How to Find the Same Files in Different Folders/Directories?

If you're reading this, it means you're having a problem with duplicate files, or you can't find duplicate files in different folders or directories on your computer. However, knowing how to find duplicate files in different folders and deleting them is an essential skill, as they can easily creep up on any computer user.

Fortunately, there are ways you can not only find duplicate files in multiple folders and delete them, but also prevent them from reappearing. In this article, we'll share everything you need to know about how to find the same files in different folders or directories with different methods.

Part 1: Why do I have so many duplicate files on my computer?

Duplicate files come in a variety of sources. In addition to exact copies of files, you may have very similar images, music files that contain the same song ripped from different sources, or text documents that are almost the same but contain a few lines of unique text. Files downloaded multiple times are placed in different folders or drives, as time went by, the duplicate files are omitted by you and gradually occupy your disk space.

Part 2: Manually scan the duplicate files with Windows View

Windows provides users with several ways to view files and folders on their computer drives. Let's first look at what we can do manually.

Open Windows File Explorer, click View on the top taskbar and then select Details to sort out your files or folders.

If you have the same files, you can easily compare two files with the same name, size, creation date, etc. to determine if they are duplicates.

For extra assurance, you can also enable a Preview pane that lets you see what your folder or file contains, which is useful when comparing Microsoft Office documents, images, and more.

Part 3: Automatically detect the same files with third-party tool

Manually find files one by one, however, is time consuming and tedious, which it can't detect all duplicates efficiently. As a popular detection tool, DupFiles Genius can exactly identify all the same or similar files in which stored in various folders or directories with its advanced technology. It features high efficiency and accuracy which can bring you a refreshing experience.

Step 1: Download and install DupFiles Genius in your computer, then launch it.

Step 2: Choose one or more folder/drive to scan. Not only can you click Add button on the bottom right page but also you can click Delete button to remove a specific drive if necessary. Then click Next to continue.

Step 3: Customize your scan settings. In the Type bar, choose at least one type of files you want to detect, and as for the Settings bar, it depends on your scan requirements. After that, click Start scanning.

Note: If necessary, click Delete button to exclude the folder that don't have to be scanned.

Step 4: Select files to delete. The scanning report distinguishes different duplicate files with different colors, and you can choose to delete all the same files but one.

Furthermore, DupFiles Genius provides a query function, which you can right-click on the file and select Open file location to check file's location.

Tips: The scanning time varies by file size. The larger the file, the longer the time.

Step 5: After deciding which files need to be deleted, you can click Delete button and then click Yes to confirm.

If successfully delete files, click Ok to exit the program.