Duplicates Duplicates and more duplicates.

Question

Level 1

4 points

Duplicates Duplicates and more duplicates.

I am not using iCloud to store photos I don't want to and it is turned off but the photo stream is on and I back up my iPhone to my MacBook Air. I have 2 problems:

I keep creating duplicates on my photo library that continue to pop up.
The new OS feature of creating a duplicate folder does find some but not all and I can't seem to force it to learn duplicates or similar and once I combine the duplicates that are found the file disappears and never come back unless I repair the library.

MacBook Air, macOS 13.1

Posted on Feb 18, 2023 6:53 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Dr Britton Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 19, 2023 11:05 PM in response to brbo

Thanks I had done this but then turned around and after a sync there would duplicates again on the iMac and then undeletable photos on the phone x5

i figured out it was a combination of photo stream, syncing my phone with my Mac and not deleting photos when I imported them through the photo app. That’s how the duplicates were multiplying.

I turned off the photo streams. Imported my photos and deleted all of them off the phone first by clicking delete after import. Leaving only the undeletable photos on the phone where there from synching my photo albums previously.

then I did a fresh sync with the photos turned off to remove all photos from the phone and then sync again after I had removed all duplicates from the Library on my MacBook.

goong forward

I need to remember to always tick erase after import when importing photos into my library

the duplicates folder function. On the IOS and macOS software is welcome but it is slow and it does find all duplicates I still spent 3 hours weeding out duplicates manually.

Reply

Answer 2

brbo

Level 8

35,723 points

Feb 19, 2023 3:49 PM in response to Dr Britton

Hi, Dr Britton,

Welcome to the Apple (user-to-user) Community.

Re: Duplicates

Apple Support have articles online to guide us in the use of the latest feature:

Find and delete duplicate photos and videos on iPhone – Apple Support

Remove duplicate photos in Photos on Mac – Apple Support

Wondering if you would like to send feedback to those who work on the software.

They will likely not reply, yet if others are identifying similar situations, and also send feedback, we may see changes in a future update:

There are web-forms online (links below) for feedback:

For iPhone: Feedback - Photos - Apple

For Mac: Feedback - Photos - Apple

All the best :-)

Reply

Answer 3

mikeg28806

Community Specialist

Feb 19, 2023 5:42 PM in response to Dr Britton

Thanks for posting in the Apple Support Communities Dr Britton,

We see you linked here from Get help with the Photos app on your Mac.

In macOS Ventura, you can remove duplicate photos and videos from your library with the following steps:

In the Photos app on your Mac, click Duplicates in the sidebar.

Select the duplicates you want to merge.

You can select individual items in a single row and merge them or select multiple rows of duplicates and merge them all at once. A single original photo or video is kept from the selection in a row and other duplicates are deleted.

Click Merge [number] Duplicates.

One original photo or video appears where the selected duplicates were located in your library. Deleted duplicates appear in the Recently Deleted album where you can recover or permanently delete them.

Remove duplicate photos in Photos on Mac

As mentioned on that page, when changes are made to your photos library, it can take some time for duplicates to be recognized.

If you need more help, contact Apple Support.

We hope this helps!

Reply

Answer 4

brbo

Level 8

35,723 points

Feb 19, 2023 11:26 PM in response to Dr Britton

Wow! You have surely put in some concentrated effort there, Dr Britton.

.Thank you very much for replying, and for sharing your experience here. Your explanation of what you did, and have achieved, may help others who are looking for answers.

Cheers :-)

Reply

Answer 5

FFFF

Level 1

12 points

Feb 20, 2023 6:46 AM in response to Dr Britton

I had the same problem. Spent a lot of time on phone with Apple. Their solution was to use iCloud, which I am now doing. I move photos from their to external hard drives. Quite an effort you're putting in.

And, I'm not sure your Air is the best way to back up your photos. Drop it and your photos are gone.

Good luck.

Reply