diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index aa81f546..2c4d131c 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ data/assets/ssl/*
 data/db/redis/*
 !data/db/redis/.redis_data
 data/vmail/*
+!data/vmail/.empty
 data/dkim/keys/*
 !data/dkim/keys/.dkim_priv_keys
 data/dkim/txt/*
diff --git a/data/vmail/.empty b/data/vmail/.empty
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b