I was amazed to see the function “duplicate” in photos. Since my IMac is pre-2017 ( waiting to see if Apple will give us a 24” soon) I really need an app to get rid of my many duplicates. (My photo library =45,000 photos.) What would you recommend because I tried one a few years back and it was very disappointing. Thank you for all your videos. You really are the best teacher one could wish foi. Bravo.
I have iMac macOS Monterey 12.7., trying to clean and store on Sandic external 1 TB SSD and NO designation for duplicates, also no down arrow! NOW WHAT? Thank you.
You mentioned that if no "Duplicates" button is shown, possibly the MacBook has not had a chance to process the data. There was the suggestion to occasionally leave it "running" so it can work in the background. My question: Does mean I should leave the MacBook open (top up) or simply close it, but not turn it off? I do the latter. Instead, should I leave it running with the top up? Thanks.
I don't really think it makes too much of a difference. But some say it is best to leave the Photos app open (hidden, behind stuff, or on another Space if you like) and then let your Mac sleep as normal. Hard to test. Definitely won't happen if you shut down, but you already know not to shut down anyway (ruclips.net/video/FsrTpEuXEtc/видео.html)
Hi, i have problem with finding duplicates. It still searching and never show me anything. I have about 6000 photos, but its few weeks when i started focus on this and it still not show me anything. For that time it should be synchronized. There is written that it will be searching duplicate photos when mac is charging and app photos not using, so maybe its because of it. Can i somehow turn on sync of these duplicate photos when mac is not charging?
You can't. What's your goal here. WHY do you want to do that? If it is to name more people, just go through your photos and spot people you want to name I suppose.
Thanks for the video! Was looking through my duplicates while watching this video and I’m stuck on one of my dog where it says it’s a duplicate but they’re 2 different photos. I wanna remove this from the duplicates section and was wondering how to do so. Hope you can help! Thanks! 😊
So the trick is this. Edit one of the photos. Make a tiny adjustment, like the exposure just up a tiny bit. Apply. Remember that adjustments are always non-destructive, so you aren't changing the original. This causes it to be reevaluated and removed from duplicates. Then I think you can go back to edit it again and use Revert To Original to undo the adjustment and it won't go back into duplicates.
Yes. You can Shift+click to select a range, or Command+A to select all. Then click the Merge button. But it is better to go through them a little at a time. Otherwise you risk losing a version of a photo you may have wanted.
All my duplicates are in iPhoto and other legacy folders. They have probably all been imported into Photos but I can't be sure and I am nervous about deleting them. You used to be able to import and delete original but I believe that option has been removed. Why did they do that and how can I now check without using a third-party app? Thanks.
You certainly can import and delete originals. For instance, if you insert an SD card or connect your iPhone with a cable you have that option. But it doesn't sounds like that is what you are trying to do. Not quite sure what you have going on from your description so I can't really suggest anything.
@@macmost Many thanks for getting back to me. Perhaps it was the option to delete files one by one as they are imported on an iPhone transfer that I was recalling. I would like to be able to do the same importing from a large folder of photos on the Mac, or from iPhoto where the originals were left in place after the migration to Photos. I am a bit nervous of the nuclear option of deleting iPhoto or my huge folder of photos! Thanks once again for another really helpful tutorial.
Is there a way to keep photos from duplicating the photo when you put into a new folder? Because if I have my camera roll and say a folder call nature you can open the photo in both. Is that taking up double the space, or is it just showing it in two places?
Hey Gary, does it matter the format of the external HD the photos are on? I ask because my wife’s external is APFS and the app links to that but no photos show up in duplicates. She has 21k photos and 2,200 videos. Or do you think to just let it sit and it will eventually show up?
@@macmost I understand, thats why I formatted the drive to that before using it for the Photos... just brought it up in case. Gonna leave it overnight ( it's a MacBook ) and see if that does it. Thanks.
