App That's Good for Finding Duplicate Files

[eschwartz77]

I'm using an iMac with mac OS 15 Sequoia and I have lots of duplicate files. I'm an artist and i always make copies of my work and put them in other folders that I need them in too. It's gettting out of hand. Does anyone know of apps that are good at finding duplicate files?

 

[gilby101]

I use Duplicate File Finder which has both a free and a Pro version. But there are lots of others - search in App Store.

If your core problem is managing disk space:
1. In future, make a "alias" (in the right click drop down) of your reference version and copy the alias to other locations in which you need it - this can even be on another disk volume. Then you just have one version and lots of pointers to it.
2. Copies made with Finder on the same APFS volume share disk space, so removing duplicates may not save you much space.

 

[bogdanw]

There are several threads in this category with "Duplicate" in the title:
"Super accurate duplicate file finder?"
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/super-accurate-duplicate-file-finder.2415481/
"No decent duplicate file finder?"
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/no-decent-duplicate-file-finder.2397196/
"Software to find/delete duplicate files?"
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/software-to-find-delete-duplicate-files.2336436/
"New macOS App Launch – CleanTwin: AI-Powered Duplicate Finder for Mac"
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-ai-powered-duplicate-finder-for-mac.2461808/

 

[Petite messe solennelle]

I 'm not an artist like you are, but I work for an artist (cataloguing his works).

I had the same problem with tons of dusplicates. A few years ago I introduces a rigorous scheme on how I would organise image files:

For example, everything which comes in goes into a special folder 'inbox' and every new folder in there is locked after files have been added, so no changes can ever be made:

catalogue
   > inbox
      > 2023
      > 2024
      > 2025
         2025-02-15 - What - from whom
         2025-03-05 - What - from whom
         ...

Then I have 'working' folders when I process images inhouse. And there are folders with the image files which went 'out of house' for a book production for example and which will come back as color-corrected CMYK files. These folder are deleted as soon as the job is done.

And then there is the main RGB folder with the final images for the online catalogue and external requests (max large TIFF, large TIFF, large JPEG/PNG, medium JPEG/PNG, thumbnail JPEG/PNG – all RGB).

Then there is the same with the CMYK files for book productions, print magazines, etc. (max large TIFF and large TIFF only).

To de-duplicate the mess I had, I used https://dupeguru.voltaicideas.net/. It is open source, works on macOS, Windows and Linux, and the source code is available on GitHub.