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DuoBolt

Review Selection

Nothing leaves a folder until you have been through this screen. It is shared by both halves of DuoBolt: duplicates and similar photos arrive here the same way, and leave through the same four operations.

Open it with the Review Selection button in the footer, or press +ReturnCtrl+Return on Windows.

Review Selection on the duplicates side: five groups in the left pane — Launch Reel.mov at 162.3 MiB each, Client Handbook.pdf at 6.9 MiB each with a 2 | 2 pill, Contracts.zip at 7.1 MiB each, Product Sheet copy.pdf at 1.7 MiB each and Billing Q3 (backup).csv at 10.2 KiB each — and Contracts.zip open in the detail pane, reading 1 copy · 7.1 MiB each above its marked row and the folder trail Archive › DuoBolt Sample Files › Archive 2024. The footer reads 7 files selected, 184.9 MiB to trash, next to the Move to Trash split button.

The left pane lists the groups you marked, with a count. The right pane shows the file you are on: its name, the folder trail that leads to it, and a preview where DuoBolt can render one.

On the duplicates side each group also states what it costs. The row carries the per-copy size — 162.3 MiB each — and the detail pane says how many go and at what price: 1 copy · 7.1 MiB each. A group where you are about to remove the only large copy reads differently from one where you are trimming the fifth.

The photos side is the same screen. What changes is what a group is: the row states how close the match is — 2 files · Identical, 4 files · Loosely similar — and the detail pane counts what you are keeping out of it, 1 of 2 selected.

The same Review Selection screen on the photos side, over a scan of folders: five groups labeled by how close the match is — Loosely similar, Virtually identical, Very similar — each with its size and a pill counting what goes against what stays, and Easter-egg-3161 (1).jpg open in the detail pane, reading 1 of 2 selected above its marked row and the folder trail Archive › Photo Library › Reference Art › Misc. The footer reads 7 files selected, 21.9 MiB to trash, beside the Move to Trash split button.

Move between marked files with + and +Ctrl in place of on Windows. Press Space to open the file in Preview if you want a proper look before deciding.

Everything here is still a mark, not an action. Untick anything you would rather keep and it drops out of the batch. Nothing on this screen writes to disk.

If you would rather start over, Clear Selection empties the whole batch — +Shift+A, Ctrl+Shift+A on Windows.

The primary button carries the operation and its consequence. Press the chevron to switch between the four:

  • Move to TrashRecoverable from the Trash, and afterwards from a surviving copy.
  • Delete permanentlyRemoved at once, without the Trash. Recoverable only from a surviving copy.
  • Move to ArchiveFiles leave their folders but stay on disk.
  • CopyOriginals stay where they are; this only adds copies.

Archive and Copy ask where to. The picker remembers the last place you used and offers it as Last used.

A Photos library scan offers two: Delete — Photos’ word for it: the photo goes to Photos’ Recently Deleted and stays there 30 days — and Copy to…, which exports each photo under the name Photos shows and can bring the untouched original along beside an edit. Archive and Delete permanently do not apply: Photos owns its files.

Review Selection over a Photos library scan: six groups in the left pane, each stating how close the match is and carrying a pill; the right pane shows IMG_0300.HEIC, a bowl of fruit and cream, reading 1 of 2 selected above its single row — IMG_0300.HEIC · My Photos · 3 years ago, checked. The footer reads 10 files selected, 22.7 MiB to remove, and the split button beside it is open, offering only two operations: Delete, ticked, and Copy to…

Each is explained in full under the four operations.

One more screen, and it is the one that does the counting.

It states the batch — 18 files from 6 groups — and then warns about the two things you cannot undo by clicking again:

  • No copy left behind. “{n} files have no other copy left behind and could not be restored afterwards.” This is the sentence to read before a permanent delete.
  • Another volume. Archiving or copying across disks adds the size there and, for an archive, frees it here. Both figures are given.

You get the count, and the exceptions rather than a cheerful total:

The result of a removal: 2 files deleted — recoverable from the Trash, and afterwards from a surviving copy — with a donut beside 169.4 MiB freed and the line 2 of 2 deleted. A breakdown states Videos 162.3 MiB (95.8%) and Archives 7.1 MiB (4.2%), and a panel underneath reads Everything went through. A Done button closes it.
  • Everything went through — nothing to look at.
  • {n} could not be done. They stay where they are, each with its reason.
  • {n} were already gone. The file had been removed by something else since the scan.

Free DuoBolt scans and shows everything without limit. What it caps is how much one operation may move: 25 files, or 500 MB, whichever it reaches first.

The screen says so before you commit, rather than after:

Free moves the first 25 files (500 MB) — the rest stay marked.

The word to notice is marked. Files past the cap are not removed and not forgotten — they stay selected, so pressing the button again continues where it stopped. A large clean-up takes several passes on the free tier; it does not require a license.