@@PromotingTheBeat There is nothing else you can do. Perhaps it hasn't found any duplicates. Give it a few more days, or if you are in a rush for some reason call Apple Support.
@@macmost No Rush, I'll maybe leave it for another day and see what happens (There are definitely duplicates, i see them when looking into the folders). Worse comes to worse, do you think a 3rd party app like Gemini would do it? (You and I know more than Apple support lol )
Hi Sir, thanks a lot for your video. I need one help. I have purchased ipad 9th gen a couple of days back. I am writing my notes on the pdf. I was opening my pdf from default app. When i have written pointers on pdf using pencil then after that i have closed the pdf. Opening the pdf again does not load the images and some of the slides are not even visible. Can you please help me please
It is the 'preview' app which I am using to edit my pdf. But the file got corrupted. Sir please let me know, Is it okay to use 'preview' app to edit pdf in iPad 9th gen? Also, is the 'books' app better than 'preview' app to edit the PDFs Please help sir
@@suyashsrivastava634 Not sure what you mean. The "Files app" is something you have on the iPhone and iPad. But those don't have a Preview app. The Preview app is on the Mac. There is no Preview app on the iPad. Neither allows you to "edit" PDF files. You can annotate them in the Preview app on the Mac, or by viewing them in the Files app on your iPad. The Books app is for reading PDFs and ePub documents but you can bookmark and add notes too.
A heads up to anyone who reads this....if you have thousands of photos and video... you have to really wait a day or 2 before they will show up. Be patient. I just hooked up an external with over 20k photos and 2k videos and nothing showed up for almost a whole day. This is with a USB external with a M2 MacBook Air. So, be patient grasshopper, They will show up.
Here's my problem. Somehow my Mac turned save reference photos on and not originals. How can I know which are originals and not reference photos. I discovered this problem when after deleting several duplicates and trying to work with some photos I get a message cannot find original. I have an old Macbook pro using Big Sur. There is no duplicates tab on this
Photos recognized about 1% of duplicates in my mom's library. Anyone else have this problem? I love the feature, but obviously I want it to work for all of the duplicates. Is anyone using something better?
@@macmost Yes, I'm sure. There are pictures in the Library that are side by side, that have a file name and file name (1), etc. Some of them are exactly the same size/resolution while others are not the same. There are also pictures that have been lightened a little...I'm not expecting Photos to recognize those as duplicates, but it would be nice. I just purchased PhotoSweeper; haven't tried it yet but hoping to get good results.
PhotoSweeper 👍👍 Sooo much better. Exactly what I was looking for.... it can mark photos to trash by parameters that you can easily set and prioritize. For example, some of the picture dates are inaccurate...2 pictures, one with the original date and another with a later date, so I just automatically mark the newer photo taken date for the trash. Easy review of files similar to Photos. I don't think there's an option to merge photo info but I'm okay with that, for now. Fifteen dollars but going to save me so much time and well worth the money.
HELLO GARY, I am not new to apple mac but I am new to using Photos. I have been using it for a few months now and since I am back into bird Photography I have been storing my mostly already processed photos in the app. I want to be able to do more editing within the app but selecting and masking in Photos escapes me. If you have covered this subject previously would you please direct me to the episode location so I can learn from you. I would like to be able to adjust exposure on a selected or masked area of my image to lift the shadows etc. I love the way of your presentations and look forward to learning much more about the Photos app. Thank you Joe McGrath
You can't mask and adjust areas like that. But you can use external editors. So go with something like Pixelmator Pro, Affinity Photo or Photoshop for that kind of work.
Finally. Exactly answering the problem I have been searching for. Thank you! I assume this would then, done on my macbook, be reflected on my iphone when they sync?
thank you for this tutorial. I'm a new Mac user and have just found over 20k of duplicates in my library i imported from backup in an SSD. i guess i will take the risk and do a bulk merge regardless the consequence. i've scanned the duplicates and they all seem to be identical ones. cheers.
