How to Find Duplicate Files in Google Drive and Mass Delete Unwanted Duplicates

Duplicate files can quickly accumulate in Google Drive. They may be caused by accidental uploads, sync errors, or backing up the same files multiple times.

Many users assume that Google Drive automatically detect duplicates before uploading. In fact, it does come with duplicate detection. Before uploading a file, it checks if a file with the same name already exists in my account. If it does, it further checks the file content to determine if it's a duplicate. However, if you upload duplicate files with a different filenames, Google Drive cannot detect it.

In this article, we’ll show you how to find duplicate files in Google Drive and easily delete them all at once.

 

Method 1. Find duplicate files in Google Drive with Cisdem Duplicate Finder

If your Google Drive contains large numbers of files, manually finding duplicates can take hours. Cisdem Duplicate Finder is an easy-to-use duplicate file finder that that quickly identifies duplicate photos, documents, videos, and other types of duplicate files based on content, allowing you to remove them in just a few clicks.

What can Cisdem Duplicate Finder do?

• Quickly find duplicate files in Google Drive without downloading the files to computer.
• Scan the entire Google Drive or specific folders.
• Detect duplicates even when they are stored in different folders.
• Find duplicate photos, videos, documents and more.
• Identify similar photos too.
• Let you preview details of the detected duplicates.
• Automatically select all but one file in each set of duplicate files for easy deletion.
• Provide 8 selection rules to mass select duplicates for remover.

Steps to find duplicate files in Google Drive:

1. Install Google Drive for desktop on your computer. Sign in to your Google account.

2. Download and install Cisdem Duplicate Finder. Open it.

Free Download   Free Download

3. Click the Add button to add My Drive.

4. Click Settings in the upper right corner. In the Support or Ignore section, select Ignore scanning file formats option. Add the following file formats:

gdoc, gsheet, gslides, gdraw, gform, gsite (These are Google Workspace shortcut files. Excluding them can improve scanning accuracy.)

Click OK. And then click Scan .

5. When the scan is complete, the results window will display all the duplicate files found in your Google Drive. You can view and preview them.

6. In each set of duplicate files, Cisdem Duplicate Finder has automatically selected all but one for removal. Or, you can select/deselect by hand or choose a desired selection rule.

7. Now all the unwanted duplicate files are selected. Click Delete to delete them.

The deleted duplicate files will go to the Bin (drive.google.com/drive/trash) and stay there for 30 days. If you want, you can eliminate them immediately in the Bin by clicking Empty bin in the top right corner. Or, Google Drive will delete them forever after 30 days.

What should you scan?

In step 3:

• Scan My Drive if you only want to find duplicate files stored in Google Drive.
• Scan both My Drive and local folders if you want to find duplicates between them.
• Scan multiple folders or drives to identify duplicates across locations.

For most users, scanning My Drive is the recommended option.

Tip 1. How to download and install the Google Drive app?

1. Go to www.google.com/drive/download.

2. Download and install Google Drive. Sign in with your account.

3. Click the Google Drive icon in the taskbar or menu bar.

4. On the left, click See Drive files in File Explorer (or Finder). Click Open File Explorer (or Finder) to see Drive files.

Now you can browse and open Google Drive from your computer and scan it for duplicate files.

Tip 2. Can this Google Drive duplicate finder detect similar photos?

Yes. In addition to duplicate photos (and other duplicate files), this duplicate file finder for Google Drive can find photos that look the same but are different in resolutions or formats and similar photos.

After the scan, the Images tab in the results window will also display non-exact duplicates and similar photos. In each set, you can pick the best photo(s) and then select the rest for deletion.

This way, all the unwanted duplicate photos will be removed from your Google Drive.

 

Method 2. Find duplicate files in Google Drive with Cloud Duplicate Finder

If you don’t want to use the Google Drive app or download any duplicate finder software, you can use Cloud Duplicate Finder - a web based duplicate file finder that lets you scan Google Drive for duplicates online.

What can Cloud Duplicate Finder do?

• Find duplicate documents, archives, music, videos, and images in Google Drive.
• Scan your entire Google Drive or selected folders.
• Let you preview duplicate images before deletion.
• Select the oldest/newest file in each set of duplicates for you.

Things to know before using it:

• The scanning speed will be a bit slow if there are a lot of files in your Google Drive.
• Image preview is supported, but other file types can't be previewed.
• You need to pay to delete the duplicate files.
• You must give the tool permission to access and delete files in your Google Drive account.

Steps to find duplicate files in Google Drive:

1. Open a browser. Visit www.cloudduplicatefinder.com.

2. Sign in with your Google Drive account.

3. At the top of the page, choose Google Drive.

4. Click the Add New Drive button.

5. Choose your account. Click Allow at the bottom.

6. In the left sidebar, select Google Drive to scan your entire drive. You can also select specific folders to scan.

7. Click Scan. When the scan is complete, click OK to view the found duplicates.

8. Manually select the unwanted duplicates in Google Drive. Or, open the Select Duplicates menu and choose a selection rule.

