Reading the duplicates results

The results screen answers one question first — how much space is actually recoverable — and then lets you work down from there.

The header states the scan:

412 groups · 1,286 files · 38.4 GiB reclaimable

When a filter is active, that reclaimable figure is the filtered total, not the scan’s.

Groups

Each group headline is the space it would free — not its total size. Under it:

• 4.7 MiB each · 23.5 MiB total
• 5 copies · 4.7 MiB

The difference between each, total and reclaimable is the whole point: removing four of five copies frees four copies’ worth, and on macOS possibly less than that if some are APFS clones.

Groups are ordered by recoverable space by default, so the top of the list is where the disk space is.

Filters

• Tags — seven colors, with editable names. Tags survive between scans.
• File size range — the same ladder as the scan setup, applied to what you are looking at rather than to what was scanned.
• Search files… — matches paths, debounced; Escape clears it.
• Extensions — a searchable dropdown, shown only when the scan found more than one. Files with no extension get their own bucket, No extension.
• File types — categories rather than extensions, each row carrying its size, share and count. The summary reads 9 of 14 file types.

The File Type Distribution donut visualizes the same categories, and can be hidden.

Sorting

Sort	What it keys on
Recoverable space (default)	the space a group would free
Copies	how many files are in the group
File size	the size of one file
File type	category — images, videos, audio, documents
Tags	tag color

Sticky bucket headers follow the sort: From 1 GiB and up … From 0 to 100 KiB for the size sorts, From 100 files and up … From 0 to 10 files for copies, and the tag names for tags.

Recoverable space is not file size

Recoverable space sorts on what a group frees, never on any single file’s size — a group of forty 200 KiB files outranks a pair of 3 MiB ones. Sort by File size when you want the biggest individual files instead.

Selecting

Right-click a group for Select All, Deselect All, Keep Protected Files, Keep Oldest File, Keep Newest File, and Tags.

Bulk Select in the header applies the same rules across everything visible:

1. Keep Oldest File
2. Keep Newest File
3. Keep Protected Files — disabled outright when nothing is protected
4. Clear Selection

The outcome is reported, not assumed: 128 files marked · 12 left protected · 3 groups untouched.

Rules never empty a group

Every keep-rule leaves a survivor, and skips protected folders. A group where every copy is protected says so: “Every copy is in a protected folder — none can be selected.”

Keep Protected Files is grayed out when nothing is protected rather than degrading into “select everything” — which would be a different, destructive instruction wearing the same button.

The footer, and its two numbers

The footer counts what you have marked and — when the two differ — shows a second figure labeled reclaimable.

They differ because of APFS clones. A group of clones reads 0 B reclaimable even though the files have a real size: deleting a clone frees nothing, the blocks are shared. Both numbers are true; only the second is what you get back.

Selected groups hides everything you did not touch. Then Review Selection — nothing leaves a folder before that screen.

When there is nothing to show

• No duplicates found — “Every scanned file is unique — there’s nothing to clean up here. Try scanning other folders, or loosening the size and extension filters.”
• No matches with these filters — “Current filters hide every group.” with Clear filters.

The first one is worth trusting. A scan that finds nothing at the 64 KiB default usually means the duplicates are smaller than the floor, not that there are none.

On the free tier

Duplicates results are never truncated by tier — every group, every file, every number. What free caps is how much a single operation may move: 25 files or 500 MB, with the rest staying marked for the next pass. See Review Selection.

Before this

Setting up a scan — the controls that decided what you are looking at.

Next

Review Selection — the screen between marking and removing.