{"id":1370,"date":"2026-08-26T18:33:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T18:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.freethought.uk\/help\/excluding-a-directory-from-a-site-clone-in-ultra-cloud\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T18:33:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T18:33:09","slug":"excluding-a-directory-from-a-site-clone-in-ultra-cloud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.freethought.uk\/help\/excluding-a-directory-from-a-site-clone-in-ultra-cloud\/","title":{"rendered":"Excluding a directory from a site clone in ULTRA Cloud"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>When you clone a site, ULTRA Cloud copies everything across by default. Sometimes, though, there are folders you&#8217;d rather leave exactly where they are. Excluding a directory lets you skip those folders so they aren&#8217;t copied over \u2014 perfect for large, environment-specific, or historical files that don&#8217;t need to travel with every clone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Folders people often choose to exclude include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>User uploads and media<\/li>\n<li>Backup archives<\/li>\n<li>Application logs<\/li>\n<li>Generated files<\/li>\n<li>Large import or export directories<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-exclusions-work\">How exclusions work<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Open the <strong>Clone site<\/strong> tool and expand <strong>Excluded directories<\/strong>. ULTRA Cloud will load a list of folders from the current site, ready for you to choose from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tick the folders you&#8217;d like to leave out. If a folder isn&#8217;t listed, you can type its relative path instead. When the clone runs, ULTRA Cloud will:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Skip those folders on the source site, so they aren&#8217;t copied.<\/li>\n<li>Leave any matching folders on the destination site untouched.<\/li>\n<li>Remember your selection for future clones between those two sites.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"banner-note\">\ud83d\udca1 ULTRA Cloud combines the exclusions saved on both sites. If a folder is protected by either the source or the destination, it stays excluded \u2014 no matter which direction you clone in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Exclusions belonging to the destination site appear with a padlock. These can&#8217;t be removed while you&#8217;re cloning from the current site (more on clearing them further down).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"when-should-i-use-exclusions\">When should I use exclusions?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Exclusions are most helpful when a folder:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Holds a lot of data that already exists on the destination.<\/li>\n<li>Is managed separately from the rest of the site.<\/li>\n<li>Contains logs, backups, caches, or other files that should stay specific to each environment.<\/li>\n<li>Would make a routine staging or production clone unnecessarily slow or storage-heavy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"banner-tip\">\ud83d\udc49 A staging site rarely needs a fresh copy of your production uploads. Excluding that folder speeds up the clone, saves space, and protects any uploads staging already has.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"good-to-know-before-you-exclude\">Good to know before you exclude<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Excluded folders aren&#8217;t synchronised, so anything added, changed, or removed inside them will stay different between the two sites. That&#8217;s usually exactly what you want \u2014 just keep a few things in mind:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A brand-new or empty destination won&#8217;t receive the excluded files.<\/li>\n<li>The cloned database may still reference files inside an excluded folder.<\/li>\n<li>Media or downloads can appear missing if the destination doesn&#8217;t already have the files.<\/li>\n<li>Excluding a parent folder also excludes everything inside it.<\/li>\n<li>A saved exclusion keeps applying to future clones until you clear it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"banner-warning\">\u26a0\ufe0f Exclusions aren&#8217;t a backup and don&#8217;t provide access control or extra security. Only exclude a folder when the destination already has suitable files there, or when the missing files won&#8217;t affect the cloned site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"clearing-exclusions\">Clearing exclusions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>To remove the current site&#8217;s selections from the clone form, choose <strong>Clear this site&#8217;s exclusions<\/strong>. The change is saved when you complete the clone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Want to clear your saved exclusions without running a clone? Select <strong>Remember this for next time?<\/strong> and the change will be stored on its own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"banner-note\">\ud83d\udca1 Padlocked exclusions belong to the destination site. To remove one, open that site in ULTRA Cloud and clear its saved exclusions there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When you clone a site, ULTRA Cloud copies everything across by default. Sometimes, though, there are folders you&#8217;d rather leave exactly where they are. Excluding a directory lets you skip those folders so they aren&#8217;t copied over \u2014 perfect for large, environment-specific, or historical files that don&#8217;t need to travel&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-our-control-panel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freethought.uk\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freethought.uk\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freethought.uk\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freethought.uk\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freethought.uk\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.freethought.uk\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1370\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freethought.uk\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freethought.uk\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freethought.uk\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}