Help Improve Our Duplicate Finder Tools

adamjv16

First off, if you've arrived here from our Newsletter - Many thanks for taking the time with you feedback!

Presently, our Duplicate finder gives you the option of finding any file by filename, filetype, content type, extension and also which area of your computer to search.

Duplicate Finder screen.PNG

What we'd like to know are the following:

1. Would a scan all option be a good idea?

2. Would it be easier to search by overall filetype rather than typing in an extension (think image, documents, audio, archives etc)?

3. What would be the preferred options for us to do with the duplicates found. - Delete Permanently, Move to a Folder of your choice, Move to Trash? Or all of them?

4. Would you be comfortable use a 'Smart Cleanup' Option?

I've attached a design from a popular mac application that works with duplicates - I think this would be the preferred direction we could aim to take this updated tool.

Please let us know your answers and any further feedback.

All the best,

Adam.

Screenshot 2021-05-01 at 16.09.19.png

andreas_laue

I like to find mostly pictures of the same extensions and the exactly same content. Normally they are searched on the same diec, but sometimes I also want to see, if I have the same pictures in the backup (on a diffrent disc) So I need a possibility to search either in one directory, in one disc or in different discs.

Maybe a possibillity to search for similar content (could be the same picture but differen sizes!) could be amazing tooo!

If I find a fool of pictures it would be very helpfull if they could be sorted by directories with the possibility to delete a whole directory if this is a copy of an other with no other files in it.

In this moment I have more than 3 GB of pictures with backups and sometimes copies on other discs. So a scan all function would be super, if it wouldn't use more than an hour. Today sometimes I start in the evening hoping it would be succesfull until next morning.... :

Sony started to create some .MOFF-Files, where nobody could tell me, what they are for. So it would be very usefull to search them (over more directories) and to delete them all together.

If delete I don't think it would be usefull to move them to trash, where I have to clear the trash afterwards but to delete them permanently. But maybe other people are more anxious and want them in trash, so it would be best if everyone has the chice, what he wants to do with.

Soetime I neede the same pictures for different purposes and have them copied in differen directories. With a Smart Cleantup Option maybe they would be cleaned away even if I deen them in double!

catketch

I have been using Ashisoft's Duplicate File Finder for eight years or so, with reasonably good results, though they are near the bottom of my "good people to deal with" list. jv16 Power Tools is in the top tier of that list - just sayin' - and thanks!

99% of my usage is with images, and is specific to locating content-identical files (same file type) in multiple places. This would include multiple backup locations, on different drives. The other uses are with audio & video.

Locating duplicates, however, is only part of the problem. Keeping a sizable library of digitized images from cameras, scans, even downloads from external sources, is a challenge. And for fear of losing something you want to keep, it gets saved in more than one place, and converted into different file formats.

This is the issue of "nearly the same" duplicates -- size, file type, file names, scan variations - the list is long.

It might be a high hurdle to cross, but a "nearly the same?" feature could be a real boon for users with large, and sometimes disorganized, image libraries.

A key component would be a multi-file visual (human!) comparison option (the file type issue with this is a significant hurdle), along with organization and naming templates to help grouping and de-duping widely scattered image files. This would be especially helpful when comparing files that have different file types, such as tif, jpg, psd, pdf, dng, and various raw formats. If the tool can "suggest" similar files, a quick look can eliminate obvious non-dupes, and a narrowed selection.

I know it's a challenge, but if word search tools can do "sound-alike," why not image "look-a-like" for different file types?

Thanks for listening!

Your loyal customer, Ryck Lent

mikeyd-1047

The "Finder" works well as it is and improving the interface would be a super enhancement.

Duplicate system files or registry items may require to be defined as to which one is actually needed.

Document type files, .doc.pdf, etc may require additional search criteria to determine the size, date version.

Picture files.JPG, etc may require a picture view using an internal or external viewer resident on the PC/Mac.

saola2

I have used duplicate file finder tools quite a lot but it will be hard to make one that satisfies me. On Windows I currently use an old Funduc one and on macos I have used a Nektony product. I find the latter a bit confusing to use sometimes.

Some issues I have come across in the past:

1. Unicode (Chinese) characters not handled properly in filenames.

2. macos- getting fooled by the way Finder keeps resetting the search scope to the whole machine and perhaps sometimes manually deleting what I think is a duplicate folder in a specific path when actually it is the only one that I am looking at in another finder window.

3. Deleting small identical files which are really needed... e.g. if you saved multiple HTML pages to disk (as html and associated folder of embedded graphics) and there were "spacer.png" files in each saved page. They might all be the same but if you delete the duplicates then when you try and open the html file you will see broken graphics symbols.

One use case is deciding what to do with old backup disks. I tend not to chuck them out out of fear that one day I will be hunting for something that seems to be missing and will want to review them. One way of handling this is to tell a duplicate finder to delete everything on the backup disk that is identical to a file on my main system (or another backup disk)... then I can manually review what's left on the backup disk before decommissioning it.

Overall - I tend to be very cautious about removing duplicates over fear that I will remove something I will later be wanting.

mikeyd

You may find this odd, but I have a few files that are intentionally duplicates--in different folders, of course, or even in different partitions. I would like an option to ignore them in future, after finding them the first time. Never mind why; there are several different reasons. For example, I have a desktop with several different user accounts. I know there are a few files that all or some of the users have in their own individual user account docs or photos folders. So maybe this software has to search for duplicates separately user by user. (Don't assume that every jv16 customer uses only an admin account for all activities. It is safer to use standard accounts for the bulk of your activities and use the admin user account only sparingly for installs, updates, maintenance, etc.)

