In the era of smartphones, people are taking more photos than ever before. If you’re like most people, you may take a dozen photos from a single angle.
And if you’re a photography buff, the issue is probably worse. You may take photos on several different devices and then have to sort through them all in a single space.
Since the Mac offers excellent photo editing software, many photography lovers choose to use this as their base of operations. The trouble is, how can you delete all those duplicate photos on this computer?
Duplicate photos, as you probably know, can be really annoying for photographers. You may find that you’ve edited multiple duplicates or that you can’t find the photo you want in your overloaded storage.
If you want to rid yourself of those unwanted pictures, look no further! In this guide, we’ll explore how to delete duplicate photos on Mac. Let’s jump right in!
How to Find Duplicate Photos on Mac
There are two ways to delete duplicate photos on a Mac. First, you can use specific software to help you find and delete unwanted pictures.
Alternatively, you can try deleting duplicate photos on Mac manually. This process can be time-consuming.
Manually deleting duplicates forces you to search several folders and find the image copies. If you use macOS features like Smart Albums or Smart Folders, you may have an easier time with this.
Fortunately, the Photos app can automatically detect any duplicate images when you import them to the computer. However, Photos can’t locate duplicates that you’ve already stored in your library.
There are still ways to find duplicates, though. For example, Photos lets you sort your pictures by the date on which you took them.
Most of the time, people take duplicate photos on the same day. So, this sorting method can help you find the pics you want to delete. Otherwise, you can use other sorting methods to find the ones you need.
How to Delete Duplicate Photos on Mac
As we’ve already mentioned, Photos has ways of helping you sort your pictures. This feature allows you to create a new Smart Album and fill it with images that meet defined criteria. By doing so, you can more easily gather your duplicates into one place and delete them.
So, how do you do this? In this section, we’ll outline the process.
First, open the Photos app. Then, click File and select New Smart Album.
When you do this, you’ll see a pop-up window that displays different filtering criteria. Set the criteria, then choose a Smart Album Name.
Once you’ve named the album, it’s time to get to work. Select the duplicate pictures. From there, control-click any of the selected images and click the Delete button.
Sometimes, people accidentally delete things they don’t mean to erase. Apple’s software understands this.
So, once you click Delete, you’ll receive another pop-up that asks for confirmation. When this pop-up displays, click Delete again.
If you’re sure you didn’t accidentally delete anything you meant to keep, go to the Recently Deleted section of your sidebar. In the top right corner, you’ll see a Delete All option.
Taking this extra step ensures that you won’t store those deleted photos in the app’s storage space for an additional 30 days. Afterward, you should be free to continue your work with many fewer duplicates. You can return to your Smart Album later to do a routine cleanup.
Using Finder to Locate Duplicates
Duplicates have a strange way of accumulating with time and spreading to the furthest reaches of your computer storage. Instead of them all arriving in your Pictures folder, you may find them in Downloads, Documents, or Desktop.
Left to your own devices, this could make finding all the duplicates on your computer a nightmare. Fortunately, Macs offer another solution. You can use the Finder App to create Smart Folders and set criteria to fill them with duplicate photos.
First, open the Finder window. Then, click File and select New Smart Folder.
From there, select This Mac, then click + in the upper-right hand corner.
Next, click Kind in the first drop-down menu, then Image in the second. Here, you can scan for duplicate images with ease.
Then, select the pictures you want to delete. Control-click these photos and select Move to Trash. Once again, if you’re sure you got the right items, you can empty the Trash.
Emptying the trash frees up significant amounts of room on your hard drive. Over time, several things can accumulate that make your hard drive partitioned. You can learn more about how to clear out its space https://setapp.com/how-to/unpartition-hard-drive.
Using Software Options to Delete Duplicates
As you’ve seen, most ways to delete duplicates involve manual solutions. Sometimes, you can use apps to do it more quickly. However, in most cases, you’ll likely find the process to be time-consuming and frustrating.
However, there are non-manual ways to do this as well. The most common approach is to use software to do the work for you.
Multiple software solutions can do the task. One of the most popular options on the market is MacKeeper.
MacKeeper uses a Duplicates Finder feature that lets you locate and delete duplicates with ease. Its most updated version can even find blurred pictures you may want to erase!
Start Deleting Duplicate Photos on Mac
With this Mac guide, we hope you now know how to delete duplicate photos on Mac! Although it may take some time, this process can help you find and erase all the images you want to get rid of.
If you’d like to speed this process up, you can also consider software solutions to help. Either way, you can get started clearing your hard drive of wasted space today.
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