Remove files

Files can be removed from a storage bucket using the remove API. If a file is protected by an identity Id, only the user who owns the file will be able to remove it.

Remove a single file

You can also perform a remove operation from a specific bucket by providing the target bucket's assigned name from Amplify Backend in bucket option.

import { remove } from 'aws-amplify/storage';
  await remove({ 
    path: 'album/2024/1.jpg',
    // Alternatively, path: ({identityId}) => `album/${identityId}/1.jpg`
    bucket: 'assignedNameInAmplifyBackend', // Specify a target bucket using name assigned in Amplify Backend
} catch (error) {
  console.log('Error ', error);

Alternatively, you can also pass in an object by specifying the bucket name and region from the console.

import { remove } from 'aws-amplify/storage';
  await remove({ 
    path: 'album/2024/1.jpg',
    // Alternatively, provide bucket name from console and associated region
    bucket: {
      bucketName: 'bucket-name-from-console',
      region: 'us-east-2'
} catch (error) {
  console.log('Error ', error);

Remove folders

You can remove entire folders and their contents by providing a folder path. The remove API will automatically detect folders and perform batch deletion of all contained files.

import { remove } from 'aws-amplify/storage';
  await remove({
    path: 'album/2024/'
} catch (error) {
  console.error(error);

Folder deletion with progress tracking

For large folders, you can track the deletion progress and handle any failures:

import { remove } from 'aws-amplify/storage';
  const result = await remove({ 
    path: 'large-folder/',
    options: {
      onProgress: (fileBatch) => {
        console.log(fileBatch);
  console.log('Success', result);
} catch (error) {
  console.log('Error during folder deletion:', error);

Cancellable folder deletion

You can cancel folder deletion operations, useful for user-initiated cancellations or when navigating away from a page.

When you call remove() without await, it returns a cancellable operation object with a result property and cancel() method. This differs from await remove() which directly returns the result but cannot be cancelled.

import { remove } from 'aws-amplify/storage';
let deleteOperation;
// Start deletion when user clicks delete button
function handleDeleteFolder() {
  // remove() returns { result: Promise, cancel: Function }
  deleteOperation = remove({ 
    path: 'user-uploads/large-dataset/',
    options: {
      onProgress: (fileBatch) => {
        updateProgressBar(fileBatch.deleted?.length || 0);
  // Access the promise via .result property
  deleteOperation.result.then(result => {
    console.log('Success', result);
  }).catch(error => {
    if (error.name === 'CanceledError') {
      console.log('Deletion cancelled by user');
    } else {
      console.log('Error:', error);
// Cancel when user clicks cancel or navigates away
function handleCancel() {
  if (deleteOperation) {
    deleteOperation.cancel();

More `remove` options

Option	Type	Default	Description
bucket	string \| { bucketName: string; region: string; }	Default bucket and region from Amplify configuration	A string representing the target bucket's assigned name in Amplify Backend or an object specifying the bucket name and region from the console. Read more at Configure additional storage buckets
expectedBucketOwner	string	Optional	The account ID that owns requested bucket.
onProgress	(fileBatch: { deleted?: {path: string}[]; failed?: {path: string; code: string; message: string}[]; }) => void	Optional	Callback function for tracking folder deletion progress. Called after each batch of files is processed during folder deletion operations.

List file properties

Copy files