How to Find duplicate files in google drive

In this Google Drive tutorial, we will discuss finding duplicate files in Google Drive. It is not easy to find duplicate files in Google Drive.

Find duplicate files in Google Drive using Duplicate Sweeper

Now we will see how to find duplicate files in Google Drive using Duplicate Sweeper

Download the duplicate sweeper app from here

You can easily remove duplicate files from Google Drive using Duplicate Sweeper. The steps are as follows.

1. Make sure you’ve already set up Google Drive in your machine.
2. Open the Duplicate Sweeper app and click on the “Add Folder” button from the bottom.

3. Browse the Google Drive folder or any individual folder inside your Google Drive –> Click on the OK button.

4. Click the “Start Duplicate Search” button from the top right.

5. Hit “Recycle Selected Duplicates” and confirm that you wish to remove the selected duplicates.

6. Select the files you wish to delete from your Google Drive –> click “Recycle Selected Duplicates” and confirm the same, and you are done.

How to Find duplicate files in Google Drive using Easy Duplicate Finder

Easy Duplicate Finder finds true duplicate files in Google Drive using smart technology that looks beyond the file name.

The best thing is it works on the cloud, so there’s no need to download any of your Google Drive files to your computer. No more hassle of spending hours trying to find and remove duplicate files in Google Drive.

Steps to find duplicate files in Google Drive using Easy Duplicate Finder:

Step 1: Download Easy Duplicate Finder. You can get it from Easy Duplicate Finder for Windows or Mac.

Step 2: Select “Google Drive” under the “Scan Mode.” option.

Step 3: Then select and log into your Gmail account to allow Easy Duplicate Finder to access the files. When access is granted, Easy Duplicate Finder will start scanning the metadata of your Google Drive file to identify the duplicates.

Step 4: Review the results and delete all the duplicate files in just one click.

The brute force way to find duplicate files in Google Drive

Note: This will not be handy if you’ve changed the file names when making a copy of documents

Let’s discuss how to get rid of duplicate files in Google Drive manually. Follow the below steps:

1. Open the Google Drive account. then click on List View from the upper right side.

2. Now, you will see all of your available files. Hold the ctrl (control) key and then click on all the copy files that begin with “Copy of + file name” or with the same file name with a specific number inside a bracket.

3. Right-click on the files you selected –> click on the Remove option. It will delete all the duplicate files that you have selected at once.

Now, all the files that you have deleted will move to the Trash folder. If you want to delete those duplicate files, empty your Trash folder permanently.

Find duplicate files in Google Drive using Cloud Duplicate Finder

It is an excellent web app you can use on your mobile or PC.

Step 1: Navigate to Cloud Duplicate Finder Official Site. –> Click on the Create an Account option to create a new account or click on the Sign Up using Google or Microsoft button. Log in with your new credentials.

Step 2: Click on Google Drive from the top –> then click +Add New Drive from the left side. Select your Gmail account –> Click on the Allow button.

Step 3: Select all the files and folders you wish to scan –> Click the Scan button.

On the next pop-up, you can see the results like how many duplicate files are there, etc –> Click on the OK button to see the file details on the next window.

Once you click the OK button, you can see the detailed result.

Step 4: Choose the individual file by selecting the check box, or you choose the respective option from the Select Duplicates dropdown at the bottom of your screen, as shown below.

Step 5: Finally, choose the Permanent Delete option from the Select Action dropdown menu that is present next to the Select Duplicates dropdown to delete all the duplicate files from your Google Drive permanently.

Find duplicate files in Google Drive using Duplicate File Finder (works only for Mac)

The Duplicate File Finder program is mainly for macOS users to eliminate duplicates.

On your Mac, quickly locate and delete the unnecessary duplicate files using the Google Drive client app.

You can download the app from here

The steps are as follows:

Step 1: Open the Duplicate File Finder app.

Step 2: Click the Add button from the left side and then choose your Google Drive. Another way is to drag and then drop your Google Drive folder into your application’s window.

