How to Consolidate and Merge Duplicate Files on PC

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Merge Duplicate Files
Microsoft Windows 10 has evolved with a lot of transformation however there is no mechanism to find and remove duplicate files automatically. You can manually dig out all the duplicate files on your hard drive or use the best duplicate files fixer and remover to automate the process. We use our Windows computer to backup all our files and folders form our smartphone, digital camera and other storage devices and end up accumulating a lot of duplicates on our computer. Unfortunately, Microsoft has not introduced any such utility that can identify and remove duplicate files in one go. You can navigate to different folders and sub-folders to search and delete the duplicate file manually. You can also make use of third-party software like Duplicate File Fixer to automatically search and preview duplicate files.

Manual Method 1: Delete Duplicate Files Using Windows Explorer

Finding and deleting duplicate files manually can be tiresome and time taking. All you can do is search through different folders and sub-folders, do a side-by-side comparison and manually hunt down duplicate files and folders. Step 1. Go to Windows Explorer and open Documents folder. Step 2. Click on Name, Date Modified, Type or Size to sort files accordingly and look for duplicate files. It may have (Copy) written in front of it or same file with different file type but similar size.
Step 3. Check for similar file size or date. If you find any duplicate, you can delete the unwanted one. Step 4. Sort files with Date Modified filter and checks if there are files with similar names or files of the same date. You can check and delete the older version of the files with the same file names. Step 5. You can also open two interfaces of Windows Explorer and perform a side-by-side comparison to look for the same files in different folders and sub-folders.

Manual Method 2: Delete Duplicate Photos Using Windows Explorer

Once you are done with eliminating duplicate files from your folders, you can find and delete duplicate photos. You can follow the same method that you followed above to manually identify and delete duplicate photos from your computer. There is one more trick to look for duplicate photos.
Step 1. While looking for duplicate photos, you can go to the Pictures folder. Step 2. Right-click on the empty area and click on ‘View’ option followed by ‘Large Icons.’ Step 3. This will show thumbnails of all the images so that you can easily preview them and delete duplicate photos from same or different folders. Step 4. Open multiple folders together to perform a side-by-side comparison and remove duplicate photos as identified.

Manual Method 3: Delete Duplicate Photos using Google Photos

Everyone uses Google Account but may not be aware of the Google Photos Feature. Google offers 15 GB of storage space on Google Drive or Google Photos to store your photos with an intuitive feature of identifying and eliminating duplicate photos to be uploaded. Step 1. Login to the browser using your Gmail account on Google services. Step 2. Click on nine dots (Google Apps) icon on the top-right and select Google Photos. Step 3. Upload all the images from different folders and sub-folders on Google Photos. Step 4. Google Photos will only upload unique photos and will discard similar photos to be uploaded. Step 5. Check all the photos and you will find a difference in the count of photos in Windows Explorer and Google Photos.
Step 6. Once you are confirmed that all the photos are unique, download them in a separate folder on the computer. Step 7. You can also perform a side-by-side comparison on both the folders. Step 8. Once confirmed, remove the old folders and you will be left with just the unique images. “Please Note: Google Photos is not a robust system to identify and delete duplicate photos as it will only identify photos with slight changes. Edited photos or photos with effects will still be uploaded on Google Photos.”

Automated Method: Use Duplicate File Fixer

Duplicate File Fixer is the advanced version of Duplicate Photos Fixer that can not only take care of duplicate photos but can also identify each and every duplicate file and preview it for deletion. It is the best duplicate files fixer and remover available for Windows in 2021.

Features of Duplicate Files Fixer

  • User-friendly and intuitive interface for advanced features
  • Quick and Deep scan features to save time and promote accuracy
  • Gives an accurate precision of duplicate files and folders with a single click
  • Works on all file-formats including document, audio, video, photos, and system files
  • Deep search engine algorithms to identify multiple file-formats of a single file
  • Create folder exclusion list to exclude system files and trusted folders
  • Backup and restore option to take a backup before deleting

How Duplicate File Fixer Work?

Step 1. Download and install Duplicate File Fixer on your system. Step 2. Open Duplicate File Fixer and drag or select files and folders to initiate a scan. Step 3. Preview the duplicate files and folders listed in the scan results. Step 4. All the duplicate files are auto-selected for deletion. Step 5. Select the found files you wish to delete from the group. Step 6. Click on the ‘Delete Marked’ button to remove duplicate files. Summing Up With the manual process, it is still tough to find and delete duplicate file and photos from your computer. You can always make use of the best duplicate files fixer and remover to clear duplicate file on your PC. Duplicate File Fixer is one advanced tool to find and remove duplicate files, photos, music, videos and other file formats from your PC.