Microsoft Windows is a widely used operating system which enjoys a clear majority over its rivals. It is easy to use, comes with multiple add-ons, and is also considered a great OS for beginners who are starting to learn computers.
Most of the Windows users use Microsoft Office to prepare college assignments, office reports, and even blog posts (just like this one).
One notable problem in Office is that its image viewer shows duplicate images and there is no way to fix that. You see, Windows or Word don’t come with a pre-installed duplicate image removal software. So today we are providing a few solutions that can help those of you who are experiencing this problem.
Finding Duplicate Images in Microsoft Office Image Viewer
Microsoft Image Viewer is also known as Microsoft Picture Manager, so don’t get confused if you don’t find the term image viewer.
As you can see we have two similar images in the Photo Manager. There is no option to detect if they are duplicate because Microsoft Office doesn’t contain any plugin to detect it. So if you think these images are eating up way too much space for your tolerance, simply delete them manually. Or, if there are a lot of images in a folder then simply delete all of them at once using a Duplicate Photo Finder.
This image is taking 50 kb, which isn’t a big number as far as file size is concerned. But considering that there are 100s of duplicate images on a system, the storage space these images consume can snowball to 50 MBs or even more.
Remove Duplicate Photos for Free
Here are two duplicate photo finder methods that you can use to delete images from Microsoft Image Viewer.
Windows Thumbnail Viewer
A simple and free method to delete duplicate files from the system is by using Windows Thumbnail Viewer. The thumbnail viewer isn’t a software but a function that allows you to view all photos in thumbnails and then delete those that you spot as duplicates. It is a time-consuming process and you may not like it due to its monotonous nature as well as the fatigue factor. But if you don’t want to install software, it is a great way to start.
- Open up any folder and right click in the empty space.
- Click View | Large icons.
That’s it. You will now be able to view the thumbnail view for images and easily spot any duplicates that might be present, and take appropriate action.
PictureEcho
PictureEcho is a duplicate photo finder that helps you delete or move (as per your choice) similar as well as duplicate photos in all common image formats (.jpg, .png, .jpeg, .ico, .bmp and .tif) to different folders. Just for your info, a similar image is an image which bears a close resemblance to another image but yet it isn’t similar enough to the other image to be termed as a duplicate. So this neat software program helps you deal with duplicate and similar photos for good. We will stick with taking care of duplicate photos as that is the theme of this article.
How to Delete Photos with Picture Echo
This software helps to remove duplicate photos and free up tons of storage space for you, but it also keeps it all simple and relevant at the same time so that the users don’t get lost in the process. Simply add up the target folder, select the right options and that’s all you need to do.
- Download and install PictureEcho.
- Launch Picture Echo and use the Add Path button to browse and add the target folder(s) which you want to scan for duplicate photos.
- Select the radio box for Exact Match and then click Start Search to kickstart the scan.
- The process might take a while to conclude (depending on the number of photos to be scanned).
- Once the results are out, you will notice the bottom most part of the PictureEcho user interface display the number of duplicate photos detected as well as the storage space they were occupying.
- Now click the Select Duplicates button to choose which kind (small, big, high/low resolution, newest, oldest or by image location) of duplicates you want to retain and lastly, click Select Action to choose whether you want to delete the duplicates or move them to a folder.
- The final action will also be done and dusted swiftly and you’ll rid yourself of all duplicates photos.
Now you can check Microsoft Office Image Viewer and witness for yourself that the gallery is free of all duplicate photos.
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.