Step 3: Then click the Scan button.

Now, in a few seconds, you will find all the unnecessary duplicate files that will be shown in the form of a pie chart.

Step 4: If you wish to see the results in detail, you can click on the Duplicate Files from the menu bar.

Step 5: Select all the redundant copies –> click the Review & Remove button.

Now, all the duplicate files will move to the Trash bin. You can clear your Trash bin folder to delete those files permanently.

Google Drive Duplicate Finder Android

Well, you will find an excellent app known as “Clean Drive For Google Drive” on your Android app store that you can install on your Android mobile or tablet that can easily get you the lists of duplicate files in your Google Drive and provide you the option to delete those quickly.

Find the below steps to install and use the “Clean Drive For Google Drive” on Android.

1. Navigate to the App Store on your Android Device and search for “Clean Drive For Google Drive”.
2. Once you have the app, tap on the Install button to install the app.

3. Once installed, when you click on the Open button, it will prompt you to select your Gmail account and start scanning your Google Drive.

It will present you the below details on your Google Drive

• Total number of Files
• Total number of Folders
• Lists of Duplicate Files, Hidden Files, Empty Files, Older Files Larger Files, etc.

4. Tap on the “Duplicate” option.

5. It will show the duplicate list of files. select the files, and tap on the Bulk Delete or Delete no of Selected files button to delete the duplicate files.

Google Drive Duplicate Files Problem

Sometimes, you might notice that Google Drive is creating duplicate files, which doesn’t look good. Now you might be thinking, can I stop Google Drive from duplicating files?.

How to stop Google Drive from duplicating files

Yes, there are a few tricky approaches that you need to try to prevent Google Drive from duplicating files.

Delete the items from the source that you have already uploaded

Why to upload the same items again? Deleting the same items you have already uploaded is always better.

Reinstalling Google Backup and Sync

Sometimes, uninstalling and reinstalling Google Backup and Sync might help you to fix the duplication of files issue in Google Drive.

1. First, Uninstall Google Drive.
2. Then, Download Google Drive for Desktop and install it again.

Try Uploading files Manually

If the above two approaches don’t work for you, then turn off the auto-sync option and try uploading the files manually.

To upload the file manually, follow the below steps

1. Navigate to My Drive.
2. Select Upload files or Upload folders from the My Drive dropdown as highlighted below.

Google Drive overwrites files with the same name

When You upload a file with the same name that already exists in your Drive, it should be treated as the revision of the existing files. But sometimes, it will create a duplicate of the same file.

There is one workaround that might help you to fix this issue

1. Navigate to Google Drive.
2. Click on Settings, which is present at the top right corner.

3. On the Settings window, Un-check the “Convert uploaded files to Google Docs editor format” option and then click on the Done button to save the changes.

4. Now, when you try to upload a file with the same name, it will show you the below options.

FAQs

Why should you consider removing duplicate files from Google Drive

You may wonder what the benefits are of removing duplicate files.

Say, If you use Google Drive for Home/Personal use, you may be paying additional storage fees. If so, then eliminating duplicate files may save you some money.

If you are synchronizing files to your computer, duplicate files also take up space on your hard drive.

You may like the following Google Drive tutorials:

• How to turn off quick access in Google Drive
• How to password-protect Google Drive
• Google Drive folder: How to Share, unshare, and turn off Link Sharing
• How to organize Google Drive shared with me?

And that’s cool, right? We’ve seen many ways to find and get rid of duplicates in your Google Drive. What else are you waiting for? Go and give a try the one that suits your device best. These are a few ways to find duplicate files in Google Drive.

Rajkishore Sahoo

I am Rajkishore, and I have over 14 years of experience in the Software Industry.  For a long time, I have been using Google Docs, Google Drive, and Google Sheets for my document usage, and I am sharing all the tips and tricks, the challenges I have come across, and their solutions to use Google Docs for your day-to-day use. I hope you will learn from these practical Google Docs tutorials. Read more.