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Duplicate Photos on iMac

Finder > Smart Folder > +sign > kind - image - HEIC

Thus I get duplicate photos with same file name. Should I delete both or only one duplicate?

Thanks


Posted on Feb 9, 2022 2:52 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Feb 9, 2022 3:33 PM

Hi


If this is a smart album in finder, then it is not showing any files from the photos app. (Check by clicking on these images and at the bottom of the pane it will tell you where the file is)


So if ALL your images are in the photos app, you can safely delete the images found by finder, but...


how do you know the ones you are deleting are in photos. How have these images got into the folders they are in. As part of your duplicate removal process, you really need to understand where these files have come from, and checking they exist in photos before deleting them.

5 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Feb 9, 2022 3:33 PM in response to Jo Biscuits

Hi


If this is a smart album in finder, then it is not showing any files from the photos app. (Check by clicking on these images and at the bottom of the pane it will tell you where the file is)


So if ALL your images are in the photos app, you can safely delete the images found by finder, but...


how do you know the ones you are deleting are in photos. How have these images got into the folders they are in. As part of your duplicate removal process, you really need to understand where these files have come from, and checking they exist in photos before deleting them.

Feb 9, 2022 3:25 PM in response to TonyCollinet

Thank you for the reply. If you ask Apple about duplicates in Photos. Instead of third party software they suggest to go to finder, then make a smart folder, right top side hit plus key... Then smart folder as; Kind - select image - HEIC. This will sort out the images on the iMac. some singles but some duplicates (even file name is the same)... So are all these duplicates and I can delete ? OR the duplicates with the same file name and I should delete just one of them. If I delete all, will the originals still exist in Photos?

Feb 10, 2022 12:17 AM in response to Jo Biscuits

It depends on how you are transferring from your phone.


For example - if you used the image capture app, that would put them into a folder for you to import into photos manually. So how have the HEIC/HEIF files found their way to a folder?


Have you exported them from photos using the file>export unmodified original. Have they been sent to you by someone else (in an email for example) or have you transferred them directly from your phone using image capture or other app?



The only HEIF images I have in folders on my mac are those I copied (using image capture) from my wife's phone as a backup.

Duplicate Photos on iMac

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