9. To remove duplicates from Google Drive, click the Select Action. Choose Permanent Delete.

Tip: It’s very likely that this method won’t find all the duplicate files in your Google Drive. But there is a trick that may help. Before step 6, create a new folder in Google Drive. Move all the files that don’t belong to any folder to this new folder.

Like Cloud Duplicate Finder, another web-based tool called “Duplicate File Finder, Cleaner for Drive” can also help you with the task.

 

Method 3. Find duplicate files in Google Drive with Filerev

If you prefer not to install software, Filerev is another option worth considering. It is a Google Drive add-on that helps remove duplicate files and other unnecessary files from Google Drive automatically.

What can Filerev do?

• Scan your Google Drive for duplicate files directly from your browser.
• Find duplicate documents, images, videos, and other types of duplicate files in Google Drive.
• Also find hidden files, empty files, empty folders, and other useless files.
• Filter duplicate files by file type, creation date, and other criteria.
• The preview feature is available only for images.
• Automatically select oldest/newest files in each duplicates set.
• Move deleted duplicates to Google Drive Trash.

Things to know before using it:

• You can scan your Google Drive for duplicate files 1 time per month for free.
• In the free version, it can only search duplicates in your entire Google Drive.
• The preview feature is available only for images.
• You can delete up to 500 files per month for free.

Steps to find duplicate files in Google Drive:

1. Go to drive.google.com. Sign in.

2. Click the Get Add-ons button on the right sidebar.

3. Search for Organizer & Duplicate Remover for Google Drive. Select Filerev.

4. Click Install > Continue.

5. Then sign in to Filerev with your Google account. Click Allow to give this tool permission to access and handle your files in Google Drive. Click Done.

6. Now you have successfully installed this add-on. Go back to Google Drive. You can find it on the right sidebar. Tap it. Click Continue with Google.

7. In the Drives to scan window, check the box next to My Drive. Click Start the Scan. The scan results will appear after a while.

8. Select the Duplicate Files tab from the scan results list.

9. Manually check the boxes next to the duplicate files you want to delete. Or, click Select. Let it select oldest/newest file in each duplicate set for you.

10. Click Delete. Then the duplicate files will be moved to your Google Drive Trash.

 

Method 4. Manually find and delete duplicate files in Google Drive

If you don’t want to use any third-party tool, you can manually search for duplicate files in Google Drive using its built-in search and sort features.

This method won’t help you find all duplicates, especially if you have a large number of files. But those duplicate files with the same file size or similar file names are easier to find.

1. Go to Google Drive website. Sign in with your account.

2. At the top of the page, click the Advanced search button next to the search box.

3. Select a file type, such as Photos & images. Then click Search.

4. Switch to an appropriate view mode in the upper right corner:

• Use Grid Layout when searching for duplicate images.
• Use List Layout when searching for duplicate documents, audios, videos, and other file types.

5. Sort files by Most relevant to make duplicates easier to spot.

6. View and preview the files to decide which one(s) to delete. Pay attention to those with names containing “(1)”, “(2), or “copy”.

7. Control-select multiple duplicate files.

8. Click the Trash icon at the top to remove them from your Google Drive account.

 

Comparison of the 4 methods

FAQs about Google Drive duplicate files

Does google drive upload duplicates?

Yes, Google Drive uploads duplicate files with different filenames. According to my tests, there are 3 different situations:

• If the file you're uploading has the same content as an existing file, but with different names, Google Drive won’t detect it as a duplicate.
• If the file you’re uploading has the same name as an existing file, but with different content, Google Drive will not recognize it as a duplicate either.
• If the file you’re uploading has both identical file name and content as an existing file, Google Drive will detect it as a duplicate and display an “Upload options” dialog. You can choose whether to upload the duplicate or not.

Why does Google Drive create duplicates?

Some Google Drive duplicate files are created during upload. For example, if you have many files to upload, you may not have patience to check for duplicates before uploading. Also, the Google Drive app may create duplicate files due to improper settings or sync issues.

How to stop Google Drive from duplicating files?

To avoid Google Drive from duplicating files, you can do the following:

• Do not create too many folders in Google Drive, which can make it easier to find duplicates manually.
• Properly configure the sync settings. It’s more recommended to turn off the sync feature and upload files to Google Drive manually. You can disable the sync in Google Drive website directly. Click the Settings icon on the upper right corner. Then uncheck the box next to "Offline".

• Turn off the automatic backup feature in the Google Drive app. Click the Google Drive icon in the taskbar or menu bar. Click Settings > Preferences > My computer. If any folders are being backed up, select them and stop the backup.

• Use a professional duplicate file finder to scan and remove duplicate files in Google Drive regularly.

 

Conclusion

Google Drive’s duplicate detection feature significantly prevents some duplicate files from being uploaded. But it’s not enough. There can still be file duplicates. This article shows you how to find and delete Google Drive duplicate files in different ways. I hope it helps. By removing duplicates, you can organize files more easily and free up storage space.