TL;DR
To find, merge, and delete duplicate photos on Mac:
- Open the Photos app on your Mac.
- Go to the Duplicates tab in the sidebar.
- Select the duplicate photos you want to merge.
- Click Merge Photos to keep the original and remove the duplicates.
Tried and Tested ✅: The methods and steps mentioned in this article have been tried and tested firsthand by Ojash Yadav on his MacBook Pro M3 and rechecked for errors on Hashir’s MacBook Air M2.
Sorting through photos can feel like a never-ending task, especially when you keep finding duplicates. I went through this on my Mac and found a few simple ways to fix it. Let me show you three easy methods to clean up your library.
How to Find, Merge, and Delete Duplicate Photos on Mac
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In this section, I’ll walk you through the steps to find, merge, and delete duplicate photos on Mac, using three different methods:
Did You Know? Duplicates can be created when importing photos from multiple devices, especially if you’re syncing the same library across an iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
1. Find and Delete Duplicates With the Photos App
Use Apple’s built-in Photos app to manually find and merge duplicate photos without the need for additional software. Here’s how to find and delete duplicate photos on Mac with the Photos app:
- Open the Photos app by searching for Photos in Spotlight search (Command ⌘ + Space).
- In the Photos app, navigate to the Duplicates tab in the sidebar to see all your pictures.
- Select the duplicate photos you wish to merge. You can pick photos from a single row or from multiple rows to merge them all at once.
- Then, click Merge Photos.
- By doing so, your Mac will retain the original image and remove the duplicates.
2. Delete Duplicate Photos With an App
Third-party apps can quickly scan and remove duplicate photos, with MacKeeper being a popular option for automating the process. Let’s explore how to use MacKeeper’s Duplicates Finder to erase those redundant images effortlessly:
- Download and install MacKeeper on your Mac.
- Open MacKeeper on your Mac and click Duplicates Finder in the left sidebar.
- Click Start Scan.
- Select a folder in the left menu to review duplicate photos before deletion.
- Alternatively, you can click Check All and tap the Remove Selected button to remove all duplicate photos at once.
- Tap the Remove button on the pop-up to confirm the deletion.
- This will remove the selected photos, and you’ll get a Removal Completed message. Click Finish to end the process.
3. Find and Remove Duplicate Photos on Mac Via Finder
Use Finder’s Smart Folders to manually search and remove duplicate photos from your Mac. Here’s how to find and remove duplicate photos on Mac using Finder:
- Open Finder on your Mac.
- With a Finder window open, click File and then New Smart Folder.
- Click the + button in the top-right corner to add criteria for your search.
- Choose Kind, Image, and PNG, as the first, second, and third conditions.
- Click the + sign again, select Name, choose is, and type in copy.
- Then, click the Save button in the top-right corner.
- Specify a name and location for your Smart Folder and tap the Save button on the pop-up window.
- Manually go through the results to identify duplicate photos. Once you find duplicates, right-click them and select Move to Bin or drag them to the Bin.
- Don’t forget to empty the Trash on your Mac to remove the files permanently.
Given the broad search results, this might be a bit tedious.
Get Rid of Duplicate Photos on Mac
Having learned how to find, merge, and delete duplicate photos on Mac, you might be keen to further enhance your Mac’s performance and free up more storage space. Here are some pointers to set you on the right path:
- Remove all duplicate files from Mac to free up space.
- Clean your Mac regularly to prevent clutter.
- Delete old messages to free some space and quickly find important conversations.
