Why Is the App Not Finding Any Duplicates?

If Duplicate Detective completes a scan without finding any duplicates, there are a few likely explanations.

No Exact Duplicates Exist

Duplicate Detective uses file hashing to find byte-for-byte identical files. Two files must be completely identical in every way to be flagged as duplicates. Files that look similar but are not exactly the same will not match.

A common example is photos: two images may appear identical to the eye, but if they contain different metadata (such as different timestamps, resolution, compression settings, or EXIF data), their hash values will differ and they will not be treated as duplicates.

Minimum File Size Threshold

By default, Duplicate Detective only scans files that are 50 KB or larger. If the duplicates you are looking for are smaller than this threshold, they will be excluded from the scan.

To adjust this setting, open Settings and lower the minimum file size value.

Permission Restrictions

If Duplicate Detective does not have access to certain folders (for example, because Full Disk Access has not been granted), files in those locations will not be included in the scan. Check System Settings > Privacy & Security > Full Disk Access and make sure Duplicate Detective is listed and enabled.

Excluded Folders or File Types

Check Settings to make sure the folder you are scanning has not been added to the excluded folders list, and that the file types you are looking for have not been added to the ignored extensions list.