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Using Araxis Find Duplicate Files

Araxis Find Duplicate Files is really simple to use. Just follow the four steps below.

1. Choose which folders to scan

Drop the folders to scan from Finder onto the Folders to be scanned table.

Alternatively, add folders to the table using the Add Folders Add Folders toolbar button button in the toolbar at the top of the application window.

You can remove folders by selecting them and then clicking on the Minus button button on the right-hand top edge of the table.

If you regularly wish to search a particular set of folders, you can save your folder list using the Save command in the File menu.

2. Review Preferences

Click the Preferences toolbar button toolbar button to open the Preferences window. This window contains settings to customize the behavior of Find Duplicate Files. When you are happy with the settings, close the window.

Show/hide this sectionInclude these file kinds in search results

Show/hide this sectionWhen deleting files

3. Go!

Click on the Scan Folders Scan Folders toolbar button button in the toolbar. As the scan proceeds, progress is reported at the bottom of the application window.

4. Work with the scan results

When the scan is complete, any duplicate files found are displayed in the Items found in the last scan table. A file and its duplicates are assigned a distinct background color to aid identification.

Screenshot of Find Duplicate Files showing scan results

You can check or uncheck the Show only duplicate items checkbox to switch between viewing all the scanned files and just those that are found to be duplicates.

Click on a file to display a preview for it in the third panel. Any duplicates of the selected file will also be shown in the preview panel.

Double-click on a file to open it, or select a file or files and press Enter.

To remove duplicate files, select the file or files you want to remove, and press Backspace. When files are removed, they are sent to the destination shown in the Preferences window.

Right-click on a file or a thumbnail preview to display a context menu. The menu contains several useful commands for operating on files. You can even compare two or three files at a time with Araxis Merge, if you have that installed. (Note that the Professional Edition of Araxis Merge is required for three-way comparisons.)

To delete all the duplicate copies of a file, leaving just one instance of the file, use the Delete Duplicate Files... command in the File menu. Deleted files are sent to the destination configured in the Preferences window. The duplicate copy that remains (i.e. that is not deleted) is the first one that was found while scanning the folders in the Folders to be scanned table.