Free Duplicate Finder - Videos and Photos. # Free Duplicate Finder Free Duplicate Finder is a cross-platform software to find duplicated video (and image) files on hard disk based on similarity. That means unlike other duplicate finders this one does also finds duplicates which have a different resolution, frame rate and even watermarked.
- Photos for Mac Speciality level out of ten: 10. Nov 3, 2017 10:42 AM in response to MrHk In response to MrHk. There are 3rd party options for finding duplicates in a Photos library. These applications will identify and help remove duplicate photos from a Photos Library: Duplicate Annihilator for Photos - $7.95.
- Click on “File” in the menu bar of your Mac desktop. Now, choose “New Smart Folder” from the dropdown menu. This will open a window on your screen. Click on the “+” icon located next to the “Save” option as shown in the screenshot below. Choose the “Kind” drop-down menu and select a file type you want to narrow the search.
If you shoot as much as the next photographer, most of your hard drive is taken over by pictures. Now, try to imagine how many of them are duplicate photos or just visually really-really similar? Chances are, the answer is a lot.
With a digital camera, you shoot about 10-15 takes from one angle or of one posture before you’re satisfied, right? And then you only choose one for editing. That’s 14 pictures that you will never need right there, and that’s every scene of every photoshoot.
You must already be thinking about getting an external hard drive or buying cloud storage and moving your gallery, because your Mac’s space is not infinite. Or you might have already done that. Anyway, in the long run, billions of photos you no longer need keep piling up and it seems like there’s no escape from it. But worry not, there is.
How to find duplicate photos on Mac
Finding duplicate photos on your Mac can be tedious and time-consuming. Especially if you’re trying to do that manually. But the problem with duplicate and visually similar photos is so commonplace that here at MacPaw we created Gemini 2, the duplicate photo finder. Let’s take a closer look at how you can sort your photos, both manually and with the help of the app.
1. Use a duplicate photo finder to clean up your Photos
First, you need to find duplicate photographs in your gallery. Then you have to figure out which version to delete in each case. All that takes loads of time if done manually, and Gemini 2 does 90% of the work for you.
To find duplicate photos on your Mac, do the following:
- Download Gemini for free and launch it
- Click Scan for Duplicates. Your Home folder is pre-selected, so Gemini 2 will check all files on your Mac.
- When the scan is over, hit Review Results
- All the duplicate photos you have on your Mac will be grouped under All Duplicates > Images. Click on the group of photos to view them (Gemini has a built-in photo preview).
- Once you choose which copies you want to delete, check mark them and proceed to the next set of duplicate images by using those little arrows on the sides.
- Finally, click Smart Cleanup to delete all selected photos. And don’t worry, Gemini moves pics to a separate Gemini Duplicates album in Photos, so you can look through them once again before you give the final “Delete” command. That’s because Apple won’t let any third-party app delete anything from the Photos library.
Bonus tip: If you switch to grid view using the icon at the top, you’ll see bigger previews of duplicate photos. Double click on a group of duplicates to see all copies side-by-side, along with their metadata and location. The icons at the top will highlight the differences between the duplicates, such as location or date modified.
If you think you have too many files in your Home folder and want to focus on pictures, try scanning just the Photos app. Here’s how to find duplicates in Apple’s Photos app:
- Download Gemini for free and launch it
- Click Restart Now, and then the big “+” in the middle of the screen
- Select the Pictures folder and hit Scan for Duplicates
- Follow steps 4-6 from the tutorial above
The Pictures folder contains your Photos library, so this should help you remove all the duplicate photos you have in there.
How to get rid of not-quite-duplicate photos
Once you have duplicates off your Mac, it’s time to take a look at similar photos. See, Gemini distinguishes between exact duplicate photos, which are several instances of the same image, and similars — photos that have different editing or were shot at slightly different angles.
For instance, here are two pictures with and without editing, in the same folder. Gemini will find them for you and mark as similar.
Or here are three pictures that were taken a second apart. You definitely don’t need all three, unless you’re going for an art-housy installation on majestic horse breathing.
