Removing duplicates (eliminate duplicate files) with UltraFinder

Okay, so you've run a duplicate search using UltraFinder's powerful duplicate finder and you see a list of duplicate files in the results window. How do you go about eliminating the duplicate files? This power tip will show you how to remove duplicate files with UltraFinder once you've found them!

On the left side of your duplicates results is a Duplicates found column. This column serves as the "master" list of duplicate groups found by UltraFinder. A duplicate group is simply a group of files which are duplicates (based upon the evaluation criteria you set for the duplicate search). Each item is appended by a number in parentheses which indicates the number of duplicate files within the group.

To inspect the duplicate files within each duplicate group, click on a duplicate group in the list. (You can expand the width of the Duplicates found column by clicking the dragging the vertical splitter.) You should now see the list of duplicate files within this group populate in the fields on the right.

Do you want to inspect duplicates before you decide to delete them? You can easily do so with UltraFinder's built in UltraCompare integration! Ctrl + click 2 or 3 files in your duplicates list, then right-click and select Load in UltraCompare. This will open a file compare of the duplicates you selected in UltraCompare where you can visually inspect the files for any differences.

When you're ready to begin deleting duplicates, use Ctrl + Click to select the duplicate files you wish to remove. (If you have a lot of duplicates listed, it may be easiest to right-click on the list, click Select All, then Ctrl + Click the file you wish to keep.) You can then remove the selected duplicates by using any of the following options in the right-click menu:

Send to Recycle Bin
This sends the file(s) to the Windows Recycle Bin; the same as if you deleted a file from your desktop or documents folder.

Caution: The following delete options will make duplicate file(s) unrecoverable! The following self-explanatory options perform a system-level delete on the selected file(s).

Delete

Delete all selected files except oldest

Delete all selected files except newest

After you've deleted your duplicates, UltraFinder will display the file path in purple with a light purple background to indicate it has been deleted.