Hi Gary, will Photos app identify those that are backed up to iCloud and term them on the system as 'duplicates'? How can one be sure?Can one delete the ones on the device without undue worry?
Note that "backed up" isn't the right term to use. You are storing the photos in iCloud, not backing them up there. Yes, this works whether you are using iCloud Photos or not.
Thoughts on recreating a new Photos Library and then switching it to system lib in the cloud… thats what apple told me to do so the dups could b caught better
Hello I am using a Mac with Big Sur, Version 11.7.9. I am told there is an option to remove duplicates on the sidebar. Well I have over 120,000 photos with obviously a few duplicates. However there is no 'Duplicates' option showing on my sidebar. Does Big Sur have this option. I would appreciate if you could tell me as I am confused about this. Thank you
Great video! I have one question. When you delete duplicates, do they also delete from the source drive?...or is this a certain setting? Love to know because I'm trying to delete a lot of duplicates from my ext hd. Thanks so much, Gary!
Not sure what you mean by that. When you delete a duplicate the duplicate copy is removed from your Photos Library. What do you mean by "source drive?"
@@macmost Ahh I'll clarify. When I delete duplicate photos in the OS Photos app, I want this task to also delete said dupes from my hard drive. Is this possible with Apple photos? If not, do you have fav software for resolving dupes? Feel free to link me to any of your videos for this :) Thanks!!
@@macmost Ahhh thanks so much for clarifying. I actually don't use iCloud for photos, but perhaps I will consider it for getting this monumental job done. Thanks again!!
Hi Gary, do you know any details about the algorithm that Photos is using to detect duplicate files and how robust it is? Is it using some sort of binary or hex comparison like 3rd party software such as Power Photos or Beyond Compare? I’m a bit paranoid that the duplicate finding features in some of these apps aren’t always “perfect” and may be grabbing stuff that’s extremely similar but isn’t actually a duplicate photo. I guess that’s incumbent on me to do the manual check of each duplicate file, but unfortunately I was very sloppy over the years with importing my photos and have now ended up with something like 4,000+ duplicate photos in my library (!) so I’d rather not have to check all this by hand.
I don't know what type of algorithm they are using, but your fear is exactly why you should review the photos like and show and delete them once you are satisfied. 4000 isn't really that much. Do 50-100 at a time, a few times a day. Don't rush it. If it takes many weeks or short sessions here and there, that's fine.
Just an addendum to my previous question: I see that the Duplicates album actually differentiates between photos that are the “same” but may have different resolutions, metadata, etc. and “exact copies” which are identical duplicates. That is very useful but it only shows this information when you actually go to merge two or more images. Hopefully in a future update we may get the ability to filter between exact copies and same or similar photos in the Duplicates album.
Thanks Gary. In my case: 2,109 Photos & 54 Videos. I don't know what to do? It is occasions like these when I yearn for the times before I switched to Apple and still 'living' on the Windows platform.
Not sure what you mean. Are you trying to remove duplicates? Then this is the tool for it. Sounds like you found them, not review and remove. You don't need to do it all at once. Do a little now, a little later. Don't rush. If it takes 5 minutes here and 5 minutes there over weeks, then that's fine.
@@macmost Thanks Gary. This will take months, if not years and I just don't understand where these duplicates have come from, with me always only adding a single image or video file to the photos app. In my case there are even triplets of a single image. With Windows, 'you' add a photo to a folder and that is it. No automatic duplication and unnecessary SS drive crowding. You might feel my frustration with Apple at the moment on top of the issue that I have with Apple continuously prompting me to re-enter my ID details to remove that annoying red badge on my 'Systems Settings' icon. This also on a daily basis.
@@60beats44 You could always just merge all of the duplicates if you want to take the risk. Otherwise, it takes about 3-5 seconds to look at a pair, decide they are duplicates, and click the Merge button. So you could do a set of 50 in less than 5 minutes. Do that 4 times a day, and it would take 10 days. As for why you have duplicates, you should try to figure that out. For instance, maybe you both imported using a cable and are also automatically importing with iCloud?
