# Hugo copies entire content directory before processing it

**URL:** <https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/hugo-copies-entire-content-directory-before-processing-it/51829>\
**Category:** support\
**Created:** [October 6, 2024, 1:44pm UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/hugo-copies-entire-content-directory-before-processing-it/51829 "2024-10-06T13:44:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![22decembre](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.gohugo.io/22decembre/32/4795_2.png) [@22decembre](https://discourse.gohugo.io/u/22decembre)\
**Post date:** [October 6, 2024, 1:44pm UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/hugo-copies-entire-content-directory-before-processing-it/51829/1 "2024-10-06T13:44:17Z")

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well, I have no idea where to put that.

I noticed that, on my website, hugo will copy the entirety of the content/ directory into public/, before processing it.

So if I copy an entire folder of pictures into content/ but I don’t even have a index.md or \_index.md yet, hugo will still copy it. That makes the website unnecessarily heavy. (Other websites I have build with Hugo don’t do that)

How to prevent that ?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jmooring](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.gohugo.io/jmooring/32/4214_2.png) [@jmooring](https://discourse.gohugo.io/u/jmooring)\
**Post date:** [October 6, 2024, 3:11pm UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/hugo-copies-entire-content-directory-before-processing-it/51829/2 "2024-10-06T15:11:57Z")

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> [@22decembre](#):
>
> if I copy an entire folder of pictures into content

Hugo is doing exactly what it should be doing.

```plaintext
content/
├── foo/
│ ├── a.jpg
│ └── b.jpg
└── _index.md

```

The files inside of the “foo” directory are page resources.

> [@22decembre](#):
>
> hugo will copy the entirety of the content/ directory into public/

No, it doesn’t. It doesn’t copy page resources when the `ResourceType` is `page` (e.g., `.md`, `.adoc`, `.html`, `.pdoc`, `.rst`, `.org`).

> [@22decembre](#):
>
> Other websites I have build with Hugo don’t do that

I doubt that.