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200 lines
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Frequently Asked Questions
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==========================
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.. contents::
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What is dupeGuru?
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-----------------
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dupeGuru is a tool to find duplicate files on your computer. It can scan either filenames or
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contents. The filename scan features a fuzzy matching algorithm that can find duplicate
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filenames even when they are not exactly the same.
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dupeGuru also comes in two extra flavors: Music Edition and Picture Edition. These editions behave
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like the normal dupeGuru, but has specialized options.
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dupeGuru Music Edition [ME] is made to scan songs. It can base its scan on filenames, tags or
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contents. The filename and tag scans feature a fuzzy matching algorithm that can find duplicate
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filenames or tags even when they are not exactly the same.
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dupeGuru Picture Edition [PE] is made to scan pictures. Not only can it find exact matches, but it
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can also find duplicates among pictures of different kind (PNG, JPG, GIF etc..) and quality.
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What makes it better than other duplicate scanners?
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---------------------------------------------------
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The scanning engine is extremely flexible. You can tweak it to really get the kind of results you
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want. You can read more about dupeGuru tweaking option in :doc:`scan`.
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How safe is it to use dupeGuru?
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-------------------------------
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Very safe. dupeGuru has been designed to make sure you don't delete files you didn't mean to delete.
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First, there is the reference folder system that lets you define folders where you absolutely
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**don't** want dupeGuru to let you delete files there, and then there is the group reference system
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that makes sure that you will **always** keep at least one member of the duplicate group.
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The mark box of a file I want to delete is disabled. What must I do?
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--------------------------------------------------------------------
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You cannot mark the reference (The first file) of a duplicate group. However, what you can do is to
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promote a duplicate file to reference. Thus, if a file you want to mark is reference, select a
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duplicate file in the group that you want to promote to reference, and click on
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**Actions-->Make Selected into Reference**. If the reference file is from a reference folder
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(filename written in blue letters), you cannot remove it from the reference position.
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I have a folder from which I really don't want to delete files.
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---------------------------------------------------------------
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If you want to be sure that dupeGuru will never delete file from a particular folder, make sure to
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set its state to **Reference** at :doc:`folders`.
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What is this '(X discarded)' notice in the status bar?
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------------------------------------------------------
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In some cases, some matches are not included in the final results for security reasons. Let me use
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an example. We have 3 file: A, B and C. We scan them using a low filter hardness. The scanner
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determines that A matches with B, A matches with C, but B does **not** match with C. Here, dupeGuru
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has kind of a problem. It cannot create a duplicate group with A, B and C in it because not all
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files in the group would match together. It could create 2 groups: one A-B group and then one A-C
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group, but it will not, for security reasons. Lets think about it: If B doesn't match with C, it
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probably means that either B, C or both are not actually duplicates. If there would be 2 groups (A-B
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and A-C), you would end up delete both B and C. And if one of them is not a duplicate, that is
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really not what you want to do, right? So what dupeGuru does in a case like this is to discard the
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A-C match (and adds a notice in the status bar). Thus, if you delete B and re-run a scan, you will
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have a A-C match in your next results.
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I want to mark all files from a specific folder. What can I do?
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---------------------------------------------------------------
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Enable the :doc:`Dupes Only <results>` mode and click on the Folder column to sort your duplicates
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by folder. It will then be easy for you to select all duplicates from the same folder, and then
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press Space to mark all selected duplicates.
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I want to remove all files that are more than 300 KB away from their reference file. What can I do?
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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* Enable the :doc:`Dupes Only <results>` mode.
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* Enable the **Delta Values** mode.
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* Click on the "Size" column to sort the results by size.
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* Select all duplicates below -300.
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* Click on **Remove Selected from Results**.
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* Select all duplicates over 300.
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* Click on **Remove Selected from Results**.
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I want to make my latest modified files reference files. What can I do?
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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* Enable the :doc:`Dupes Only <results>` mode.
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* Enable the **Delta Values** mode.
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* Click on the "Modification" column to sort the results by modification date.
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* Click on the "Modification" column again to reverse the sort order.
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* Select all duplicates over 0.
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* Click on **Make Selected into Reference**.
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I want to mark all duplicates containing the word "copy". How do I do that?
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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* Type "copy" in the "Filter" field in the top-right corner of the result window.
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* Click on **Mark --> Mark All**.
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I want to remove all songs that are more than 3 seconds away from their reference file. What can I do?
