What do I do with my search results?

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What do I do with my search results?

After running a search, you might want to select a subset of your results and mark them for deletion/deduplication/etc.

Delete/Move/Deduplicate

Your search results can be processed in several different ways. Old files that are not needed anymore can be moved or deleted, duplicate files can be deduplicated, and files with invalid file names can be renamed. In order to do so, you need to use the checkboxes to select which files should be included in the operation. You can either select each file individually, or use one of the available options for selecting multiple files simultaneously.

Checking multiple files at once

TreeSize offers a variety of operations that allow to select a certain subset of your search results. Rather than having to scroll through very large lists with your results manually, you can use these functions to mark them automatically, using a set of predefined conditions, or by creating a custom one. The following list shows the different options that are available. They can be found in the under "Operations > Check/Uncheck".

 

All files and folders

The simplest of all options. Selects and checkmarks all of your search results.

Files and folders that match a custom filter

This option shows a custom filter dialog that offers the full range of filter options. You can select files by their name, path, size, or any other filter type that is available. You can find a full description about how to define custom filters in this chapter.

Files and folders in

An option to quickly check all files that are located within the same folder as the currently selected file.

Files of type

Checks all files that have the same type as the currently selected one. This can be useful if you want to select all .pdf files, for instance.

NOTE: The same options are available as "Uncheck" operation, which removes checkstates from files that are checked.

 

Checking results in the Duplicates search

In addition to the options above, the duplicates search additionally offers a set of functions that are specific to selecting specific files from a group of duplicates.

In some cases you might want to mark duplicate files for a deletion. Therefore, you want to check all files of a duplicates group, except a specific one that should not be deleted. The following options allow you to do this in an easy and comprehensible way.

 

Duplicates, if a copy exists in folder:

With this function, you can select all files which have a corresponding duplicate that is located in the selected folder. If a group of duplicates contains a file that is located in the selected folder, this option will check all of its copies which are located in the other folders.

This function can be useful if you have files that were copied from one location to another, and you want to ensure that the file exists in location A, before it is deleted from location B.

Example:

A group of duplicates contains the following files:

D:\Files\Document.pdf

D:\temp\Copy_of_Document.pdf

C:\Archive\Document.pdf

 

If you select "Check duplicates of files in folder C:\" The following files will be checked;

✔ D:\Files\Document.pdf

✔ D:\temp\Copy_of_Document.pdf

    C:\Archive\Document.pdf

 

If this group did not contain a file from drive C:\, nothing would be checked.

All but newest

All files except the newest one of a duplicates group will be checked. This can be useful if you want to delete all of the duplicates, except for the newest one.

All but oldest

All files except the oldest one of a duplicates group will be checked. This can be useful if you want to delete all of the duplicates, except for the oldest one.

All but first

All files except the first one of a duplicates group will be checked. This can be useful if you have sorted your duplicates in a certain way, so that the first item of each group should be kept.

All but last

All files except the first one of a duplicates group will be checked. This can be useful if you have sorted your duplicates in a certain way, so that the last item of each group should be kept.

NOTE: The "Uncheck" options allow you to achieve the same results, but for groups that already have all files checked. By using "Uncheck newest/oldest/first/last", you can uncheck one of the files per group, usually the one that is not supposed to be deleted.