Find Duplicate Files in Office 365 SharePoint

Being a Microsoft SharePoint means the user often comes across multiple files that are duplicate on the server. Though these duplicate files don’t actually have any demerits, except that they begin to occupy a really big chunk of storage space once they start piling up.

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Most SharePoint users aren’t aware of the fact that there is a native option available to remove duplicate files from the server that have been shared with them or are located on their drive.

Here are a few options to get it done seamlessly.

Removing Duplicate Files from SharePoint Library

Microsoft SharePoint Office 365 is the latest edition of SharePoint. It is widely used in enterprise-level workspaces and therefore the issue of finding duplicates with accuracy is imperative.

However, that isn’t always the case as we will discuss below.

Once on the server, you can search for duplicate files if they are available in a single library. The duplicate option isn’t available by default so you will have to enable it by:

1. 1. Go to SYSTEM ACCOUNTS and then EDIT PAGE.

1. 1. Now go to Search Results and click the Settings icon (gear).
      

1. A new page will open up showing the Search Results feature. Inside it, go to Settings | Show Duplicate Links.

Now go back to the library and search for the file that you were previously searching for.

You will get a single file. But when you click on it, it will show some options including View Duplicate Links. Click that.

Finally, you will be able to see all the files that are duplicate or near duplicate. Optionally, you can choose to open each of them individually to check if they are duplicates or similar ones.

The Catch: Duplicates vs. Near Duplicates

SharePoint uses a hashing technique called Shingling and a document signature to determine if the file is a duplicate. The files that contain a bulk of content identical to each other are shown in the Search Results.

However, the problem is that the similar files contain other data as well, which comes up in the Search Results as well. This leads to the problematic possibility where someone could simply delete all the files from the Search Results thinking of all of them as duplicates, whereas some were duplicates and some were similar ones.

Removing Duplicates with a Software Program

Clone Files Checker offers the accuracy, speed and reliability that SharePoint users dreams about if they’re in the need to clean up a huge volume of duplicates. Clone Files Checker dives into the hash of every single file and brings up highly accurate results within moments.

1. 1. Download Clone Files Checker from the official website and install it.

1. 1. Launch the software and select the server files you want to scan.

1. 1. You can include the files by selecting them through the Step 1 section.
      

1. 1. Step 2 is entirely optional and can be avoided. It offers you to select which file types will be scanned for or leave it to the default shape (All Files). You can also specify a file size range to ignore files that are small and/ or larger than to further helps narrow down the scan.

1. 1. Next, click Start Search to initiate the scan.

1. 1. Once the scan results are out, you can choose the Fix Wizard option to choose between deleting files permanently or moving them to a folder of your choice. Or, you can click Review & Fix to get additional options to choose between selecting manually, selecting by file locations, selecting between most/ least modified besides the newest/ oldest option that is available in both the modes.
      

      

       

1. 1. Selecting Permanent Delete informs you of the presence of the backup option (optional) which can be enabled from the Settings area to act as a barrier against accidental data loss. Alternatively, selecting the Move to Folder option opens up a window from where you can select an existing folder or create a new one to move the files to.

1. That’s it. You’ve safely removed all Office 365 SharePoint duplicates in an instance.

Final Word

Microsoft SharePoint Office 365 files are stored on the server folder. Therefore, Administrator access will be required to perform the duplicate cleanup by Clone Files Checker.

Raza Ali Kazmi

Website

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Raza Ali Kazmi works as an editor and technology content writer at Sorcim Technologies (Pvt) Ltd. He loves to pen down articles on a wide array of technology related topics and has also been diligently testing software solutions on Windows & Mac platforms. If you have any question about the content, you can message me or the company's support team.