’t worked and I don’t want to add too much wear to the SSDs in my desktop and laptop repeatedly transferring a 28GB folder back to my desktop.
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### Author:  [@gadget](https://forum.syncthing.net/u/gadget)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2024, 4:41am UTC](https://forum.syncthing.net/t/how-do-i-go-about-excluding-folders/22114/4 "2024-05-11T04:41:38Z")
> [@MrGeekman](#):
>
> How about spaces? Also, how far back do I need to go into the file path? Can I just go as far as the shared folder?
A pattern is relative to the base/root of the shared folder, so if the shared folder in Syncthing is configured as `~/A/B/C/D`, the pattern starts after `D`.
Syncthing treats spaces in a pattern just like other non-special characters so just use them as-is.
> [@](#):
>
> To make it a bit easier, here’s the file path subdirectory/subfolder I’d like to exclude
>
> _/Documents/Home/Physical Media Copying/Subtitles/_
Given the path above, if the “Folder Path” in Syncthing is set to `/Documents/Home/`, then one possible ignore pattern is this:
```plaintext
/Physical Media Copying/Subtitles/
```
The first “/” at the beginning is important because it “anchors” the pattern to `/Documents/Home`, otherwise the pattern would match all instances, e.g.:
```plaintext
.
└── Documents
└── Home
├── Backups
│ └── Physical Media Copying
│ └── Subtitles
└── Physical Media Copying
└── Subtitles
```
In the sample folder tree above, leaving out the first “/” in the pattern `Physical Media Copying/Subtitles/` would end up catching both `Subtitles` folders (including the one under the `Backups` folder which might be important).
Note that ending a pattern with a “/” guarantees that only folders will match it and not files, but it also means that only the contents of the matching folder will be ignored – i.e. on the receiving end it’ll be an empty folder. If that’s not ideal, leave out the final “/”, but be careful not to create any files with the same name as what would have been a folder.
> [@](#):
>
> Should I use a tilde at the start?
Only if a tilde is actually part of a file or folder name you’re trying to match.
> [@](#):
>
> I’m sorry for asking you all of these questions, but I’m leaving for a trip on Monday morning and I really want to get this squared away ASAP. I’ve tried a few different things, but they haven’t worked and I don’t want to add too much wear to the SSDs in my desktop and laptop repeatedly transferring a 28GB folder back to my desktop.
No problem. 🙂
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### Author:  [@system](https://forum.syncthing.net/u/system)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2024, 4:42am UTC](https://forum.syncthing.net/t/how-do-i-go-about-excluding-folders/22114/5 "2024-06-10T04:42:29Z")
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