Duplicate files

Overview

The Duplicate files tab is the main area where you will be working with the results of your scan. It contains a list of all the duplicates found in the scan (both originals AND copies).

The duplicate files are arranged in numbered groups (see the Group column). The files in a group are duplicates of each other according to the criteria you set at the beginning of the scan. Marking (ticking) a file means that you intend to remove that file later on.

Each duplicate group contains ALL the copies of a file found - so make sure you leave at least one file in each group unmarked if you want to keep a copy.

There are several tools to help manage the list, with quick access buttons down the left-hand side of the tab. See below for more detail.

Marking files

Once you have performed a scan you can mark files to delete, move, copy, rename or link. If in doubt, leave a file alone.

File marking is one of the most important ideas in Duplicate Cleaner. A file is marked when it has a cross in its checkbox. Marking a file usually means you want to delete, move or copy it - though there are other things you can do with marked files as well.

You can mark a file by clicking its checkbox, or select one or more rows and press Space to toggle their marks. There are many other ways of marking files too - for instance you can mark all the files in a folder from the right-click menu, and the Selection Assistant can mark files for you by rules.

Files in a protected folder show a lock in place of their checkbox, and can’t be marked.

The bar above the list shows how many files are marked, and their total size.

All copies marked warning

If every file in a group is marked, a warning appears above the list: “n file group(s) have ALL copies of duplicate files marked”. Removing the marked files would then remove every copy of those files. Use the Groups with all files marked filter to show just those groups so you can check them.

The buttons down the left of the tab are:

Find in list - Show the find bar (Ctrl+F).
Selection Assistant - Rules for marking files automatically.
Filters - The filters as a side panel.
Delete files, Move or copy files, Rename files, Link files and Export - The file removal panels.
Image preview - Open the Image preview window.
Media player - Open the Media player window.

The panels open to the right of the list. Click the button again to close a panel.

Views

The buttons at the bottom right switch between three views:

Details view - A list with columns of information about each file.
Show preview column - The details view with a thumbnail column at the start of each row. The thumbnail size (and row height) follows the width of the column - drag the edge of the column heading to change it.
Thumbnail view - Thumbnails of the files, arranged by group.

In the thumbnail view you can choose to show each file’s Size, File Name and Folder name, turn Wrap on or off, Correct orientation of photos from their metadata, and change the size of the thumbnails with Zoom.

The bar at the bottom also shows the scan mode, the number of files shown and their total size, and how many rows are selected.

Columns

The details view can show these columns:

File Name, Folder, Group, Size, File created, File modified, File type - shown by default.
Folder group - the duplicate folder group the file is in, if any.
Hash - the content hash, where one was calculated.
Drive - the drive or device the file is on.
Hard-links - the number of hard-links, if they were counted.
Image width and Image height - in Image and Video modes.
Length - in Audio and Video modes.
One column for each metadata field you ticked.

Right-click a column heading for these options:

Sort - Sort by this column.
Hide - Hide this column.
Fit to content - Size the column to fit its contents.
Filter groups where value differs / Filter groups where value is the same - Show only groups where this column’s values differ between the files, or are all the same. For example, filter on File Name where the value differs to find copies that have been renamed.
Columns - Tick the columns you want to see.

Drag the edge of a column heading to change its width, or double-click the edge to fit the column to its contents. Column layouts are remembered.

Sorting

The list starts in group order. Click a column heading to sort by that column. Repeated clicks change the sort direction, or remove the sort.

You can sort on more than one column by Shift-clicking the column headings - each heading then shows its sort priority.

Opening files

Double-click a file, or select it and press Enter, to open it. If Use internal viewers on double click is ticked in General settings, images open in the Image preview and audio and video in the Media player; otherwise the file opens in its usual application.

Other tools

Filtering the lists - Focus on a smaller set of files.
Find in list - Search the list (Ctrl+F, F3 for find next).
Files list context menu - Right-click a file for many more commands.
Use mapping scroll bar in General settings marks the positions of marked files, and groups with all copies marked, beside the scroll bar, so you can see at a glance where they are in a long list.