Duplicate files

The Duplicates window finds files that are exact copies of each other, matched by content rather than name, and lets you keep one copy of each and remove the rest. It checks This Mac, iCloud Drive and your connected cloud accounts separately, and nothing is removed until you choose.

Open the menu bar popover and choose More menu ••• → Duplicates, click the Duplicates card on Home, or ask Tuhi to "find duplicate files". The window opens to your last results; a source never checked shows "Not scanned yet." with a Scan now button.

Only files whose full content is identical are treated as duplicates. Names, dates and folders don't matter, and similar-but-different files such as two edits of one photo aren't flagged. Cloud accounts are compared using the provider's own content fingerprints, so nothing is downloaded.

No. Storage Studio only groups files whose contents are exactly the same, so two different files that happen to share a name are never shown as duplicates. Copies with different names are grouped if their contents match.

Only exact copies. Storage Studio groups files whose content is identical, so resized, edited or re-exported versions, burst shots and the same song in another format are treated as different files and never offered for removal.

Duplicates build up from downloading the same file twice, saving an export to Desktop and also filing a copy, re-importing videos, or copying folders before reorganising. Storage Studio lists them largest space-saving first so the big wins come first.

Yes. Ask Tuhi to "find duplicate files" and it explains the duplicate finder and opens the Duplicates window. Tuhi never removes duplicates itself — you choose what goes in the window or approve a Smart Care offer.

Often both. Removing duplicates frees space wasted on identical copies; moving folders to an external drive frees space used by files you want but don't need daily. Clear duplicates first, then move what's big and rarely used. The window shows the exact saving first.

Yes, if they're exact copies of at least 1 MB (or Include small files is on). Downloads is checked, and when another copy is filed in a working folder like Documents, Storage Studio recommends keeping that one and removing the Downloads copy.

On this Mac, the duplicate finder checks your Downloads, Documents, Desktop, Movies and Pictures folders. iCloud Drive and each connected cloud account are checked separately; system folders, your Library folder and app data are never part of the scan.

The scan skips hidden files, shortcuts, packages such as photo libraries and app bundles, developer folders like Git repositories and node_modules, caches, the Trash, folders Storage Studio has moved for you, and files under 1 MB unless Include small files is on.

By default only files of 1 MB or more are compared, because tiny files take long to check and free little space. Turn on Include small files in the Duplicates window header and scan again to compare every file, however small.

No. The Photos library is a package managed by the Photos app, and Storage Studio never reaches inside it. Photos saved as ordinary files in your checked folders are compared. For the Photos library itself, use the Duplicates album in the Photos app to review and merge.

No. On this Mac the duplicate finder covers Downloads, Documents, Desktop, Movies and Pictures, not the Music folder. For songs in the Music app, use File → Library → Show Duplicate Items in Music and remove them there.

Not right now. This Mac always covers Downloads, Documents, Desktop, Movies and Pictures, and cloud accounts are checked as a whole. You can switch Auto-scan per source, scan on demand, and include small files — and nothing is removed until you choose.

No. The duplicate finder checks Downloads, Documents, Desktop, Movies and Pictures on your Mac, plus iCloud Drive and connected cloud accounts. External drives aren't scanned, and folders Storage Studio has moved to your drive are left out.

No. This Mac, iCloud Drive and each cloud account are checked separately, and copies are only grouped within the same place. The same file in two places is often a deliberate backup, so it's never treated as waste.

No. Duplicates compares individual files, not whole folders, and never looks inside app bundles. Identical files in two folders still appear as sets one by one. For unneeded apps, use the Apps window to review and uninstall them.

Scan now checks the selected source — This Mac, iCloud Drive or one cloud account — immediately, and turns into Stop while it runs. It only affects that source; each account has its own scan, progress and results.

Auto-scan checks a source for duplicates in the background so results are ready when you look. It's on by default per source; This Mac is only scanned when idle, plugged in and cool, cloud accounts wait for a short pause, and each runs at most once every few hours.

Pick the source in the Duplicates sidebar and switch Auto-scan off in its header. Each source has its own switch; with it off, that source is only checked when you click Scan now. Status is also shown in Preferences → Services under Duplicate file finder.

Auto-scan waits on purpose so it never gets in your way: while you're using the Mac, when This Mac isn't plugged in, in Low Power Mode, when the Mac is hot, or because it ran recently. The status line says which. Click Scan now to check immediately.

It's designed not to. This Mac is only scanned in the background when you've stepped away, it's plugged in and cool, at low priority. Cloud checks download nothing, and wait if the battery is low. Unchanged files aren't re-read on later scans.

It depends on how many and how large your files are. The progress line shows each step; comparing big files like videos takes longest, and later scans are faster because unchanged files aren't re-read. Cloud results appear as they're found.

