This command allows a user to locate duplicate files on their system and then delete unwanted duplicates. Using the Criteria Settings users can easily search for single files or all duplicate files within a folder. Once the search has finished the results are shown in the Results Report window. Duplicates are listed by groups and each group has a separate listing of all duplicate files in the group. Each duplicate file entry contains pertinent file metrics (path, size, date, modified time, etc.). Users can interact with the duplicate file list to delete or rename these files. In addition to this users may interact with the file listing through context menu commands to further narrow the search results.
The Find Duplicates dialog consists of a tabbed interface with two tabs: Search Criteria and Results Report. The Results Report may be resized to allow easier reviewing of Duplicate Files listing.
Search Criteria
Find Duplicates searches through folders the user specifies to do two things:
1. Discover any files inside the specified folders
2. Compare the files against each other to determine which files are duplicates of one another.
Users configure the search by setting the parameters in the Search Criteria tab. Searches are created by adding folders to search, selecting criteria for matching files, specifying files/folders to exclude from the search and selecting other special properties to ignore.
Folders to Search
In this field the user defines the folder paths to search. Users may either manually type a path or use the browse or ftp open buttons beside it to select the paths to be added to the search list. When the Find Duplicates dialog is launched from an active folder session, the active paths are automatically added to the search list.
Criteria Settings
A duplicate criteria is a “rule” or “metric” that the files must match in order to be considered as “matching” one another. For example, you may want to find files with the same name but not the same size. This area provides access to the criteria options in a form similar to what is done in the application’s configuration dialog.
Options that refine the focus of the primary duplicate criteria options are displayed to the right when a criteria option has focus. Each entry is enabled using the check box next to its name. When a box is checked that criteria is used in the search. Each criterion has options that help control its specificity.
When a duplicate option is selected its associated options are then displayed on the right. Users must select Name, Size or Content in order to execute a search. Name is selected by default. The following options and their associated settings are available:
Name | files must have same name. If desired, Ignore Case and Ignore File Extensions may be specified when evaluating file names. |
Size | files must have same size. If desired, users may specify min/max file sizes. If Min File Size is not selected then the search will have a floor of 0 KB. If Max File Size is not selected then the search will have an unlimited file size ceiling. |
Dates | files must have same creation and/or modified dates. If Date Created is selected creation dates must match. If Date Modified is selected modified dates must match. |
Content | file content must be the same based on a fast binary compare |
Ignore Options
Ignore options provide the user with options for specifying files and folders to skip in the search. The following options are available:
Advanced - the following advanced ignore options are available:
Ignore Zero Byte Files | ignores files of zero size |
Ignore System Files | ignores system files created by the OS (.sys files) |
Ignore Hidden Files | ignores files hidden by OS |
Ignore Windows Files | ignores Windows system folders |
Ignore Files in the Recycle Bin | ignores any files in the Recycle Bin |
Ignore Sub Folders | search will be limited to the top level of the specified search folders |
Include Filter
Here the user specifies a list of specific files and/or file filters to which the search should be limited. For example, “*.tmp” means the search would skip any file WITHOUT the .tmp extension. File names and wildcards are entered in the edit box and added with the Add button. The Delete button removes them.
Exclude Filter
Here the user specifies a list of specific files and/or file filters to exclude from the search. For example, “*.tmp” means the search would skip any file WITH the .tmp extension. Files names and wildcards are entered in the edit box and added with the Add button. The Delete button removes them.
Exclude Folders
Here the user specifies a list of specific folders and/or folder filters to exclude from the search. For example, if “Folder1” is in the search folder it would be skipped. If “*svn” were used, any folder with svn at the end of the name would be skipped. Folder names and wildcards are entered in the edit box and added with the Add button. The Delete button removes them.
Start
Pressing this button starts the search. When the search runs this button changes to Pause and the main tab is switched to the Results Report and the progress bar is made visible. When a search is not running the progress bar is not shown and the Start button is visible.
Pause
This button pauses the search. When pause is hit the button changes to Continue. This is useful for users who may need to momentarily halt the search for various reasons.