Also, don't forget that if you have an external backup drive attached to your computer for "file history," for example, there will be tons of duplicates, so the option to exclude an attached drive is a must!

lordpercy

Hi there

In response to the questions posed:

1. Would a scan all option be a good idea? Yes, absolutely.

2. Would it be easier to search by overall filetype rather than typing in an extension (think image, documents, audio, archives etc)? Offering both options would make sense on the basis that the more experienced user might want to search for specific extension whilst the less experienced user would most likely just be looking for a by type option.

3. What would be the preferred options for us to do with the duplicates found. - Delete Permanently, Move to a Folder of your choice, Move to Trash? Or all of them? Have all the options available but with the option to set one as the default.

4. Would you be comfortable use a 'Smart Cleanup' Option? Yes, absolutely, as long as like the system cleaner there is the option to see/review and deselect from the listed results, etc .

Hope that helps?

Baldrick

eigilw

Hi Adam.

Thanks for the opportunity.

First your questions:

1. Would a scan all option be a good idea?

I wouldn't need it. I would, however, want, that the system kept the information of directories for the next search instead of reverting to the default directories.

2. Would it be easier to search by overall filetype rather than typing in an extension (think image, documents, audio, archives etc)?

It might be useful with generic types on the condition they are all-inclusive. E.g. all types of RAW formats for pictures.

3. What would be the preferred options for us to do with the duplicates found. - Delete Permanently, Move to a Folder of your choice, Move to Trash? Or all of them?

I will prefer duplicates to be deleted permanently.

4. Would you be comfortable use a 'Smart Cleanup' Option?

No, I would not. Unless it is of the type Delete all but one as the old program, where I would have the opportunity to check and alter the result. Furthermore, I would prefer to keep the largest instances of files with the same name.

I have some suggestions:

It would be useful to be able to mask the filetype. If I for example have the same image in JPG and TIFF format, or the same audio file as a MP3 file and a WAV file, I could go for either quality or space.

Likewise it would be useful to be able to mask the last x characters in the filename. For various reasons, for instance copying into the same directory, I end up with filename.jpg, filename-02.jpg, filename_001.jpg etc. which happens to be the same file. They might be generated by various programs, and are found neither as having identical file-content nor identical file-name.

Some readers are looking for comparison of images across various formats and types. The program digicam is able to perform that comparison. You may even search for 100% compliance if the image for instance is just scaled up or down or is saved in another format, or you can go for any wanted degree of compliance, if you for instance have a series of burst-photos or have made some form of cropping or retouch. The program runs, however, best under linux-type operating systems, and it is a rather cumbersome process, because you are presented with the duplicate images, but you have to pick them for deletion one by one. And furthermore, it has to build a database of the files, which is a lengthy process.

Best regards and good luck, Eigil Winkel, Denmark

dkeyes

I have used JV16 tools for decades, probably close to version 1. I stopped updating at version 4 because I found the new duplicate file finder so difficult to use compared to version 4. Recently my version 4 has stopped deleting the files I select because of some Windows security problem that I haven't been able to fix. I upgraded to the latest version 7 to try it and immediately ran into the same issues and new one.

The new issue is it hangs at the Applying Ignore List step. I may open a support ticket for that.

The old issues are ones I would love to see fixed.

1 The starting screen has too many options that I have to change every time I use the Duplicate File Finder. I would like to see a place where I could set my preferences like "look at all filenames" and have it remember them.

2: I would like to set the "Where to look for" to be empty so that I don't have to keep deleting the large list every time I use the program. If I am looking for duplicates in my 2010 folder under pictures I don't need to have the program look at 18 different locations in addition to the one that I want it to look at.

3. When I do finally get results I would like the dividing lines between sets of duplicates like version 4 had and with the option to sort on different columns.

The version 4 duplicate file finder was perfect in my view. I don't understand why it was changed so much.

pdalton

First, I want to mention an anomaly I am now experiencing with Duplicate Finder in v7.2.0.1320:

When Duplicate Finder starts up (regardless of whether JVTools originally opened as Maximized or as a floating window), under "What Files To Find", it shows "All Files" as the default selection and (not surprisingly) no text box is being displayed for entering any search terms. I assume this is as intended to "declutter" the screen. However, if I then select "Only look for files matching search words . . . ", that displayed screen does not change (except that "black dot" indicator in the selected circle). Most importantly, the text box for entry of search terms still is not presented/displayed. However, if I then change the screen display size (e.g., from Maximized to floating window OR vice versa if JV Tools had originally opened as a floating window), the resulting screen does display the text box for entering search terms (and if I switch the size back, it seems to stay displayed).

I believe that text box actually should have been displayed/presented on that first original Duplicate Files screen as an immediate result of selecting "Only look for files matching search words . . . ". Needing to change the display window size just to be able to see that text box after having made that selection just makes no sense at all, so I suspect this is an easily remedied inadvertent programming issue.

I'll add my thoughts about the capabilities and use of Duplicate Files in a subsequent post.

Paul, Grapevine, TX