@@macmost Thank you again Gary, especially considering your workload here on RUclips and with your many other projects. I am more than reluctant to merge all duplicates with just one click, given that I have already spent countless hours with editing. I am no longer using iCloud due to the confusion it has caused with other issues, preferring to back-up with 'Time Machine' and an external drive. I wish that the 'Photos' app would feature a 'Path bar' like the 'Finder' app, so I could follow the individual locations of the duplicates, once I click on 'Show in all Folders'. Instead the 'Library' is the only indication. Regarding adding new jpegs to the Photos app: I am using a digital camera and not an iPhone/iPad. I simply insert the SSD card into the relevant Mac port and then drag the jpegs onto my desktop. I then proceed to drag them into the relevant 'Albums' which I have created over time. I really don't know why there are thousands of duplicates with this method? Thanks again, Gary and I will sleep over these issues before deciding what to do, including possibly simply ignoring the 'Duplicates' folder.
@@60beats44you could organize you Mac pictures in a similar way to Windows by simply creating subfolders within the Pictures user directory, and manually managing them that way. And if you wanted to view them in the Photos app, treat them as referenced files. But there’s no rule on Mac that says you need to use the Photos app to organize your photos, if you don’t like it or find it cumbersome. Btw, importing and then re-importing my photos via the windows import tool from my cameras was how I personally wound up with a large amount of duplicates-afaik, Windows is no better at recognizing or managing these duplicate files on import than macOS is.
A very useful and informative video tutorial today! Thank you ,Gary! 👏🏻
A very useful tutorial, thank you.
I was amazed to see the function “duplicate” in photos. Since my IMac is pre-2017 ( waiting to see if Apple will give us a 24” soon) I really need an app to get rid of my many duplicates. (My photo library =45,000 photos.) What would you recommend because I tried one a few years back and it was very disappointing. Thank you for all your videos. You really are the best teacher one could wish foi. Bravo.
Just manually doing it. Duplicates would have the same date and time, so just going through your library should show them side-by-side.
Just used the thesaurus. The synonym for awesome is macmost!
😮 I had no idea that duplicate album/folder was even there! Thanks 🙏
Who knew! Thanks for the info.
Thanks. It falls under the category of "how did I miss this after upgrading to Ventura?"
Great tips!
I have iMac macOS Monterey 12.7., trying to clean and store on Sandic external 1 TB SSD and NO designation for duplicates, also no down arrow! NOW WHAT? Thank you.
thank you Garry i love it
You mentioned that if no "Duplicates" button is shown, possibly the MacBook has not had a chance to process the data. There was the suggestion to occasionally leave it "running" so it can work in the background. My question: Does mean I should leave the MacBook open (top up) or simply close it, but not turn it off? I do the latter. Instead, should I leave it running with the top up? Thanks.
I don't really think it makes too much of a difference. But some say it is best to leave the Photos app open (hidden, behind stuff, or on another Space if you like) and then let your Mac sleep as normal. Hard to test. Definitely won't happen if you shut down, but you already know not to shut down anyway (ruclips.net/video/FsrTpEuXEtc/видео.html)
Thank you
Hi,
i have problem with finding duplicates. It still searching and never show me anything. I have about 6000 photos, but its few weeks when i started focus on this and it still not show me anything. For that time it should be synchronized. There is written that it will be searching duplicate photos when mac is charging and app photos not using, so maybe its because of it. Can i somehow turn on sync of these duplicate photos when mac is not charging?
Sorry, I don't know why you aren't seeing duplicates. Maybe you simply have no duplicate photos?
Thanks Gary. May I know how to create a smart album for finding out all unnamed people in Photos?
You can't. What's your goal here. WHY do you want to do that? If it is to name more people, just go through your photos and spot people you want to name I suppose.
Thanks could talk about the books app and how it can be used.
What sort of information are you looking for? What is it you are trying to DO with the Books app?
