Remove duplicates

SnapAtlas™ finds two kinds of duplicates: exact duplicates — identical files, recognized by a digital fingerprint of their contents — and visual duplicates — photos that look the same but were resized, re-saved, cropped, or burst-shot. Exact copies are safe to remove; look-alikes get your eye first.

1. Scan for duplicates

Click Dedup in the toolbar to scan your whole library, or right-click a folder and choose find duplicates from here to check just that part. To find only look-alikes — burst shots, edited versions — use the Similar button instead.

Already looking at a photo? Right-click it and choose Find Similar Images to check its relatives without scanning everything.

2. Review what it found

Open the Duplicates tab. Photos arrive as groups — copies of the same shot or scenes with several near-identical frames — and each group explains why its photos were matched.

• Show — narrow to All, Exact, or Similar duplicates.
• Where — Unconfirmed (still to review), All, or Confirmed.
• At least …% similar — tighten or loosen what counts as a look-alike.
• Select All / Deselect All — mark the current view quickly.

If visual matching flags too many unrelated photos — or misses obvious copies — tighten the At least …% similar filter (or the slider in Find Similar results) until the groups look right.

3. Mark what you don't want

Marked files move to a Files to Delete review folder — not the Recycle Bin, not the void. Marking never deletes anything; you can take another look and restore anything with one click.

4. Verify, then confirm

Click Verify in the toolbar. SnapAtlas™ re-checks every staged file against your library and only counts it as a duplicate when a matching copy is still there — you can check that list yourself before anything is removed.

• Put Back Where It Was restores a file marked by mistake.
• Unmatched files stay put. A staged file with no surviving copy in your library is left in place and flagged — "the only copy, no match in your library" — so a unique photo can't be removed by accident.
• Then choose the finish: Move All Verified to Files to Delete keeps them in review, or Move All Verified to Recycle Bin completes the cleanup.

Tip: run Dedup in What-If mode first to see how many duplicates exist without moving a single file.