diff --git a/.github/workflows/update_book.yml b/.github/workflows/update_book.yml
index bed34184..dbbc351a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/update_book.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/update_book.yml
@@ -29,8 +29,8 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Clean the site contents except for dev, pull contents of dev/ to main site
         run: |
-          # delete everything except the dev folder
-          find . ! -name "dev" -maxdepth 1 -delete
+          # delete everything except the dev and .git folders
+          find . -maxdepth 1 ! -name ".git" ! -name "dev" ! -name "." | xargs rm -rf
           # copy the contents of dev into the root
           cp -rf dev/* .
           
diff --git a/index.Rmd b/index.Rmd
index fdfe9d48..9c4beee9 100755
--- a/index.Rmd
+++ b/index.Rmd
@@ -54,4 +54,3 @@ knitr::include_graphics("img/frontmatter/ds-a-first-intro-cover.jpg")
 This work by [Tiffany Timbers](https://www.tiffanytimbers.com/), [Trevor Campbell](https://trevorcampbell.me/), 
 and [Melissa Lee](https://www.stat.ubc.ca/users/melissa-lee) is licensed under 
 a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).
-