How to Set the Scan Options and Start Scanning?

With at least one search directory added you can tune the options and start the scan.

Step 1: Check the four scan options

  • Ignore Read Only Folders: skip write protected locations.
  • Include Sub Directories: also scan inside sub folders.
  • Include Images: scan photos as well as videos. Untick it for a video only scan.
  • Percent: how similar two files must be to count as duplicates. Higher is stricter and returns fewer results; 100% may miss re-encoded copies, so 95% is recommended.
Percent option
Use +/- to change the similarity threshold

Step 2: Set the thumbnail count

Thumbnails is the number of frames taken from each video for comparison. More thumbnails give a more reliable verdict but take longer; 1 is fine for quick checks.

Step 3: Click Start

Press the blue Start button. Pause and Stop become available while the scan runs.

Start button
Click Start to begin scanning

Step 4: Wait for the results

Duplicate groups appear in the list as soon as they are found. The status bar keeps track of elapsed time, remaining time, duplicates in the list, total duplicates, groups, total size and removed size.

Scan results
Duplicate groups listed after a scan

Reading the options

  • Raising Percent is the fastest way to cut noise.
  • Scanning images is usually much faster than scanning videos.
  • If nothing is found, lower Percent and scan again.