Unintended Duplicate Files

I recommend the program called duplicate files deleter, very reliable and safe when using it.

How about if I don't use the Organizer? I've only been using the Editor. I always, however, have checked the "Save in Version Set with the Original" box (which I now realize wasn't necessary) and, I believe, the "Save As Copy" box. Would either checked box possibly account for the duplicates I'm finding on my external hard drive? I'm sorry for my being such a dummy.

With Elements 10 (I just upgraded to Elements 15), I also always used to get a dialogue box that said something like "Would you like to update this file?" (I'm sure the word update was always in there.) I would always say yes, just because it seemed like the sensible to do, not because I read or heard anything about that being the right thing to do. Might that have caused duplicates? Or, if not, was it right to say yes to updating? Again, sorry if I'm being too dummy-ish.

gomerhodge  wrote In checking files transferred to an external drive, I noticed that there seem to be lots of unintended duplicate files, which seems to me to be a redundancy that can unnecessarily use up storage space

About duplicates, read those recent discussions carefully.

https://forums.adobe.com/inbox

I've read/heard that unwanted duplication is a common issue with Elements (and maybe Lightroom too).

There are more complaints about the fact that Elements prevents importing duplicates

When you check 'files transferred to an external drive', you are seeing possible duplicates on your computer, which does not mean duplicates in your catalogs.

The key here is that you can get duplicates on your computer in various ways other than using the download module of the organizer. Even if you use the downloader with its filter for not importing duplicates, you can still re-download duplicate files in other catalogs.

Remember that for the organizer, a duplicate file would be a file with the same size in kilobytes and date_taken. Files with the same name are not necessarily duplicates, they can be totally different pictures named the same by your camera(s). They will be imported ok as expected.

Might there be a box that I've checked somewhere along the line that would cause such duplication to happen?

The downloader has this option by default. It should show only non duplicate files at import time. Anyway, if you ignore that option, the files may be downloaded (but renamed with a suffix), however they should be filtered and not included in the catalog.

Years ago, there was discussions about possible problems with the downlaoder on Macs. No definitive explanation have been found, perhaps minimal size changes on account of new metadata or effects in the download process like red-eye removal... I don't know anything about Macs, but I have not foune such complaints recently.