To see all the similar photos the app has found, look right next to the duplicates in your left-hand menu.
Go through similar shots just like you did with exact duplicate pictures, selecting those you want to delete. When you’re done, click Remove and delete all unwanted copies in bulk.
Dealing with similars is pretty rewarding in terms of disk space, they usually take up even more than duplicates. After you get rid of similar images it's easy to organize your whole gallery and leave only those pictures that you’ll actually use.
2. Remove duplicates from Photos manually
When you import your pictures, the Photos app automatically detects duplicates, but it won’t help you with the ones already in your library. For those images already in your photo library, you’ll have to take a more manual approach.
It’s safe to assume most of your duplicates were taken at the same time, or at least on the same day. Thankfully, the Photos app, by default, sorts your pics by the date they were captured, making duplicate photos a little easier to spot as you’re scrolling through your library.
But if you’re still having trouble finding all of your duplicates, you can further narrow down your search by using Smart Albums. You can filter your pictures by filename, camera model, lens type, and other criteria to help you figure out if a photo has been duplicated. Follow these steps to start using Smart Albums in Photos:
Find Duplicate Photos Mac Reddit
- Open the Photos App.
- Click File > New Smart Album.
- In the pop-up window, name your Smart Album and set the filter criteria.
- Select the pictures you want to delete.
- Right-click (or hold down Command and click) on any of those images and click Delete.
- A window will pop up. Click Delete to confirm.
- In the sidebar, click Recently Deleted.
- Click Delete All in the top right corner.
Smart Albums are saved in the Photos app's sidebar, so you can return to your cleanup at any time and pick up right where you left off. Which you’ll find helpful if you have quite a few duplicates to go through.
3. Find duplicate photos on Mac in Finder
It’s normal for your Mac to fill up with duplicate files of all types, especially images. Sometimes you edit a photo and save versions of your edits. Or you download the same image from an email multiple times. And because of that, you might not always find your photos in your Pictures folder. They can be spread all over your hard drive from your Downloads folder to your Desktop.
Thankfully, you can set up Smart Folders in Finder to help you find and get rid of duplicates regardless of the specific folder they’re in. To use Smart Folders in Finder to find duplicates:
- Open a Finder window.
- Click File > New Smart Folder.
- Make sure This Mac is selected.
- Click the + in the top-right corner.
- Change the first drop-down menu to Kind and the second one to Image.
- Click on the Name column to sort your files by name. (It’s likely that duplicate images will have identical or consecutive names.)
- Select the duplicate photos you want to delete.
- Right-click (or hold down Command and click) on any of those images and click Move to Trash.
One of the best ways you can try to prevent duplicates is to import your pictures directly into the Photos app. As you read earlier, it automatically detects duplicate images as you import them. But if the pictures are already in your photo library, then that’s when you’ll need one of the methods mentioned above.
The nice thing about manually removing pictures with Smart Folders in Finder is that you’ll be able to find and remove pics across your entire hard drive, not just the ones in the Photos app. But obviously, the more images you have on your computer, the longer it will take for you to review them one-by-one.
However, that’s where Gemini 2 really excels. It does all the hard work of finding the duplicate and similar-looking images on your computer for you. So, instead of manually finding and deleting them, you just need to review the selections made by Gemini 2.
Final word on removing duplicate photos
We all know that euphoric state in which you return home with an SD-card full of new pictures. We’ve all been there, editing feverishly to publish or print them right away. It’s ok to be a little messy in that moment, but months later you notice that your whole Mac is a mess.
Don’t let those useless files eat up the drive space you need for future photoshoots. There’s nothing more frustrating than the “Startup Disk is almost full” alert when you’re uploading new pictures. It’s best to let Gemini 2 deal with space wasters long before that happens.
Have a good day and may the Photoshop be with you.
Immaterial of where your photos come from, your Mac is a haven for your photos. It is such a comforting feeling when you transfer all those images you have captured on your camera or smartphone to your Mac. After all, you have shed a lot of weight from your device, and it’s all set to pack in more stuff. But, for a moment shift your focus to your Mac – Knowing the fact that for a single impeccable click you capture tens or hundreds of shots, aren’t there similar copies of the same pictures? Things get even trickier when you sit down to filter out the right images for editing and then you have to spend countless hours doing the same. How about we make it easy for you to remove duplicate photos on Mac?