On a very large collection, one scan covers as much as it sensibly can and says so instead of implying it checked everything. The duplicates shown are real: clean the ones you want, then scan again to cover more.

It shows how many duplicate sets were found (each set is a group of identical files), how much space removing the extra copies would free, how many files were actually compared, and when the scan ran. Small, hidden and in-package files aren't counted.

Yes. The last results are kept between launches so the window opens instantly, with the scan time shown. Before removing anything, Storage Studio re-checks that the copy you're keeping is still there; for a fresh list after big changes, click Scan now.

With Auto-scan on, opening a source whose results are more than a few minutes old refreshes it so you see current results. Click Stop to end it, or switch Auto-scan off for that source to only scan when you click Scan now.

Each source's status line in the Duplicates window shows progress, the last check time and any waiting reason. For an overview, see Duplicate file finder in Preferences → Services; the Home Duplicates card also shows the latest summary.

Select the source and click Stop (it replaces Scan now while scanning). Only that source stops; other scans continue. Switch Auto-scan off for that source too if you don't want it to start again in the background.

A scan found at least about 200 MB of duplicate copies, so Storage Studio posts one summary notice with a Review duplicates button. It's never one per file, and it clears when you open the list or clean the total below that level.

Yes. Job Insights has a Duplicates card that records each completed scan as one run, with how many sets were found and how much could be freed; a stopped scan shows as "Scan stopped". It never logs one entry per file.

Sets are listed largest space-saving first, so the first few clicks usually reclaim most of the space. Sets that would free nothing, such as clones and linked files, are kept in a separate section.

On your Mac, Storage Studio recommends the copy you're most likely using: one in a working folder over Downloads or Desktop, otherwise the one opened or created most recently. A note explains the choice, and you can pick a different copy before removing anything.

Click the round selector beside the copy you want to keep. The selected copy stays and the rest of that set are what the set's remove button takes away. Clean all uses the recommended copy for every set, so clean sets you've changed individually.

Click a copy's name to open it in its usual app, click the folder underneath or the Reveal in Finder icon to see where it lives, and compare the created and modified dates shown for each copy before choosing which to keep.

Some identical files share the same storage on disk — APFS clones made by duplicating in Finder, or hard links — so removing one frees nothing. Storage Studio shows them in a separate "reclaims no space" section and never removes them.

No. The recommended copy comes from fixed rules — working folder over Downloads or Desktop, then most recently used — and nothing is removed until you confirm. Apple Intelligence, where available, only phrases the summary; it never chooses or removes files.

Each copy shows when it was created and last modified on your Mac. Since the content is identical, the dates show each copy's history — when it was downloaded or copied — rather than which is the original. Use them with the folder to decide what to keep.

No. One copy of every set is always kept, the copy you keep is re-checked first, and extra copies on your Mac go to the Recycle Vault — recoverable for about 6 months — or the Trash if no external drive is set up. Nothing is removed until you confirm.

Copies removed from your Mac or iCloud Drive go to the Recycle Vault, resting on your external drive and recoverable for about 6 months — or to your Mac's Trash if no drive is set up. Cloud copies go to the provider's own trash where it has one.

Open More menu ••• → Recycle Vault, select the file and click Restore (or Restore to…), or use Undo last removal to bring back a whole clean-up. If no drive was set up, the copy is in your Mac's Trash — use Put Back.

Select the copy to keep with the round selector, click the set's Move … to Recycle Vault button, and confirm. The other copies go to the Recycle Vault, recoverable for about 6 months, and the set leaves the list.

It keeps the recommended copy in every set on This Mac and moves the rest to the Recycle Vault in one confirmed step, telling you first how much will be freed. It's recoverable for about 6 months, and Undo last removal reverses the whole clean-up.

Usually because the copies went to your Mac's Trash (no drive set up), are being held on your Mac until your drive is reconnected, were clones that never used extra space, or are still referenced by macOS local snapshots for a while.

Storage Studio re-checks the copy you're keeping right before removing anything. If it has moved or can't be read, nothing is removed and you're asked to scan again, so an out-of-date result can never cost you the last copy.

No. Without a drive set up, removed copies go to your Mac's Trash. With a drive connected, they rest in the Recycle Vault on the drive, recoverable for about 6 months, and the space leaves your Mac immediately.

Occasionally, if an app or project pointed at the exact copy you removed. Storage Studio favours keeping the copy in your working folder or the one used most recently, and skips developer folders. If something breaks, restore the copy from the Recycle Vault to its original place.

Yes. iCloud Drive has its own row in the Duplicates window. It compares files already downloaded to your Mac and lists exact copies to clean up; online-only files are skipped, so nothing is downloaded just to compare it.

