How to Delete Duplicate Photos from your Google Storage

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A comprehensive guide to removing duplicate photos, and avoiding them in the future

Co-authored by Gonzalo Martinez and Cory Stillman

Last Updated: September 7, 2024 Fact Checked

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Delete Duplicates with Files by Google

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Manually Delete Duplicates (Computer)

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Manually Delete Duplicates (Mobile App)

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Disable Google Photo Sync

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Video

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Q&A

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Tips

Google Photos does not sync duplicate photos, but that doesn't mean a few can't still sneak through. Fortunately, the Files by Google app is capable of detecting duplicate photos, and will recommend that you delete these duplicates whenever you go to clean your device's storage. This wikiHow guide will show you how to use this feature, as well as how to delete duplicates manually in case the Files app also fails to detect them. We will also cover how to disable Google photo syncing so you can avoid having too many duplicates in the future.

Things You Should Know

The easiest way to delete duplicate photos is to use the Files by Google app and delete all duplicates listed under the "Duplicate files" tile.
You can manually delete duplicates online or on your smartphone by finding each duplicates and selecting the "Trash"
.
To avoid duplicates moving forward, you can navigate to Photo settings in the Google Photos app and turn the "Backup" switch to the Off
position.

Method 1

Method 1 of 4:

Delete Duplicates with Files by Google

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This app is available on all Android devices as Files. Tap to open the app.
2
Tap Clean at the bottom of the screen. It is the leftmost option, represented by two small star icons.
- The app likely opens to this tab by default.
3
Find the "Duplicate files" tile and tap Select files. The Files app will show you a variety of options for cleaning up your device's storage. Find the one for Duplicate files and tap the Select files button in the bottom-right corner of the box.
- If you do not see a tile related to duplicate files, the Files by Google app does not detect any duplicate photos/files at this time.
The Files by Google app will mark all original files as Original. While you are free to delete either copy, we recommend keeping the original whenever possible.
5
Tap Move x file(s) to Trash. The number of files listed will change as you select additional duplicates for deletion.
- Google will not ask you to confirm your decision, so make sure you definitely want to delete these duplicates.
  - Deleted photos/files will remain in your Trash for 30 days, at which point they are permanently deleted. Feel free to recover the duplicate photo at any time.

Method 2

Method 2 of 4:

Manually Delete Duplicates on a Computer

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1
Go to http://photos.google.com in a web browser. If you're not signed in, sign in now.
- Google Photos will not sync identical photos, even from multiple devices. But if you've edited a synced photo (such as cropping, adding a location, or changing the date), the edited version will sync because it's no longer identical.^{[1]
  X
  Research source} You can prevent this in the future by saving edited photos to a folder that you don't sync to Google Photos.
It's on the left side of the page. Doing so opens a list of all of your photos.
4
Check the photo's box. Hover your mouse over the photo's thumbnail, then click the checkmark in its upper-left corner.
- Be careful not to select both photos in a pair of duplicates.
It's at the top right corner of the page. A confirmation message will appear.
6
Click MOVE TO TRASH on the confirmation message. This moves the photos to the trash. Photos in the trash will remain there for 60 days in case you realize you've made a mistake.
- You can find and click the "Trash" section by scrolling to the bottom of the left-hand column.

Method 3

Method 3 of 4:

Manually Delete Duplicates on the Mobile App

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1
Open the Google Photos app. It's the green, yellow, red, and blue flower icon, which you'll usually find on the home screen or in the app drawer.
- Google Photos will not sync identical photos, even from multiple devices. But if you've edited a synced photo (such as cropping, adding a location, or changing the date), the edited version will sync because it's no longer identical.^{[2]
  X
  Research source} You can prevent this in the future by saving edited photos to a folder that you don't sync to Google Photos.
It's at the bottom-left corner.
A checkmark will appear in the top-left corner of the photo, and a menu will expand at the bottom of your screen.
4
Tap on additional photos you want to delete. Scroll through your photos and tap on any other duplicates you want to delete.
- Be careful not to delete both photos in a pair of duplicates.
It's near the top-right corner of the screen. A confirmation will appear.^{[3]
X
Research source}
This moves the photos to the trash. Photos in the trash will remain there for 60 days in case you realize you've made a mistake.

Method 4

Method 4 of 4:

Disable Google Photo Sync

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1
Open Google Photos on your computer, phone, or tablet. If photos stored on your Google Drive are set to sync to Google Photos, you'll see duplicates of photos that were already in your library. Disabling this feature prevents the Google Drive photos from appearing in Google Photos.
- You can access Google Photos on your computer by signing in to https://photos.google.com.
- If you're using a phone or tablet, tap the multicolored flower icon labeled "Google Photos" (iPhone/iPad) or "Photos" (Android) on the home screen or app drawer.
It's in the top-right corner. A menu will expand.
It is towards the bottom of the menu.
4
Slide the "Backup" switch to the Off
position. This will stop your device from syncing any photos or videos to your Google account, so make sure you certainly are comfortable without backing up your material. You will avoid duplicates in the future, but you may lose photos and videos when switching devices.
- This will not delete existing duplicates from your Google Drive.

Community Q&A

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Question

Can I delete photos from my iPhone if they are on Google Photos?

wikiHow Staff Editor
Staff Answer
This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

wikiHow Staff Editor

Staff Answer

That’s up to you; if you don’t want the photos stored in two places, then it’s fine to remove the photos from your iPhone. If you want the photos stored in more than one place, consider keeping the photos on your iPhone or back them up to a computer or external hard drive or the cloud. It’s a good idea to have more than one backup of precious data, as backups can fail or services can be stopped or changed over time.

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Can Google Photos remove duplicates?

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Staff Answer
This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

wikiHow Staff Editor

Staff Answer

Google Photos itself doesn’t have a feature for removal of photo duplicates. You’ll have to find and remove duplicates manually, as explained in the article above. There is software available online that claims it can sweep your Google Photos app for duplicates; research its worth and safety carefully before choosing this option though, as it's not something we've tested.

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How do I delete all photos from Google Photos?

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This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

wikiHow Staff Editor

Staff Answer

Select the first photo to be deleted by clicking on the circle in the upper left hand corner. Scroll down to the last photo to be deleted, then press the Shift key down and click on the upper left hand corner circle of that last photo. This will select all of the photos from beginning to end. Then press Delete and all the selected photos will be removed. If you have a lot of photos, it is easier to do this in batches (also tedious but it’s not easily designed for big deletions), especially if your internet connection is slow. Note that the thumbnails must all have loaded before selecting everything; using the scrollbar can be too quick to allow this to happen, so either do smaller batches or scroll through the images by mouse, slowly.

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Google includes 15 gigabytes (GB) of free storage across all Google products (Photos, Drive, Gmail, etc.), but you can purchase more for a monthly fee.

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