Here Are The Best Ways To Find and Delete Duplicate Photos On Mac
We’ll first discuss an easier method to find and remove duplicate photos on Mac and then we’ll discuss some manual ways to remove duplicate photos on Mac and then we’ll discuss
1. Easy Way of Finding and Removing Duplicates
Let’s first discuss the easiest way of tracking and getting rid of duplicate photos in Mac. You can take the help of a specialist third-party utility like Duplicate Photos Fixer Pro.
What is Duplicate Photos Fixer Pro For Mac?
Duplicate Photos Fixer Pro For Mac is an easy-to-use duplicate photo cleaner that helps find and delete similar and exact-looking photos, thereby organizing your photo library.
Features:
- Easy to use interface
- Scan similar and exact duplicates
- Preview results before deleting images
- Multiple scanning methods
- Auto marking functionalities
- External storage device supported
How To Find and Remove Duplicates Using Duplicate Photos Fixer Pro For Mac?
Click Here to Download Duplicate Photos Fixer Pro
- Install Duplicate Photos Fixer Pro on your Mac
- You can either drag or drop or choose the options available
- You can select based on filters or click on Scan all images
- Select the Matching Criteria
- Choose Scan for Duplicates
- You will now be able to see all the duplicates with metadata appearing on the right-hand side
- You can even choose the Auto Mark functionality using which the tool will intelligently mark the duplicate photos for you. Moreover, you can even select the auto marking priorities as well
Here’s an in-depth guide and review of Duplicate Photos Fixer Pro that will give you a detailed insight into this wonderful tool.
2. Manual Ways Of Finding Duplicate Photos On Mac
1. Finder Is The Way To Go
Your pictures are not stored in one place, they are spread across several locations in your Mac. And, worry not! You needn’t jump from folder to folder to look for duplicates. You can take the help of Finder to filter out duplicates by following the steps mentioned below –
- Open Finder
- Click on File and then select New Smart Folder
- Click on the + sign from the right-hand side
- Select parameters from the Name and matches For instance, you can choose Last opened date in Name and Folder in matches. You can even select the Format as well
- Select all duplicate photos and then right-click and choose Move to Trash
2. Delete Duplicate Images In Photos App
Quite like Finder, the Photos app has a feature called New Smart Album using which you can get rid of duplicate images on your Mac. To do that –
- Open Photos
- Click on File and select New Smart Album
- Give a Smart Album Name and select options from dropdowns under Match the following condition
- Select duplicate images you wish to delete, right-click on the images, and then select Delete
- Click on the Recently Deleted option in the Sidebar and click on Delete All option from the top right corner
Also Read:10 Best Duplicate Photo Finders & Removers For Windows
Reasons Why Should Keep A Check On Duplicate Photos
And, Most Importantly Why You Need A Specialist Duplicate Photo Finder
Mac Photos App Find Duplicates
- Duplicate photos are scattered in various locations. Manually, it’s practically impossible to sieve out the right image from wrong
- Similar images with different names can make you accidentally delete the right images
- Duplicate images take up a lot of storage space
- As a result of duplicate images, your Mac sometimes takes forever to respond
Also Read:How To Find Duplicate Videos On Mac
Wrapping Up:
No matter how careful you are, the accumulation of duplicate photos is inevitable and that’s where third-party tools like Duplicate Photos Fixer Pro prove to be a boon. Apart from installing a specialist utility, you should also exercise the above-mentioned manual ways after which your Mac, will hopefully, not be flooded with duplicate photos. If you liked the blog, do give it a thumbs up and if you have suggestions or tips and tricks to get rid of duplicates, do let us know in the comments section below. For more such content, keep reading Tweak Library. You can also get connected with us on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Flipboard, and Tumblr.
Recommended Readings:
How To Find And Delete Duplicate Photos (Windows & Android)