diff --git a/extract_figures.ipynb b/extract_figures.ipynb
index 79ca1cf869844e3b8aec5ad607dd6d871d64bc8b..8a431bb0891c44c0869a4bfa83b0d38086185d52 100644
--- a/extract_figures.ipynb
+++ b/extract_figures.ipynb
@@ -48,7 +48,8 @@
     "IMAGES_DIR = 'images'\n",
     "imgurls = get_imgurls_from_manifesturl(input_manifest)\n",
     "imgpaths = create_paths_from_iiifurls(imgurls)\n",
-    "shutil.rmtree(IMAGES_DIR)\n",
+    "if os.path.isdir(IMAGES_DIR):\n",
+    "    shutil.rmtree(IMAGES_DIR)\n",
     "os.mkdir(IMAGES_DIR)\n",
     "imgpaths = [os.path.join(IMAGES_DIR, e) for e in imgpaths]\n",
     "download_images_multithreded(imgurls, imgpaths, 10)"
@@ -66,7 +67,8 @@
     "# Apply figure extraction model\n",
     "\n",
     "RESULTS_DIR = 'extracted_figures'\n",
-    "shutil.rmtree(RESULTS_DIR)\n",
+    "if os.path.isdir(RESULTS_DIR):\n",
+    "    shutil.rmtree(RESULTS_DIR)\n",
     "os.mkdir(RESULTS_DIR)\n",
     "model = YOLO('model_extract_figures.pt')\n",
     "counter = 0\n",