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

I recently discovered that there are many duplicate files in my Google Drive. This may be caused by by mistakenly uploading the same files multiple times, as well as some sync errors.

I originally thought that Google Drive automatically detect duplicates before uploading. So I never check for duplicates before backing up files. However, I tested it a few days ago, and found the situation was different. 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 I upload duplicate files with a different filenames, Google Drive cannot detect it.

In this article, I’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

The best way to find duplicate files in Google Drive is using Cisdem Duplicate Finder - a powerful duplicate file finder that identifies duplicate photos, documents, videos, and other types of duplicate files based on content. It helps you to:

• Quickly find duplicate files in Google Drive without downloading the files to computer.
• Scan your entire Google Drive, specific folders, or multiple folders.
• Detect and categorize different types of duplicate files.
• Also detect similar images.
• Preview details of the detected duplicates.
• Automatically select all but one file in each set of duplicate files for easy deletion.
• Choose from 8 selection rules to mass select duplicates for remover.

Below are steps to find duplicates in Google Drive:

1. On your computer, download and install the Google Drive app.

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

Free Download   Free Download

3. In this Google Drive duplicate finder, 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 “gdoc, gsheet, gslides, gdraw, gform, gsite” into the box. 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.

Important: In step 3, make sure that you know where to scan. To only find duplicate files in My Drive (drive.google.com/drive/my-drive), scan My Drive. I recommend this practice.

(In this paragraph, I would like to talk about another situation. If you want, you can skip this paragraph. If you have set a certain local folder on your computer to sync with Google Drive, this certain local folder will appear in “drive.google.com/drive/computers”. If you want to find duplicate files between this certain local folder and “drive.google.com/drive/my-drive”, just add both this local folder and My Drive to scan in step 3. Cisdem Duplicate Finders allows you to find duplicate files in a folder/drive or in and across multiple locations.)

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. Help you better remove duplicate photos from Google Drive

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

The second method to find duplicates in Google Drive automatically is using Cloud Duplicate Finder-a web based duplicate file finder that lets you scan Google Drive for duplicates online, without using the Google Drive app or downloading any third-party software. Some features of this tool：

• Find duplicate documents, archives, music, videos, and images in Google Drive.
• When there are a lot of files in Google Drive, the scanning speed will be a bit slow.
• Let you preview duplicate pictures before the remover, but does not supports previewing other types of files.
• You can have it select the oldest/newest file in each set of duplicates for you.
• You need to pay to delete the duplicate files.

Note: To use Cloud Duplicate Finder, first make sure that you trust it. You have to allow it to access your Google account and gives it permission to access and delete your Google Drive files. Below are the steps.

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

Filerev is an app that helps remove duplicate files and other unnecessary files from Google Drive automatically. It is also available as Google Drive add-on, which is more convenient. With 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. If you want, you can upgrade to Premium plan to select specific folders to scan.
• It also finds hidden files, empty files and empty folders, and other useless files in Google Drive.
• You are allowed to filter the search results for duplicate files based on creation date, file type, and more.
• The preview feature is available only for images.
• It helps select oldest/newest files in each duplicates set.
• The deleted duplicate files will be moved to Google Drive Trash.

If you don’t have personal and sensitive files in your account, using this add-on to find duplicates in Google Drive is a good choice.

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. In the free version, you are allowed to delete up to 500 files per month.

 

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

Google Drive offers built-in Advanced search and Sort features to help you manually find duplicate files in it. 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. Select Grid layout in the upper right corner, which can help you view and find duplicate images more easily.

If you're trying to find duplicate documents, audios, and other types of duplicate files in Google Drive, the List layout would be better.

5. Sort files by Most relevant.

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.