Scan and clear duplicate files

Files can end up duplicated across your Mac without you noticing — copied between folders, moved between drives, or saved more than once. My Clutter in CleanMyMac helps you find and remove the extra copies to reclaim disk space.

CleanMyMac only shows duplicate files larger than 100 KB in the scan results. Also, it doesn't select files for removal automatically in My Clutter, so you stay in control of what gets deleted.

1. In CleanMyMac, click My Clutter in the sidebar.

2. From the drop-down list, choose the location to scan, then click Scan to begin.

   

   After scanning, CleanMyMac shows you the scan summary.

3. In the scan summary:

   • To quickly review the most recent duplicates, click Review in the Duplicates tile — it shows files from the last three months.

   • To view and manage all duplicate files, click Review All Files, then select the Duplicates category.

   

   Tip

   To scan again, click Start Over on the upper left, confirm, then click Scan.

   CleanMyMac opens the My Clutter Manager.

4. Review and select files, then click Remove to delete them.

   Files are deleted permanently, bypassing the Trash. Assets in the Photos library are moved to the Recently Deleted album instead.

   Note

   CleanMyMac only removes items in the currently viewed category. For example, if you select items in the Similar Images category, then select files in the Duplicates category and click Remove there, CleanMyMac will only delete files in the Duplicates category.

   

5. Review the results summary.

   • To explore the details, click View Log.

   • To continue reviewing other categories, click Review More Items to return to the My Clutter Manager.

   • To return to the My Clutter scan results, click Done.

   

In the review, CleanMyMac organizes duplicate files in groups. You can filter the groups by their type — click Show and choose one of the options: All Files, Applications, Archives, Pictures, or Other.

Each group entry includes a thumbnail (for images and videos) or an icon (for other files), the name of one of the files in the group, the number of duplicates, and their total size. Right-click a group to:

• Apply smart selection — CleanMyMac will automatically select duplicates for removal.

• Deselect all files in the group (if you've already selected some).

• Add all files in the group to the ignore list — CleanMyMac will skip these files in future scans.

You can search for groups and files, and sort them by size, name, or date in ascending or descending order. You can also select files within a group in bulk — choose Smartly, Oldest, or Newest from the Select menu, or deselect all.

Clicking a group reveals a list of duplicate files with additional information for each file: name, location, creation date, size, preview and metadata (for images and videos).

Right-click a file to:

• Select it for removal
• Reveal it in Finder
• Get file info
• Preview it in Quick Look