Forum Discussion
How to delete duplicate files in Google drive?
My Google Drive has become a total mess. There are so many duplicate files in there. I must clean the drive but do not know how to safely remove the copies. Manual search is not an option due to the...
How to delete duplicate files in google drive? Here's a step-by-step approach:
1. Download Your Files to Your Computer
- Download your entire Google Drive or specific folders to your local computer using Google Drive’s Backup & Sync tool or Google Drive's web interface.
- This allows you to use desktop tools to scan for duplicates.
2. Use Desktop Duplicate File Removal Tools
- Once files are on your computer, you can use free or built-in tools to identify and delete duplicates, use PowerShell scripts, as previously mentioned. Or, use free duplicate file finders.
3. Manually Review and Delete Duplicates
- Use the duplicate file finder tools to identify duplicate files.
- Carefully review the duplicates to ensure they are identical or that you want to delete them.
- Delete the duplicates to free up space on your local disk.
4. Re-upload Cleaned Files to Google Drive
- After removing duplicates locally, upload the cleaned set of files back to Google Drive.
- Organize files into folders if needed, and delete the old versions from Google Drive.
5. Use Google Drive Web Interface to Delete files in Google Drive
- You can manually select files in Drive (by holding Ctrl or Shift) and delete multiple duplicates at once.
Remember to empty the trash to permanently free space.