Thanks for the video! Was looking through my duplicates while watching this video and I’m stuck on one of my dog where it says it’s a duplicate but they’re 2 different photos. I wanna remove this from the duplicates section and was wondering how to do so. Hope you can help! Thanks! 😊
So the trick is this. Edit one of the photos. Make a tiny adjustment, like the exposure just up a tiny bit. Apply. Remember that adjustments are always non-destructive, so you aren't changing the original. This causes it to be reevaluated and removed from duplicates. Then I think you can go back to edit it again and use Revert To Original to undo the adjustment and it won't go back into duplicates.
@@macmost Will go and try this. Thanks so much for the quick response!
hi Gary, is there a bulk merge option? thx.
Yes. You can Shift+click to select a range, or Command+A to select all. Then click the Merge button. But it is better to go through them a little at a time. Otherwise you risk losing a version of a photo you may have wanted.
All my duplicates are in iPhoto and other legacy folders. They have probably all been imported into Photos but I can't be sure and I am nervous about deleting them. You used to be able to import and delete original but I believe that option has been removed. Why did they do that and how can I now check without using a third-party app? Thanks.
You certainly can import and delete originals. For instance, if you insert an SD card or connect your iPhone with a cable you have that option. But it doesn't sounds like that is what you are trying to do. Not quite sure what you have going on from your description so I can't really suggest anything.
@@macmost Many thanks for getting back to me. Perhaps it was the option to delete files one by one as they are imported on an iPhone transfer that I was recalling. I would like to be able to do the same importing from a large folder of photos on the Mac, or from iPhoto where the originals were left in place after the migration to Photos. I am a bit nervous of the nuclear option of deleting iPhoto or my huge folder of photos! Thanks once again for another really helpful tutorial.
I don't have duplicates option. My Macintosh version is mac os monterey 12.6.8. what is the solution
This is for macOS Ventura.
I just wish I could figure out a way that all the pictures in photos that just show as a white box would come back. So frustrating
Is there a way to keep photos from duplicating the photo when you put into a new folder? Because if I have my camera roll and say a folder call nature you can open the photo in both. Is that taking up double the space, or is it just showing it in two places?
Do you mean an album? That isn't a duplicate. See ruclips.net/video/F5VnR4LY0pk/видео.html
Hey Gary, does it matter the format of the external HD the photos are on? I ask because my wife’s external is APFS and the app links to that but no photos show up in duplicates. She has 21k photos and 2,200 videos. Or do you think to just let it sit and it will eventually show up?
Drive format doesn't matter. APFS is the current standard format for Macs anyway. Wait to see if any show up, yes.
@@macmost I understand, thats why I formatted the drive to that before using it for the Photos... just brought it up in case.
Gonna leave it overnight ( it's a MacBook ) and see if that does it.
Thanks.
@@macmost Just left it on overnight and it's still not showing any photos in there. Is there anything else you can suggest?
@@PromotingTheBeat There is nothing else you can do. Perhaps it hasn't found any duplicates. Give it a few more days, or if you are in a rush for some reason call Apple Support.
@@macmost No Rush, I'll maybe leave it for another day and see what happens (There are definitely duplicates, i see them when looking into the folders).
Worse comes to worse, do you think a 3rd party app like Gemini would do it? (You and I know more than Apple support lol )
Mine is showing me duplicates that are not even close to being duplicates. How do I get it to quit identifying different photos as duplicates?
I don't know of a way to force it to look again.
I have Mac OS Catalina can I find duplicates?
Your macOS is too old, the feature came later.
BRILLIANT! Mac probably notified me of this somehow, somewhere, but Gary brings it to my attention. I can now relieve my iMac of 500 useless photos!
Ha. Two minutes later and ... DONE!
Is there a way to filter so I can see only the "exact" duplicates?
There are no fine-tune settings.