Comparing a file means reading it, and reading an online-only iCloud file would make macOS download it. So Storage Studio only compares iCloud Drive files already on your Mac; online-only files stay online-only and aren't checked.

Yes. Removing a file from iCloud Drive removes it on every device signed in to the same Apple Account; the copy you keep stays everywhere. The removed copy goes to the Recycle Vault (or Trash), so you can restore it and it syncs back.

Yes. Each connected cloud account — Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Box, S3-style bucket storage, FTP or SFTP — gets its own row in Duplicates. It's checked using the provider's own file fingerprints, so nothing is downloaded, and extra copies can be removed right there.

No. Storage Studio reads your file list and the content fingerprints the provider already keeps, and compares those, so no file content is downloaded. Where a service keeps no fingerprints, it tells you instead of downloading your files.

The service doesn't provide content fingerprints, so its files can't be compared without downloading every one — which Storage Studio won't do. It means "we couldn't look", not "no duplicates"; your files there are untouched.

Google Docs, Sheets and Slides are stored in Google's own format with no content fingerprint to compare, so they're skipped rather than guessed at. Ordinary files in Google Drive — PDFs, photos, videos, Office files — are compared normally.

Your provider has to list every file, and big accounts hold a lot of them, so most of the time is spent waiting on the provider. Duplicates appear as they're found, usually within about a minute, and the files-checked count keeps rising while it works.

On a very large account, one pass covers as much as it sensibly can and says so instead of implying it checked everything. The duplicates shown are real; click Scan now again to cover more of the account.

In a cloud account the suggested keeper is the copy nearest the top of the account, then the one with the shortest path. You can remove individual copies instead, and every confirmation names the copy that stays before anything is removed.

Pick the account under Cloud & remote, then use Remove just this copy, Keep best, remove … for a set, or Clean all … sets for the whole account. Each is confirmed, the kept copy is re-checked first, and only individual files are removed.

Yes. Click Clean all … sets on the account: it keeps the copy nearest the top of the account in each set and removes the rest after a confirmation showing how much is freed. Recoverability depends on whether the service has its own trash.

It depends on the service. Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive and Box keep removed copies in their own trash. Bucket storage, FTP and SFTP have none, so removal is permanent and you must type Delete to confirm. Storage Studio tells you which before you confirm.

Click a cloud copy's name or folder to open it on the provider's website: Google Drive and Box open the exact copy, Dropbox opens by path. OneDrive, S3, FTP and SFTP have no address to open, so use the copy-path button instead.

Yes, when that account's Auto-scan switch is on (the default). Background checks wait for a short pause in your typing, run one account at a time, at most once every few hours each, and pause on low battery or Low Power Mode.

Yes, with your approval. "Let Smart Care clean duplicate files" is on by default: after its safe run, Smart Care offers to remove exact copies the background scan already found, keeping the safest copy of each. Turn it off in Preferences → Rules → Global overrides.

Smart Care only uses results the background scan already found — it never scans itself — and skips any set with a copy modified in the last week. It keeps the recommended copy of each set, so it often offers fewer sets than the Duplicates window lists.

Go to Preferences → Rules → Global overrides and switch off "Let Smart Care clean duplicate files". Smart Care keeps its normal safe run, and the Duplicates window still works on its own.

Storage Studio never removes files from folders it manages for you, such as folders moved to your external drive, so that removal was stopped and nothing was lost. Leave the set alone, or move the folder back first and scan again.

The cloud service stopped accepting Storage Studio's sign-in for that account — the access expired, the password changed or access was removed. Your files are fine. Sign in to the account again in Remotes & Accounts, then click Scan now.

The message gives the reason: the provider is rate-limiting or its request quota is used up (try later), the connection dropped (check your internet and rescan), the account needs reconnecting, or the file list couldn't be read. A failed check never changes your files.

Cloud scanning uses a component built into the app, and Storage Studio couldn't use it — usually an incomplete or damaged installation. Reinstall the latest version from the install page over the old copy; This Mac and iCloud scans aren't affected.

Cloud & remote lists the accounts you've connected in Storage Studio. Connect the account in Remotes & Accounts and it appears in the Duplicates sidebar automatically; you may briefly see "Finding your accounts…" while the list loads.

It means none were found among the files compared, and the message says what was covered. Copies can be missed if they're under 1 MB, in an unchecked place like Music or the Photos library, online-only in iCloud, or not exact copies.

They're safety checks. Removal always keeps one copy, so select which copy stays with the round selector; Storage Studio never removes every copy of a file. To delete a file completely, remove the last copy yourself in Finder.

The message says why: the copies were already gone (scan again), the kept copy couldn't be verified, macOS refused because a file is locked, in use or protected, or removals are paused until you connect your external drive. Nothing is removed when a check fails.