Throw Away Duplicate Files...??? and other questions...

First off...I absolutely love Hazel...I work at an AppleStore and I recommend it all the time for it's simplicity, elegantly design and effectiveness...

A few questions about it's duplicate removal features...

Obviously automatically removing dupes can be disastrous. Generally I leave the "Throw away dupes" on the main page feature unchecked and I never check the "Throw away if dupe" for this reason.

I did recently turn it on though when trying to remove dupe music files from a folder, but it didn't really work that well. The dupes had a "-1" suffix and it missed them all even though they were exactly the same size files with the rest of the file name being the same too...

Was just wondering:

1. How does Hazel access what is a dupe...

2. If "Throw Away Dupe Files" is a global setting on the main page, is there a difference when it is only switched on in the rules area.

3. Which dupe would it throw away...The new one or the old one?

Any advice about this would be great...

Another question...

Also, is there a way I can get Hazel to remove numbers, such as those that relate to a music track number at the beginning of a file name...

I have loads of tunes with file names such as;

00 00 Records Back (Gigi Barocco Remix)

09 09-Laidback Luke, Lee Mortimer - Blau! (Original Mix)-1

which I'd like to able to tidy up...

Keep up the great work and thanks in advance for any replies

Drew

The dupes option is per folder. The values change when you select different folders on the left so it's not global.

It checks dupes based on file patterns that programs commonly use when they create dupes. It then does an actual comparison of the two files so it won't remove anything unless it is bit-for-bit equivalent. The file with the number tacked on is thrown away. It is assume this is the "new" file. For the most part, it's safe in that it didn't throw away any data that you didn't already have.

I can't say why it didn't work in your case but maybe they weren't actually identical in your case. You can turn on debug logging (see the sticky article in this forum) and check the logs to see what is happening.

As for stripping off the numbers, I suggest looking up "match patterns" in the help. Post back here if you are still having problems with it after reading that.

what do you mean "thow away" does it go in the trash explode or what can i find it again

Throw away means put it in the trash so it should be recoverable.

If you have two of the same exact file, but they have different finder tags, will they still be recognized as duplicates?

They would since the tags aren't considered the content of the file (which is the part that is compared).

Hi,

I am having this same issue. I am using "IMAGE CAPTURE" for importing images from my iphone into a laptop folder and hazel moves MOVIES & PNGs to subfolders with those names.

If I don't delete the images/movies from my iPhone and then reimport them to my laptop, hazel rule moves the MOVIES/PNG to the correspoinding directories and duplicates are renamed with -1, -2, -3 etc. added to the end of the filename.

I have "Throw away" duplicate files.

How can I prevent hazel from copying the duplicate files to the directories or deleting them when it detects they are duplicates.

Thanks.

Do you have it set to replace existing files in the options for the "Sort into subfolder" action?

Thanks. I set the options to "throw the file away" and checked the "throw away if duplicate" for "sort into subfolder". can you clarify the difference between what hazel does to check "if file exists" vs. "throw away if duplicate"?

Does "if file exists" just check for same filename and "throw away if duplicate" compares files with the same filenames using a hash?

thanks.

Mr_Noodle wrote:Do you have it set to replace existing files in the options for the "Sort into subfolder" action?

Im having a hard time getting the "duplicate throw away" function to work.
I have Hazel sort in different types of receipt into different month in the end of each month. But before that they're in a folder where I have this option turned on. When I download two exact same receipt the go to this folder and names them as followed
2016-11-03 Adobe.pdf
2016-11-03 Adobe-1.pdf

Turn on debug mode as described here: https://www.noodlesoft.com/kb/hazel-debug-mode/

Force run on that folder and then check the logs. Search for the file in question and see if there are any relevant messages there.