That is what I thought, thank you for confirming.@@macmost
Can’t select duplicate It has disappeared
Hi Sir, thanks a lot for your video. I need one help. I have purchased ipad 9th gen a couple of days back. I am writing my notes on the pdf. I was opening my pdf from default app. When i have written pointers on pdf using pencil then after that i have closed the pdf. Opening the pdf again does not load the images and some of the slides are not even visible. Can you please help me please
I don't know what you mean by "from default app." Is the PDF a file you have in the Files app? Or is it coming from somewhere else?
@@macmost it is the 'preview' app. Yes, PDF is a file I have in my Files app
It is the 'preview' app which I am using to edit my pdf. But the file got corrupted. Sir please let me know, Is it okay to use 'preview' app to edit pdf in iPad 9th gen?
Also, is the 'books' app better than 'preview' app to edit the PDFs
Please help sir
@@suyashsrivastava634 Not sure what you mean. The "Files app" is something you have on the iPhone and iPad. But those don't have a Preview app. The Preview app is on the Mac. There is no Preview app on the iPad. Neither allows you to "edit" PDF files. You can annotate them in the Preview app on the Mac, or by viewing them in the Files app on your iPad. The Books app is for reading PDFs and ePub documents but you can bookmark and add notes too.
@@macmost sir can you please suggest where I can send you the images. Please sir only you can solve my problem.
I can’t find the (duplicate photo) anywhere idk why pls help
Which version of iOS do you have? Are you sure you have duplicates, as it only shows if it can find some.
The one thing I wish this did is show me the metadata and the folder or album. There may be more than one reason for duplicates. :)
You can click the i button at the top to see the metadata.
@@macmost Thanks!
A heads up to anyone who reads this....if you have thousands of photos and video... you have to really wait a day or 2 before they will show up. Be patient.
I just hooked up an external with over 20k photos and 2k videos and nothing showed up for almost a whole day. This is with a USB external with a M2 MacBook Air.
So, be patient grasshopper, They will show up.
I don't have "Duplicates" in my menu... :(
Either you have none, or you haven't waited long enough for them to appear.
I show a ton of SINGLE photos in Duplicates. Huh?
I've never seen that. Maybe quit and restart Photos and check again?
Still show 347 separate photos in DUPLICATES after quitting.
@@wan2852 So what does it say above each? "Merge 1 Photo?"
Nothing.
@@wan2852 Not sure what it is you are seeing then. I would just ignore those, I suppose.
Here's my problem. Somehow my Mac turned save reference photos on and not originals. How can I know which are originals and not reference photos. I discovered this problem when after deleting several duplicates and trying to work with some photos I get a message cannot find original. I have an old Macbook pro using Big Sur. There is no duplicates tab on this
Create a Smart Album: Photo - is - referenced. Duplicates were added in Ventura so you'll need to update to get that feature.
I have Sonoma 14.1.1 and Duplicates doesn’t appear in the tool bar. Any idea why? Thanks Ed
It should be in the left sidebar, not the toolbar. Not sure why yours isn't working, sorry.
Thank you.
How do I detect duplicates if I have moved duplicates onto an external hard drive?
So they are not in your Photos Library anymore? This function of the Photos app only works on photos in the library.
Will this work in OS MONTEREY?
No. This is a newer feature.
I have lots of duplicates, rarely shut down my Mac mini, so it has not looked for duplicates.
Photos recognized about 1% of duplicates in my mom's library. Anyone else have this problem? I love the feature, but obviously I want it to work for all of the duplicates. Is anyone using something better?
Are you sure those are duplicates? Describe the situation...
@@macmost Yes, I'm sure. There are pictures in the Library that are side by side, that have a file name and file name (1), etc. Some of them are exactly the same size/resolution while others are not the same. There are also pictures that have been lightened a little...I'm not expecting Photos to recognize those as duplicates, but it would be nice. I just purchased PhotoSweeper; haven't tried it yet but hoping to get good results.
