Find & Remove Duplicate Files On Mac

How to find and delete duplicate files from Mac?

Is your Mac running low on storage? Are you looking to free up some space from your drive but don’t know what to delete? Well, you are not alone, as thousands of Mac users face the same issue daily.

Mac is one of the most commonly used computers that users prefer over Windows PC. Now, the debate on which one has been going on since eternity. However, there are some things that they have in common. . One such factor is the existence of duplicate files. Yes, Mac and Windows users face storage issues due to duplicate files.

While Windows is an open platform with hundreds of free tools and third-party apps to find and delete duplicate files, Mac only has limited options. In this blog, let us look at all the available options you have as a Mac user and learn how to find and delete duplicate files on Mac.

Ways to Find and Delete Duplicate Files From Mac - A Step-By-Step Guide

Mac storage running out is an issue every user faces at least once. It is bound to happen as there are a lot of factors that count. The way you segregate important files, what type of documents are a priority, and which files can be removed. Some of you might be taking care of how your storage is managed, but most users don’t.

To keep things tidy and handy, managing your storage is important. If you are running low on storage and don’t know where to find files you can delete, then there are only three ways you can handle the situation. These are -

Use Terminal Commands to Fetch Duplicate File Information

For those who are tech enthusiasts and love to play around with commands and terminals on their Mac (not many), this might be an interesting way to delete duplicates. There are dedicated commands that you can use to fetch duplicate file names. Here’s how to do it -

• Open Terminal by following the path - Finder> Applications>Utilities>Terminal
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• In the terminal, use the cd command and select a destination folder you want to scan for duplicates. For instance, if you want to look for duplicate files in Documents, you can type - cd~/Documents in the terminal and hit enter.
• Once you have selected the folder, use the following command
  find. -size 20 \! -type d -exec cksum {} \; | sort | tee /tmp/f.tmp | cut -f 1,2 -d ‘ ‘ | uniq -d | grep -hif – /tmp/f.tmp > duplicates.txt
• With this command, your Mac will create a dedicated text file with the names of duplicate files in the specified folder. . This file can be found in the same folder you selected, in our case, Documents.

Once you have the list of files, simply find them in the folder and delete them. Remember that the list is not always accurate, as the command only uses limited criteria to find duplicates. All in all, this can give you a good idea of major duplicate files taking up space.

Find Duplicate Files Using Smart Folder

The Smart Folder is another nifty feature integrated into the Mac OS. You can create a Smart Folder and sort files in a certain order, as it will work as a duplicate files finder for you. How? See below -

• Open Finder Window and create a new Smart Folder by Clicking on File.
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• Click on + In the top-right corner.
• To decide the category of files you want to save, click on Kind from the dropdown menu.
• Another drop-down panel will follow. From the second dropdown menu, select documents.
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• Click on save to ensure the type of file.
• Name the folder, as you like and choose a destination for it to be saved.
• Once you complete the above steps, you will be able to see all your document files.
• Sort the files by size or name to spot the duplicates, as it will group the like files.
• Choose the files you want to delete from the collection.

The idea behind this is similar to using the sort and view technique on Windows. However, with the help of Smart Folder, you get a lot of accessibility features.

Use Third Party Applications Like Duplicate Files Fixer

Till now, both the techniques that we have discussed revolve around manually deleting the files. These may work well if you have fewer files to delete. However, you might face an issue if the number of duplicate files is higher.

To automate the entire process of finding and removing duplicate files from Mac, Duplicate Files Fixer is the ultimate solution. It is a dedicated duplicate file finder tool that scans for similar files and allows you to delete them in just a single click. Here’s how it works -

• Download and install the Duplicate Files Fixer application on your MAC.
• Run the application to find Scan options. You can either scan your entire Mac or choose dedicated folders to reduce the scan time.
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• Once you have selected the source, click on Scan Now to initiate the process. This might take a few minutes to complete.
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• After the scan is finished, you will see a grouped result for your scan, which means you can compare the two duplicate files and mark which ones you want to keep and which ones you would like to remove.
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• Use the Auto- Mark feature to let the software select the files that should be kept safe and those that should be removed. The smartly designed algorithm compares the files on multiple factors and does the job efficiently.
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• Once the selection is made, you can click on Move to Trash, and the process is completed.

This will remove duplicate files from your Mac, leaving behind the space you were looking for. The application is super easy to use and requires no technical knowledge whatsoever.

The best part is that it can work in the background, so your usage is not affected! Not only do you save on storage, but you also save yourself from the hassle and time-consuming process. Considering the usability and features, Duplicate Files Fixer seems to be the best option to recover storage space on your Mac.

Download the application today and see the difference for yourself!