When WinCatalog finds duplicates (see Finding Duplicates of Files and Other Entries), you usually want to keep one copy from each group and get rid of the rest. Picking the copies by hand works for a dozen groups, but not for hundreds. WinCatalog can do it for you.

There are two ways to run the selection commands: the selection toolbar shown above the duplicate search results, and the Select submenu of the right-click menu. Both offer the same commands.

The selection toolbar

As soon as a duplicate search finishes, a toolbar appears above the results:

The toolbar starts with the word “Select:” followed by drop-down buttons: “by position”, “by size”, “by date”, “by path”, “by depth”, “by location”, and “more”. Each button opens a small menu with the commands described below. The “by location” button also contains the commands for connected and disconnected disks, and the “more” button holds “Select all”, “Select none”, and “Invert selection”.

Please note that the toolbar is shown when the results are displayed as a table; in the thumbnails view, please use the right-click menu instead.

The Select submenu

Alternatively, right-click the duplicate search results and point to Select:

Each command goes through every group of duplicates and selects the entries that match its rule. The new selection replaces the previous one, so you can try one command after another until the result looks right. When two entries in a group tie (for example, two copies with the same date), WinCatalog selects the first one. You can also re-sort the results by clicking a column header at any point - the selection is kept.

Selecting by position

“Select first entry in each group” and “Select last entry in each group” pick one entry per group, based on the current sort order. “Select all but first” and “Select all but last” do the opposite: they select every extra copy and leave one entry per group unselected, which is usually what you want before deleting.

Selecting by date and size

“Select newest in each group” and “Select oldest in each group” compare the Modified date; “Select all but newest” and “Select all but oldest” select the complement. “Select largest in each group”, “Select smallest in each group”, “Select all but largest”, and “Select all but smallest” work the same way with the file size.

Note that if the Modified date is one of the fields compared during the duplicate search, all dates inside a group are identical, so the date commands are disabled. The same applies to the size commands when Size is among the compared fields.

Selecting by path

These commands look at where each copy is stored. The physical path is the real path on the disk (for example, D:\Backups\2023\Photos\img001.jpg). The catalog path is the path inside your catalog, so virtual folders count too.

• “Select longest physical path in each group” and “Select shortest physical path in each group” compare the length of the path in characters.
• “Select deepest physical path in each group” and “Select shallowest physical path in each group” compare the number of folder levels instead.
• The four catalog path commands apply the same rules to the catalog path.

A typical use: the copy with the shortest or shallowest path is often the original, while copies buried deep in backup folders are the ones to remove.

Selecting by location

The location commands compare every copy to a starting entry: the entry you right-clicked, or, when the commands are run from the toolbar, the currently focused entry (please click an entry first). “Select entries on this drive” and “Select entries on other drives” split the results by drive; “Select entries in this folder” and “Select entries in other folders” split them by folder. For example, click a copy on your main drive and choose “Select entries on other drives” to select all copies stored elsewhere.

Connected and disconnected disks

“Select entries on connected disks” and “Select entries on disconnected disks” check which cataloged disks are currently attached to your computer. This helps when part of your collection lives on external drives: you can limit the selection to copies you can actually reach right now.

Select all, none, invert

“Select all”, “Select none”, and “Invert selection” live at the bottom of the Select submenu and under the “more” button of the toolbar. Invert is useful after any of the commands above: select the copies you want to keep, invert, and the selection now covers everything else.

A safety note

If a command would select every copy in some group, WinCatalog warns you before applying the selection. Deleting a complete group removes the file everywhere, and that is rarely what you want.

After each command the status line below the search results reports how many entries are selected. If some entries were skipped because their path could not be resolved, the status line mentions that as well.