Find Duplicates

Drive Toolbox can identify files with identical content by comparing MD5 checksums. This guide walks through finding duplicates and cleaning them up.

Using the Viewpoints Panel

The fastest way to find duplicates — no scripting needed.

Step 1: Open the Duplicates Tab

Open the Viewpoints Panel and click the Duplicates tab. Drive Toolbox scans your synced file metadata and groups files with identical MD5 checksums.

Each group shows a sample filename and the number of copies.

Step 2: Review Duplicates

Expand a group to see individual files with their parent folder paths. This helps you identify which copy is the "original" and which are duplicates.

Step 3: Filter and Act

Click a duplicate group to filter the file table to all copies of that file. From there:

1. Review each copy and its location
2. Select the copies you want to remove
3. Click Delete to move them to trash

The original file stays in place. Deleted files go to Google Drive's trash where you can review before permanently removing them.

Using the Duplicates Filter

You can also find duplicates using the filter system:

has_duplicates:equals:true

This filters the file table to only files that have at least one duplicate. You can combine this with other filters:

has_duplicates:equals:true AND size:gt:10MB

This finds large files that have duplicates — a good place to start when freeing up storage.

Tips

• Scope by folder — use the folder scope selector to look for duplicates within a specific folder tree
• Check locations — a "duplicate" might be intentional if it lives in a different shared context
• Start with large files — deleting duplicate large files frees up the most space
• Use the search bar in the Viewpoints Panel to find duplicates of a specific file by name

Learn More

• Viewpoints Panel — The Duplicates tab
• Delete — Batch delete operations
• Filtering Overview — Building filters