Search filters

Search filters allow you to narrow down the files to scan before any matching takes place. Having filters in place can speed up large scans.

File types

Having All file extensions ticked scans all the file types supported by the scan mode - for example, just image types in Image mode. The extensions the mode reads are listed underneath. (The types each mode reads can be changed in File types settings.)

Untick it to set your own filters. Type file masks into the Included box, separated by a semicolon (;). For example:

*.txt;*.bak;*.ini

You can also exclude certain files. This is most useful when a wildcard is used in the Included box. For example:

Included: *.*
Excluded: *.db;*.ini

Masks can use * (any number of characters), ? (one character) and [abc] (any one of the characters listed).

The Presets button fills the boxes from one of the filter presets (Documents, Images, Audio / Music, Video and so on), replacing what was in them. Edit presets… at the bottom of the list takes you to the settings page where presets are created and changed. (Editing presets requires Duplicate Cleaner Pro.)

Note: In Text mode the listed types are just a starting point - text can be held in a file with any extension, so your own filter replaces the list rather than narrowing it.

To leave whole folders out of the scan by name, use the Subfolder filter in Advanced folder search options.

File sizes

You can set the file size range of the search (Minimum file size and Maximum file size), in B, kB, MB, GB or TB. If Any file size is ticked then all file sizes are scanned.

Ignore zero size files excludes all empty (zero bytes) files from the scan.

File dates

This allows you to search between certain file dates - File created or File modified, Between one date and another. Any date scans all file dates.

Media dimensions

This filter is for Image and Video modes. Here you can limit the scan to pictures or videos which fall between given dimensions (width x height, in pixels). Any dimensions scans all sizes.

Hard-links

Hard-links are a way of having a single file show in multiple places on the file system. Hard-linked files may show up as duplicates, though they actually only take up the disc space of one file.

• Count hard-links on file (Slow) - The number of hard-links each file has is counted and shown in the results, in the Hard-links column. This will slow down the scan.
• Ignore hard-linked files - Any hard-linked files are excluded from the duplicate check. Requires the hard-link count setting above to be ticked.