PhotoSweeper 👍👍 Sooo much better. Exactly what I was looking for.... it can mark photos to trash by parameters that you can easily set and prioritize. For example, some of the picture dates are inaccurate...2 pictures, one with the original date and another with a later date, so I just automatically mark the newer photo taken date for the trash. Easy review of files similar to Photos. I don't think there's an option to merge photo info but I'm okay with that, for now. Fifteen dollars but going to save me so much time and well worth the money.
will this work on windows?
HELLO GARY, I am not new to apple mac but I am new to using Photos. I have been using it for a few months now and since I am back into bird Photography I have been storing my mostly already processed photos in the app. I want to be able to do more editing within the app but selecting and masking in Photos escapes me. If you have covered this subject previously would you please direct me to the episode location so I can learn from you. I would like to be able to adjust exposure on a selected or masked area of my image to lift the shadows etc. I love the way of your presentations and look forward to learning much more about the Photos app.
Thank you
Joe McGrath
You can't mask and adjust areas like that. But you can use external editors. So go with something like Pixelmator Pro, Affinity Photo or Photoshop for that kind of work.
Finally. Exactly answering the problem I have been searching for. Thank you!
I assume this would then, done on my macbook, be reflected on my iphone when they sync?
If you are using iCloud Photos, yes.
thank you for this tutorial. I'm a new Mac user and have just found over 20k of duplicates in my library i imported from backup in an SSD. i guess i will take the risk and do a bulk merge regardless the consequence. i've scanned the duplicates and they all seem to be identical ones. cheers.
I'm in the same situation, I have 45,000 identified as dupes. how do you "bulk merge" , did you have success? thx.
Hi Gary, will Photos app identify those that are backed up to iCloud and term them on the system as 'duplicates'? How can one be sure?Can one delete the ones on the device without undue worry?
Note that "backed up" isn't the right term to use. You are storing the photos in iCloud, not backing them up there. Yes, this works whether you are using iCloud Photos or not.
Thanks but that duplicaters selection doesn’t show in iOS? Did you forget to show us ios users or did I mis it (more likely)?
ruclips.net/video/DfwoqL0pMTI/видео.html
Thoughts on recreating a new Photos Library and then switching it to system lib in the cloud… thats what apple told me to do so the dups could b caught better
Not sure what you mean exactly. But I wouldn't mess with your iCloud Photos library by having entire duplicate libraries.
Thanks bunches
Hello I am using a Mac with Big Sur, Version 11.7.9. I am told there is an option to remove duplicates on the sidebar. Well I have over 120,000 photos with obviously a few duplicates. However there is no 'Duplicates' option showing on my sidebar. Does Big Sur have this option. I would appreciate if you could tell me as I am confused about this. Thank you
This is a new feature of macOS Ventura. You are two versions of macOS back on Big Sur so you'll need to update to Ventura first.
@@macmost Unfortunately that means a new Mac as mine is a late 2014. Thanks for reply.
Could I buy a Mac device that would run the latest OS version but use my lovely 27” screen? Thanks
@@jcc6664 See ruclips.net/video/dtZl4PyQSEg/видео.html
Great video! I have one question. When you delete duplicates, do they also delete from the source drive?...or is this a certain setting? Love to know because I'm trying to delete a lot of duplicates from my ext hd. Thanks so much, Gary!
Not sure what you mean by that. When you delete a duplicate the duplicate copy is removed from your Photos Library. What do you mean by "source drive?"
@@macmost Ahh I'll clarify. When I delete duplicate photos in the OS Photos app, I want this task to also delete said dupes from my hard drive. Is this possible with Apple photos? If not, do you have fav software for resolving dupes? Feel free to link me to any of your videos for this :) Thanks!!
@@teadish1448 If you are using iCloud Photos then that is the way it works, yes.
@@macmost Ahhh thanks so much for clarifying. I actually don't use iCloud for photos, but perhaps I will consider it for getting this monumental job done. Thanks again!!
