WiseCleaner Think Tank
Encounter difficult computer problems?
All about maintenance and optimization of your Windows System.
Sep 15, 2020
Google Drive is a well-known online cloud storage service launched by Google. Through this service, users can get 15GB of free storage space. At the same time, if users have greater needs, they can get more storage space by paying. Users can easily log in to Google Drive through the same Google account. But have you ever thought about how many duplicate files have been cluttering your space on Google Drive?
In the past, if users wanted to find duplicate files on Google Drive, there were only two very troublesome methods. One is to download all the files and then scan them with a duplicate finder. The other one is to make manual comparisons. But, not anymore, this guide will cover how to find and remove duplicate files in Google Drive.
In the past, Google Drive does have a few methods to prevent unnecessary duplicate files from showing on your Drive space, but the effect is not very good. Its past method is as follows: If you try to upload a duplicate file to Google Drive, the file will be uploaded and get extensions to its original name, such as file(1), file(2), file(3), etc. This method is only a series of marks for the duplicate files, and it does not manage the duplicate files well, and still occupies a lot of Google Drive storage space.
But now, if you want to upload a file to Google Drive, as long as there is a file with the same name and format in Google Drive, the Duplicate file upload warning message will be displayed immediately as shown below:
The message in the blue window is one-time and will not be displayed after clicking GOT IT.
Google Drive replace (update) the old file with the new upload one in default. If you click the option ‘Keep as separate file’, the file will be uploaded with a new name like Arabic (1).
Now, although Google Drive can identify duplicate files based on file format and file name, it still cannot identify duplicate files based on the content. Earlier we also indicated Google’s web-based office suite integration, hence, when it comes to multiple copies of the same MS office document or excel spreadsheet, Google Drive merges and keeps the latest uploaded versions (older versions are available for viewing and restoration). It can be concluded that the warning message from Google is a good way of keeping duplicate files away from blocking valuable space on your Google Drive.
You can use Wise Duplicate Finder software to remove the duplicate files on Google Drive.
Wise Duplicate Finder by WiseCleaner is an excellent program for finding and deleting duplicate files on a Windows PC or network drive. Wise Duplicate Finder can find documents, images, videos, and so on. Wise Duplicate Finder free version has the most features of its pro version, i.e. Wise Duplicate Finder Pro.
The only difference between the free version and the PRO version of Wise Duplicate Finder is the "keep one" function. Wise Duplicate Finder is mainly for personal/family use. Wise Duplicate Finder has not been tested in a commercial environment.
In this guide, we will focus on the highly efficient Wise Duplicate Finder. The following is the manual of Wise Duplicate Finder:
1. Download and install Wise Duplicate Finder at the WiseCleaner download center.
2. Open Wise Duplicate Finder.
3. Click the folder icon behind the Location.
4. Click the Add Folder button at the bottom, browse and select the ‘Google Drive’ folder.
5. Select the file matching rule, then click the green Scan button to start looking for duplicate files on Google Drive.
6. Now, Wise Duplicate Finder will start performing duplicate checks.
7. After scanning, all duplicate files will be listed in groups and separated by different background colors.
8. Manual-select or Auto-select files that the user wishes to delete.
9. Click the Delete button in the upper right corner of the window to remove the selected duplicate files in Google Drive.
Everything will be fine now. Following the above steps will free up a lot of storage space for your Google Drive!
We hope this guide will help you make the best use of your Google Drive storage space. If you have more tips on cleaning Google Drive, please share them with us, we will really appreciate it.
