Consolidate duplicates does not work

Report · Sep 30, 2021

I have big project with some dupes in it. So when I try to use "Edit > Consolidate Duplicates" it does nothing.

So I ended up cleaning all project to three clips that are linked to exact same raw footage, no proxies attached and I nothing else in project panel, just those three clips:

Still "Consolidate Duplicates" does nothing. Maybe I should look for some other places where Premiere thinks that those are different clips? Any ideas?

Report · Oct 01, 2021

Hi there,

We're sorry about the poor experience. Let us know the version of Premiere Pro that you are using. Is this happening specifically with braw clips or is it also happening with other formats? Also, please try resetting app preferences to isolate any preference corruption issue that might be causing the app to misbehave.

Thanks,

Sumeet

Report · Oct 08, 2021

Hi,

my premiere version is 15.4.1

I don't know about other types of files, just had a case with blackmagic files.

Resetting preferences did nothing.

I can send you prproj for examination if you wish.

Tair

Report · Nov 21, 2021

I find the same premiere behavior in versions 15-22.

Sometimes, if those clips are in root bin of project, command works.

But if the clips are in different bins or imported from another project - theres no reaction at all.

No matter what kind of clip - .braw, .mp4, .r3d, .mov, .wave or pix sequence.

I find it very disapointing and i`ve got the only question - why that command still in menu?

May be it would be reasonable just to remove it and do not mystify users?

Report · Oct 08, 2021

I can get this with RED r3d files on import at times. The file will show up three times. I have to manually delete the additional "clips". A bit of a pita ...

Neil

Report · Mar 02, 2022

Yes, I wish we had preferences for the behaviour of "consolidate duplicates", as for relinking.

I don't know if it's a help to you, but this is my checklist for getting CD to work. At least it may help others that browses for this question:

-Make absolutly sure the clip names are identical with the file names on disk. I use Proxy->Reconnect Full Resolution Media to be sure, reconnecting to the same original media. Observe: Premiere interprets the old path as the new proxy.

-Detatch all proxies, even if you don't think you got them, premiere sometimes believe you do...

-Interpret footage must be identical (wish they could add a warning for this, with override possibility)

-Audio mapping must be identical (wish they could add a warning for this, with override possibility)

-Check with one file first and observe where files gets deleted. I used to believe that it deleted the instance high in the hierarchy, as premiere would presume an instance deeper in the hierarchy was more organized. But it doesn't seem to always be the case. I suspect it prioritizes to keep instances linked to sequences, or if there are logged metadata, for instance. This is where it woul've been very valuable to have som options in the interface.

Report · Mar 02, 2022

Last point got wrong: not "where files gets deleted" but "where instances gets deleted"

Report · Mar 08, 2022

wow, that's great checklist, I'l try it next time, thanx!

Report · Dec 10, 2022

I'm commenting just to reaffirm how awesome this checklist is. It just solved my issues in seconds.

As you mention - would be great if it simply told us the issue that prevents consolidation, and had an overide option. But that would be too easy!

Report · May 10, 2022

This is a very weird discovery I just came across... At least it works on my Premiere version which is 22.3.1, and maybe it's helpful for you:

I have two exact duplicates, and no matter if they're in root bin of project, or if I select both of them before clicking Consolidate Duplicates, it won't work... BUT if I right click and check "Modify -> Audio channels", and accept, on both clips, without applying any changes to the clips; and then click CD (while these two clips are selected), they will automatically consolidate. Weird, but it works! It's like a way of reminding Premiere "hey... can't you see these are the SAME file?"

Report · May 21, 2022

This may be tedious if you have alot of footage but..

You can consolidate duplicates one by one if you replace your duplicate clip with the same file. Then you can hit "consolidate duplicates" again and it just works.

Report · Oct 02, 2022

I'm having the same issue. Instead of actually working I'm going from one problem to another, wasting my time. It just feels like Adobe don't truly care about the product and users. Maybe I should've chosen Final Cut instead.

Wouldn't be surprised if people are still having this problem in 2 years from now. (*cough* adobe...).

UPDATE: the workaround I found for now is to close and reopen the project again and again, click consolidate duplicates again, until all are removed. Sometimes media offline > relinking media also works. THIS FEATURE IS TOTALLY BROKEN AND UNEXPECTED.

Report · Oct 13, 2022

I second this. Consolidate Duplicates does seem to still be broken. Closing and re-opening the project does not work as a work around on my end. Help!

Report · Oct 13, 2022

The feature is broken, adobe should fix it, but I'm not hopeful anytime soon, if at all.

But anyway for now, are your dups being linked to the same source files exactly? Try opening a new project and just bring different files multiple times and test it, to understand if the problem is with your first files or not

Report · Feb 01, 2023

Agreed. It has never worked for me. Come on Adobe. It be nice if they'd at least tell us ..I'm sure they are aware by now.

Report · Jul 26, 2024

Coming up to 2 years and I am reading this because I am having this problem

Report · Mar 16, 2023

This is so dumb but I found a very cumbersome workaround.

The Audio Channels and Interpret Footage of the assets has to be the same for each clip. To check this r-click on each file, go to Modify > Audio Channels... and Modify > Interpret Footage...

Make sure you click OK on both the Audio Channel and Interpret Footage windows, do not click CANCEL. Even if you never changed the Audio Channels or Interpret Footage settings you might have to do this to get the files to consolidate. Run Consolidate Duplicates again and it should get rid of one of the files.

This happened to me when I imported an old project into a newer version, many of the files would not consolidate despite having the same settings. Adobe, please fix this.

Report · May 05, 2023

Hello ALL!

I believe I've found the solution!!

It's a workaround but it has worked from my testing, let me know if it works for you.

Take your project and export out an XML of the entire project.

The open up a new project and import the XML

For some reason it brings all the timelines in but only ONE instance of the media!!

Hope this worked for everyone else!

Report · May 05, 2023

What a cool hack!

Report · May 31, 2023

Fascinating. Whatever made you think of this as a possible solution?

Report · May 31, 2023

I would expect simply that this worked as a practical matter for *now*.

I like to see practical useful things, personally. Not as a substitute for fixing issues but simply to get stuff done now.

Neil

Report · Dec 17, 2023

I'm just commenting to confirm that I tested this and it worked!

Report · Jun 04, 2023

It's not working on my mac running 23.4.0

but its working on my team running 23.1.0

tried both new projects and projects with XML imported.

Report · Oct 13, 2023

I wanted to echo what maiathesun says here. I banged my head against the wall trying to get this working again and his 'Modify' tip worked. My example is I already had footage imported in Premiere. I wanted to import an XML from Resolve that had some edits. I import the XML, it creates duplicate clips. I run Consolidate Duplicates, it doesn't work....

First I tried modify > Audio channels on the newly imported clips from the Resolve XML. This didn't work either. Then I noticed the Resolve clips had Mono 2 channel selected. But the clips I had already imported had Stereo 2 channel selected. I ran Modify > Audio Channels on my original imported footage, changed the audio channels to match new resolve clips. Ran Consolidate Duplicates again, and it worked! It removed all of the newly imported clips, keeping my originals intact and the edits in the new sequence using the single reference of the clip. Hope this helps someone.

Report · Oct 13, 2023

Thanks for the detailed post!