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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*ME only*
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* Enable the :doc:`Dupes Only <results>` mode.
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* Enable the **Delta Values** mode.
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* Click on the "Time" column to sort the results by time.
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* Select all duplicates below -00:03.
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* Click on **Remove Selected from Results**.
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* Select all duplicates over 00:03.
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* Click on **Remove Selected from Results**.
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I want to make my highest bitrate songs reference files. What can I do?
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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*ME only*
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* Enable the :doc:`Dupes Only <results>` mode.
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* Enable the **Delta Values** mode.
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* Click on the "Bitrate" column to sort the results by bitrate.
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* Click on the "Bitrate" column again to reverse the sort order.
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* Select all duplicates over 0.
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* Click on **Make Selected into Reference**.
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I don't want [live] and [remix] versions of my songs counted as duplicates. How do I do that?
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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If your comparison threshold is low enough, you will probably end up with live and remix
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versions of your songs in your results. There's nothing you can do to prevent that, but there's
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something you can do to easily remove them from your results after the scan: post-scan
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filtering. If, for example, you want to remove every song with anything inside square brackets
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[]:
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* Type "[*]" in the "Filter" field in the top-right corner of the result window.
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* Click on **Mark --> Mark All**.
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* Click on **Actions --> Remove Selected from Results**.
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The "Filter Hardness" slider in the preferences won't move!
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-----------------------------------------------------------
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This slider is only relevant for scan types that support "fuzziness". Many scan types, such as the
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"Contents" type, only support exact matches. When these types are selected, the slider is disabled.
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On some OS, the fact that it's disabled is harder to see than on others, but if you can't move the
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slider, it means that this preference is irrelevant in your current scan type.
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I've tried to send my duplicates to Trash, but dupeGuru is telling me it can't do it. Why? What can I do?
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Most of the time, the reason why dupeGuru can't send files to Trash is because of file permissions.
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You need *write* permissions on files you want to send to Trash. If you're not familiar with the
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command line, you can use utilities such as `BatChmod`_ to fix your permissions.
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If dupeGuru still gives you troubles after fixing your permissions, try enabling the "Directly
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delete files" option that is offered to you when you activate Send to Trash. This will not send
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files to the Trash, but delete them immediately. In some cases, for example on network storage
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(NAS), this has been known to work when normal deletion didn't.
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*PE only.* If you're trying to delete *iPhoto* pictures, then the reason for the failure is
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different. The deletion fails because dupeGuru can't communicate with iPhoto. Be aware that for the
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deletion to work correctly, you're not supposed to play around iPhoto while dupeGuru is working.
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Also, sometimes, the Applescript system doesn't seem to know where to find iPhoto to launch it. It
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might help in these cases to launch iPhoto *before* you send your duplicates to Trash.
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If all of this fail, `contact HS support`_, we'll figure it out.
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Why is dupeGuru PE so slower than other editions?
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-------------------------------------------------
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dupeGuru PE's scanning method is very different from dupeGuru's. dupeGuru PE can detect duplicate
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photos even if they are not exactly the same. This very cool capability has a cost: time. Every
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picture has to be individually and fuzzily matched to all others, and this takes a lot of CPU power.
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If all you need to find is exact duplicates, just use the standard edition of dupeGuru with the
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Contents scan method. If your photos have EXIF tags, you can also try PE's "EXIF" scan method which
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is much faster.
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Where are user files located?
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-----------------------------
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For some reason, you'd like to remove or edit dupeGuru's user files (debug logs, caches, etc.).
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Where they're located depends on your platform:
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* Linux: ``~/.local/share/data/Hardcoded Software/dupeGuru``
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* Mac OS X: ``~/Library/Application Support/dupeGuru``
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* Windows: ``\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Hardcoded Software\dupeGuru``
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Preferences are stored elsewhere:
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* Linux: ``~/.config/Hardcoded Software/dupeGuru.conf``
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* Mac OS X: In the built-in ``defaults`` system, as ``com.hardcoded-software.dupeguru``
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* Windows: In the registry, as ``HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Hardcoded Software\dupeGuru``
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For Music Edition and Picture Edition, replace "dupeGuru" by "dupeGuru Music Edition" and
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"dupeGuru Picture Edition".
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.. _BatChmod: http://www.lagentesoft.com/batchmod/index.html
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.. _contact HS support: http://www.hardcoded.net/support
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