Delete Duplicate Photos from Elements Organizer

[georged89638796]

Is there a way to delete duplicate photos other than marking them one at a time?

I have 8000 photos in my Catalog and several are duplicates! I'm not quire sure how these duplicates were generated.

[MichelBParis]

georged89638796  wrote

Is there a way to delete duplicate photos other than marking them one at a time?

You could find a number of posts about getting rid of duplicates in Elements or outside Elements...

Two interesting points in your own question:

I have 8000 photos in my Catalog and several are duplicates!

You seem to be astonished to see duplicates in a catalog...

I'm not quire sure how these duplicates were generated.

and you don't know how those duplicates were generated.

Well the question would be better answered if you had said 'were imported'.

The organizer does not 'generate' anything on its own. Only you can issue orders to 'duplicate' or 'export' files.

Two fundamental distinctions:

1 - The database function in the catalog tries to insure no duplicates can be registered/indexed if you try to 'import' them. That's a basic programming rule for managing databases. So, when you want to 'import' files in the catalog, there is a check for duplicates based on two criteria (among others): file size in kilobytes and date taken of the photo. Such duplicates won't be imported, they are ignored.

2 - Before getting the files in the catalog, the photos must come from your camera, your scans, your web browsing or any other source. That's the main problem for duplicates on your computer. There are many possibilities to get duplicates in that 'downloading' phase. The most current complaint is when you are 'importing' (downloading) files from a camera card. The downloader module has the option to import only new files. The files on the card are compared to the ones in the current catalog for size and date, and only new ones should be imported. It seems the above criteria don't insure 100% safety. It may be because of downloader options like red eye correction changing the size or similar traps. It has not been very clear why there was a number of problems on older Macs...

So, you are talking about duplicates 'in the catalog', not 'in the computer'.

If you consider visually similar files as duplicates, they are not for the database. In that case, there is a way to search for visually similar files in the organizer.

If you find pictures which are duplicates (same size/date) in your catalog (even with different filenames), you'll have to search for differences in the files properties, particularly in which 'import batch' they were imported.

I hope the above will help you so that you can ask for more targeted help.

[Old&Impatient]

Arrogant and useless response.  How about a How To instead.

[Greg_S.]

Well that makes a good match for your question. Had you bothered to scroll down a couple of posts, you would find two very specific How To solutions to the original poster's problem.  If those responses don't satisfy you, how about telling us exactly what your problem is (other than your age and lack of patience). 

I suggest you start a new thread since you have posted in the middle of this 3 year old one.  Unfortunately, with the way this forum is set up, your post is buried and you will likely get a lot older and more impatient before it is seen again.

[Texian52]

Hard to understand the necessity of the rude response.

[eugenek61094492]

What a rude and condescending response.  The question was , is there a simpler way to remove duplicates?, but you totally ignored the question  amd chose to berate the individual instead.  

[MichelBParis]

@eugenek61094492 and @be100702 

What a rude and condescending response.  The question was , is there a simpler way to remove duplicates?, but you totally ignored the question  amd chose to berate the individual instead.  

By @eugenek61094492

The correct answer is there is no simple way to remove duplicates. The official solution to search by visual similarity may partly work for the small catalog of the original poster.

Now you are happy?

Don't shoot the messenger for the bad news.

I did not berate anyone, take the time to read the entire discussion. I am always trying to be positive and help even in difficult situations. That can require spending a lot of time to understand the particular issue, explain what can be explained and suggest troubleshooting steps and workarounds. Best to start a new discussion with your particular situation which is only one of the multiple duplicate issues in other discussions.

[Dhananjay Sati]

Hi georged,

Thanks for posting in Adobe forums.

I understand you are facing issue with duplicate photos in Organizer.

Can we follow the following steps

Click “Find”

Click “By Visual Searches”

Click “Duplicate Photos”

You will get an interface where you see all your duplicate pictures

You get these options that you can use according to your choice “Stack” , “Unstack” or “Remove from Catalog”

Hope this helps

Thanks

Regards

Dhananjay

[georged89638796]

Sorry, but this did not work for me. I am using Elements v9 loaded on W10 and my FIND tab does no have "By Visual Searches", the neares thing is "By Visual Similarity with Selected Photos or Videos". Can I get help to delete duplicates for Elements 9 Organizer?

[MichelBParis]

See:

Photoshop Elements 6/7/8 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

[teresab73278657]

Thank you for your very concise answer with photos.  This was very helpful since I have Elements 15 and couldn't find the answer easily anywhere else. 

[be100702]

I find that it is not true. PS elements DOES generate duplicates, I have had upto 20 identical entries -file name, location size.

The problem I have that I find the duplicates and stack them but cannot get rid of the batches except on a one-by-one basis

What do you want to do ?

New mailCopy

[yachikag68482697]

Hi,

Could you please confirm the source of those media files. Were they imported from File Explorer or a camera device?

Thanks,

Yachika