Cancel Search
This button completely cancels the search. This is for users who want to totally halt the search and free up any system resources it is using.
The Close button closes the dialog. This also cancels the search if there is one in progress.
Results Report
The Results Report tab displays the duplicate groups and the list of duplicate files for the selected group. The Results Report tab allows the user to inspect duplicates, rename duplicates, delete duplicates, modify the Search Criteria using context menu commands and launch compare sessions to compare duplicates. The Results Report includes the duplicate groups list on the left hand side, the currently selected group’s file listing on the right hand side and controls for removing the duplicates at the bottom. All other actions are accessed through the context menu.
Duplicates Found
This is a listing of the groups of duplicates. This displays the name of the group and the number of duplicates in the group. This is shown as the group name followed by a number in parentheses - for example, “Test.txt(4)” . If Name is used as a search criterion, the name of the group will be the name of the file. So if a search finds that for “test.txt” there are four other copies, for “abc.txt” there are ten other copies and for “screenshot.png” there are three copies, the following entries would appear: “test.txt (4)”, “abc.txt (10)” and “screenshot.png (3)”.
If Name is not in use and Size is used, then the size will become the name of the groups and the tag <Size> will appear before the group name to clarify against what criteria the group was named. If there are three files that are 102 kb and two files with 1.0 MB the following entries would appear: <Size> 102 kb (3) and <Size> 1.0 MB (2).
If only Content was used as a search criterion then the groups will be given default names, for example <Content> Group1(#), <Content> Group2(#) etc.
When a search is run the files can be narrowed down by name first, size second, date third and then finally content. This is to reduce the search time by reducing the number of date and content compares. Selecting a group in this list will display the entries in the Duplicates Locations list
Duplicates Locations
This is a list with entries for each duplicate file in the group. The data is displayed in columns. What columns are displayed can be changed under the context menu that appears when users right click on the column headers. Column widths can be altered through directly resizing the columns in the list control. The following columns may be displayed:
Path | Contains the full path of the duplicate file |
Size | shown in bytes, KB, MB, GB where applicable |
Date Created | displayed in the format chosen in Configuration?Find Duplicates?Date Format |
Date Modified | displayed in the format chosen in Configuration?Find Duplicates?Date Format |
Attributes | An 8 character string is
displayed to represent the attribute bit listing in the “
- - a - - - - -“ style format. Format:
1 - reserved 2 - reserved 3 a -> archive 4 d -> subdirectory 5 v -> volume label 6 s -> system file 7 h -> hidden 8 r -> read only |
Version | shown in the same format as is found on the File Properties dialog |
Each entry in the Duplicates Locations list has a check box. When the user executes a delete the items selected will be moved to the Recycle Bin.
Right clicking an item opens a context menu with the following options:
Compare Selected | if two or three files are selected this option will be enabled. When executed it will start a new compare session to compare the files selected. |
Open | sends a command to the OS to open the selected file in its default program |
Open in UEX | opens the file in UEX |
Rename | initiates renaming of the selected file. Editing is done via the Name column in the list control. The new name is immediately applied to the file when done. |
File Properties | opens the OS’s File Properties dialog for the selected file |
Open Containing Folder | opens Explorer displaying the containing folder for the item selected |
Check | checks the selected file(s) for removal. When the user hits the Delete Checked button then the checked items are sent to the Recycle Bin |
Uncheck | unchecks the selected file(s) |
Delete | this moves the checked files into the Recycle Bin |
Add Selected to Exclude List | adds the currently selected file(s) to the exclude list and causes the Results Report display to update the results with this change |
Exclude all Files with this Extension | adds the currently selected file’s extension to the exclude list, it causes the Results Report display to update the results with this change |
Exclude Containing Folder | in the Results Report this adds the selected file’s containing folder to the Folder Exclude List. This causes the results to be updated with this change |
Multiple files may be selected in the Duplicates Locations listing by using the mouse and CTRL or SHIFT keys. This allows users to apply context menu options to multiple files in the listing at the same time.