How to Find and Delete OneDrive Duplicate Files All at Once

This article will show you how to easily find OneDrive duplicate files and quickly remove them all at once. OneDrive is a cloud-based storage and sync service from Microsoft. In addition to being included with the Office 365 subscription, OneDrive is also available for free. Each account comes with 5 GB free storage. As with any storage medium, there could be duplicate files in your OneDrive. Deleting duplicates in OneDrive can help you free up space and manage files more effectively.

2 types of duplicate files in OneDrive

There are two common types: OneDrive duplicate files with computer name and exact duplicate files.

The first type can be credential-related. If so, how do I stop OneDrive from duplicate files? Well, if you see such duplicates in your account, it could be time to refresh your credentials. And Microsoft provides instructions on how to do this. There is another possible cause. OneDrive creates duplicate file name with PC name when it detects a conflict. If a file is edited on multiple computers before it has had a chance to sync everywhere, this will happen. OneDrive saves different versions of the file to prevent data loss. In such a case, you can check the versions and decide which one(s) to delete or edit etc.

Now let’s talk about the second type, which is the focus of this article. If two files are exactly the same in content regardless of filename, you can consider them exact duplicate files. Will OneDrive upload duplicates? I did a test. File "A.jpg" was in my account. When I tried to upload the file again, the A file with this name already exists message appeared. I changed the file’s name to "B.jpg" and tried again, the file was uploaded. If there are exact duplicates in your OneDrive, it’s recommended to get rid of them.

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How to find and delete OneDrive duplicate files automatically

If there are a lot of files in your OneDrive, it will be time-consuming and tedious to manually find the duplicates. The easiest way is to use an OneDrive duplicate finder. This part will show you how to use such a tool on Mac and Windows. Let’s start with Mac.

Before getting started, please download and install the official OneDrive for Mac app. Sync OneDrive to your Mac. You can go to this section of the article for instructions. Note that you can access the app in menu bar at the top of your computer's screen.

1. Click OneDrive’s icon in the menu bar. If it says OneDrive is up to date, then the sync is finished.
2. Download and install the OneDrive duplicate finder. Open it.
3. Click the plus icon, select the OneDrive folder and click Open.
4. Click Scan.
5. The scan is done. The All tab lists the duplicate files found in your OneDrive. You can easily check and preview them. Also, you can view them by file type by going to the related tabs (e.g. Images).
6. The tool automatically selects duplicates for you to delete with one click. If not satisfied, use a desired selection rule instead.
7. Click Delete.
8. Click Yes.

Now the duplicate files are removed from the OneDrive folder on your computer. The OneDrive app will automatically detect and sync the changes right away, so the OneDrive duplicate files in the cloud are also deleted.

Below are some tips that may be useful.

In Step 3, if you add the entire OneDrive folder for scan, all the duplicates in it will be detected. To scan a subfolder in it, just add the subfolder. To look for duplicate files across multiple OneDrive subfolders, add them all.

Cisdem Duplicate Finder offers three preview modes, letting you preview photos, documents, audios and videos. In Step 5, you can preview OneDrive duplicate photos and other duplicates, if needed.

Bonus tips: How to set up and sync OneDrive

1. Open the OneDrive app. Sign in with your Microsoft account.
2. The Your OneDrive Folder interface lets you know the default location of your OneDrive folder. You can select a location of your choice.
3. In the Sync Your Files to This Mac interface, choose to sync all files and folders or only selected ones.
4. Wait for the sync to finish.

Now let’s talk about Windows.

If your computer is running Windows 10, then OneDrive is already installed on your computer. If not (or if your PC is running an earlier version of Windows), you need to download, install and set up the OneDrive for Windows app. The process is the same as on macOS. You can access the app in your taskbar. If you can't find the OneDrive icon there, click the Show hidden icons arrow.

1. Install Wise Duplicate Finder on your computer and open it.
2. In this OneDrive duplicate file finder, click the folder icon. In the Select folder window that pops up, choose Add Folder. Select the OneDrive folder on your PC and click OK.
3. Click the Scan button.
4. When scanning is complete, you will see a list of the found OneDrive duplicate photos and other duplicates.
5. Select the duplicate files that you want to eliminate.
6. Click the Delete Selected button.

Once it's done, the OneDrive app on your computer will sync the changes. You can go to OneDrive online to verity the removal of duplicates.

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How to handle OneDrive duplicate files manually

If your OneDrive only has a small number of files, then it’s possible to find duplicate files by hand.

1. Open your browser and go to https://onedrive.live.com/.
2. Sign in.
3. Go to My Files where you can find all the files in your account.
4. Click the view options menu and choose List.
5. Click the sort menu and choose Size. If two or more files are identical in file type and file size (and similar in filename), then changes are very good that they are duplicate files.
6. When it comes to OneDrive duplicate photos, you can right-click a photo and click Preview. To preview a document, you can open it with Microsoft Word Online.
7. Select the unwanted duplicate files and click Delete in the toolbar at the top.

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Conclusion

The OneDrive duplicate files issue is not uncommon. Different situations require different solutions. If your OneDrive creates duplicate files and adds computer name to the filename, then you can consider clearing credentials or recall if there is any update conflict. If the duplicate files are identical in content regardless of filename, you can remove the unwanted ones.