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We all love capturing our beautiful moments and keeping them alive through photos. The thought of storing them on our devices for easy access and allowing us time to cherish the beautiful moments one more time is always something to behold.
However, those stunning photos and videos you capture with your iPhones can quickly consume a significant chunk of your computer’s storage space. The issue exacerbates when duplicates begin to infiltrate your Photos library.
In this blog, we’ll walk you through deleting duplicate photos on your Mac. So, if the duplicity of your Photos library has been a constant headache, sit back and learn something today!
Understanding the impact of duplicate photos on your Mac
Duplicate photos can have a significant impact on your Mac in different ways, including:
1. Storage consumption
One of the most immediate impacts of duplicate photos is the amount of storage space they occupy. Duplicate photos can quickly accumulate, especially if you frequently import images from different devices or copy and paste them into various folders.
This redundancy can consume a significant portion of your storage, leaving less room for new photos, videos, or other essential files.
2. Performance degradation
Beyond storage concerns, having a large number of duplicate photos affects the performance of your Mac. Too many versions of the same image will consume valuable resources, including processing power and memory, causing your Mac to run slowly.
3. Time and effort wasted
Managing a cluttered photo library is a time-consuming endeavor. Each duplicate requires manual identification, comparison, and deletion, which can quickly become a tedious and repetitive task. Not only does this waste your valuable time, but it also detracts from the joy of browsing and sharing your cherished memories.
4. Organizational challenges
Duplicate photos can disrupt the organization and categorization of your photo library. They must be clearer about automatic sorting algorithms and facial recognition features, resulting in mislabeled photos and disorganized albums.
Tips to delete duplicate photos on Mac
Use the following practical tips and techniques to help delete duplicate photos on your Mac.
1. Manual identification and deletion
One straightforward approach to tackling duplicate photos is manually identifying and deleting them. Begin by organizing your photo library and sorting images by date or event. Be cautious about retaining the highest-quality version and deleting the rest. While this method can be time-consuming, it offers complete control over the deletion process.
2. Leverage built-in Mac tools
macOS provides several built-in tools that can assist you in managing duplicate photos. The Finder’s Smart Folders feature allows you to create custom search criteria to locate duplicate files based on attributes such as file name, size, and creation date. Once identified, you can delete the duplicates directly from the Smart Folder, simplifying the process.
3. Use third-party software
If manual deletion seems overwhelming or time constraints prevent you from investing significant effort, consider using third-party software such as the Mac cleanup utility. These tools employ advanced algorithms to analyze file content and other characteristics to identify duplicates accurately.
4. Consider cloud-based solutions
Utilize cloud-based storage solutions such as iCloud Photos and Google Photos. They provide built-in duplicate detection and management features automatically identifying and organizing duplicate photos.
Leveraging the power of the cloud will allow you to free up storage space on your Mac with the added benefit of accessing your photos from any device.
5. Regular organization and maintenance
Prevention is better than cure when it comes to managing duplicate photos. Establish a regular habit of organizing and maintaining your photo library. This includes deleting unwanted photos promptly and staying vigilant about organizing images into well-defined folders or albums.
With this approach, You can always minimize duplicates and keep your photo collection clutter-free.
Steps to delete duplicate photos on a Mac running macOS Ventura
If your Mac is running on macOS Ventura, you’re in luck! This latest macOS has powerful built-in features that allow easier duplicate photo deletion to reclaim valuable storage space.
Below is a step-by-step process:
Update to macOS Ventura
First, ensure that your Mac is running macOS Ventura. If you haven’t already upgraded to this version, you can easily navigate to the Apple menu and proceed with the update process.
- Select System Preferences
- Click on Software Update
Follow the prompts to download and install macOS Ventura on your Mac.
Launch the Photos App
Once you’ve updated to macOS Ventura, launch the Photos app on your Mac. You can find it in the Applications folder or use Spotlight to search for it quickly.
Scan for duplicate photos
Click on the Library tab in the Photos app to view your entire photo collection after enabling the duplicate photo detection feature. macOS Ventura will begin scanning your photo library for duplicates in the background.
Review and select duplicate photos
After scanning, navigate to the Photos tab in the Photos app to a section labeled Duplicates. Click on it to view the detected duplicate photos. macOS Ventura will display these duplicates side by side. So you can easily compare and select the best versions to keep.
Choose the best version and merge duplicates
Go to each pair of duplicate photos and carefully review them. Choose the version you want to keep based on photo resolution, image quality, and metadata.
Click the Merge button after selecting the pair you want to keep. macOS Ventura will combine the selected duplicate photos, creating a more enhanced version.
Delete unwanted duplicate photos
You don’t need the unwanted copies after merging the duplicates. So, select the duplicates you wish to delete them. macOS Ventura will remove them from your photo library, freeing up valuable storage space.
Verify and organize your photo library
Verify that your library is free of duplicates and that each image is unique and correctly organized. You can also take this opportunity to organize your collection by sorting photos into relevant folders.
How can I avoid duplicate photos on my Mac?
Deleting duplicate photos on your Mac isn’t the only solution to keeping your photo library neat and organized. You need to find a way to prevent duplicate photo accumulation so that you don’t have much to deal with in the future.
Here are simple methods to make your photo library use less space while looking better.
Connect all of your Apple devices to one account.
Your Mac, iPhone and iPad should share the same Apple ID in the first place. This ensures that you don’t operate several IDs across all your devices, as it might cause images not to sync, resulting in duplicate photos.
Sort your photo library as soon as possible
One of the reasons duplicate photos accumulate on your Mac is that you didn’t sort them out as soon as possible. Sometimes you may take many photos while away, with a good chance of photographing a similar setting many times.
As a result, you’ll end up with too many duplicates of the same image. Always take time to check your photo library and clean any photographs that look like identical images of an existing version.
Final thoughts
It’s crucial to pay attention to the impact of a disorganized photo library on your Mac’s performance. As a Mac user, you need to ensure your photo library remains clutter-free by removing duplicate photos that may be eating up too much space.
Remember, you can still relish your cherished memories without duplicates filling up your Mac’s storage. So, take control of your photo library today and do the necessary—get rid of all the unnecessary photos and embrace the satisfaction of an organized digital photo collection.