Hi Gary, do you know any details about the algorithm that Photos is using to detect duplicate files and how robust it is? Is it using some sort of binary or hex comparison like 3rd party software such as Power Photos or Beyond Compare? I’m a bit paranoid that the duplicate finding features in some of these apps aren’t always “perfect” and may be grabbing stuff that’s extremely similar but isn’t actually a duplicate photo.
I guess that’s incumbent on me to do the manual check of each duplicate file, but unfortunately I was very sloppy over the years with importing my photos and have now ended up with something like 4,000+ duplicate photos in my library (!) so I’d rather not have to check all this by hand.
I don't know what type of algorithm they are using, but your fear is exactly why you should review the photos like and show and delete them once you are satisfied. 4000 isn't really that much. Do 50-100 at a time, a few times a day. Don't rush it. If it takes many weeks or short sessions here and there, that's fine.
@@macmostgood advice to break it into chunks. Thanks, love the channel.
Just an addendum to my previous question: I see that the Duplicates album actually differentiates between photos that are the “same” but may have different resolutions, metadata, etc. and “exact copies” which are identical duplicates. That is very useful but it only shows this information when you actually go to merge two or more images. Hopefully in a future update we may get the ability to filter between exact copies and same or similar photos in the Duplicates album.
Thanks Gary. In my case: 2,109 Photos & 54 Videos. I don't know what to do? It is occasions like these when I yearn for the times before I switched to Apple and still 'living' on the Windows platform.
Not sure what you mean. Are you trying to remove duplicates? Then this is the tool for it. Sounds like you found them, not review and remove. You don't need to do it all at once. Do a little now, a little later. Don't rush. If it takes 5 minutes here and 5 minutes there over weeks, then that's fine.
@@macmost Thanks Gary. This will take months, if not years and I just don't understand where these duplicates have come from, with me always only adding a single image or video file to the photos app. In my case there are even triplets of a single image. With Windows, 'you' add a photo to a folder and that is it. No automatic duplication and unnecessary SS drive crowding. You might feel my frustration with Apple at the moment on top of the issue that I have with Apple continuously prompting me to re-enter my ID details to remove that annoying red badge on my 'Systems Settings' icon. This also on a daily basis.
@@60beats44 You could always just merge all of the duplicates if you want to take the risk. Otherwise, it takes about 3-5 seconds to look at a pair, decide they are duplicates, and click the Merge button. So you could do a set of 50 in less than 5 minutes. Do that 4 times a day, and it would take 10 days.
As for why you have duplicates, you should try to figure that out. For instance, maybe you both imported using a cable and are also automatically importing with iCloud?
@@macmost Thank you again Gary, especially considering your workload here on RUclips and with your many other projects. I am more than reluctant to merge all duplicates with just one click, given that I have already spent countless hours with editing. I am no longer using iCloud due to the confusion it has caused with other issues, preferring to back-up with 'Time Machine' and an external drive. I wish that the 'Photos' app would feature a 'Path bar' like the 'Finder' app, so I could follow the individual locations of the duplicates, once I click on 'Show in all Folders'. Instead the 'Library' is the only indication. Regarding adding new jpegs to the Photos app: I am using a digital camera and not an iPhone/iPad. I simply insert the SSD card into the relevant Mac port and then drag the jpegs onto my desktop. I then proceed to drag them into the relevant 'Albums' which I have created over time. I really don't know why there are thousands of duplicates with this method? Thanks again, Gary and I will sleep over these issues before deciding what to do, including possibly simply ignoring the 'Duplicates' folder.
@@60beats44you could organize you Mac pictures in a similar way to Windows by simply creating subfolders within the Pictures user directory, and manually managing them that way. And if you wanted to view them in the Photos app, treat them as referenced files. But there’s no rule on Mac that says you need to use the Photos app to organize your photos, if you don’t like it or find it cumbersome.
Btw, importing and then re-importing my photos via the windows import tool from my cameras was how I personally wound up with a large amount of duplicates-afaik, Windows is no better at recognizing or managing these duplicate files on import than macOS is.