I'm sorry for the delay, but I am now
proud to present the "How to use Duplic8" page....
The golden rule to remember about Duplic8, is
that you cannot do any damage, or delete anything from your system without clicking the
"Delete" button. Even if you do press the delete button by mistake, Duplic8 will
ask if you are sure you want to delete the files. So feel free to have a play about, and
learn just what Duplic8 can do for you....
Duplic8 works by searching the directories you tell it to search in the search path list,
which is situated at the top right hand side of the screen.
So to search for duplicate files you need to
put the directories into this list. You have several methods available to do this....
Populating the search path list
1) Type the directory path into the path
editor box above the search path list, and click the "add" button. The add
button will only work once a valid path has been entered into the the path editor.
2) Use the path picker on the top left hand
side of the screen to select directories. As you click on the directory tree, and open and
close directory branches, you will notice the path editor changing to reflect your
movements around the path picker. When you see the path you want in the path editor, click
the "add" button.
3) Use the normal windows explorer to look
around your computer for the folder(s) you want, and then hold the left mouse button down
on the folder and drag it onto any part of the Duplic8 then drop it. This will add the
directory to search path list. You can do this one at a time, or grab a group of folders
and drop them onto Duplic8 in one go. You can even drag and drop a folder shortcut onto
Duplic8, and it will extract the real directory path from the shortcut's information.
If you have subdirectory searching selected
and add a parent of one of the search path folders into the search path, the lower folders
will be removed. For example, if you have "c:\temp"
and "c:\stuff" in the search path, and you add
"c:\", the first two will be removed, because "c:\" includes them
both.
If you put a folder into the search path by
mistake, just click on it with the mouse, and press the "remove" button. This
will only remove the folder from the search list, it will not delete anything from your
machine.
Once you are happy with the search path list,
select the file filter you would like from the file filter list on the left hand side of
the screen, and press "Search".
Duplic8 will display your current search
defaults so you can check/change them (by default Duplic8 will search subdirectories and
delete to the recycle bin). Once happy with the search options, click the
"Search" button and away it goes.
Once Duplic8 has finished searching a box will pop up telling you how many duplicate files
have been found, and the amount of wasted space these duplciate files are using...
The next step is to select which files you want to delete..
Marking files for deletion.
There are a couple of ways to mark files for
deletion...
1) You can manually go down the list and mark
each one, one at a time. You do this by either pressing space on the keyboard to select
the current one, or by pointing at the file you want to mark and double clicking with the
mouse.
2) Needless to say, the first option is very
slow if you have a lot of files. The best option is to use the Mark Wizard. To use the
Wizard, right click on a file (usually best to do this on a file you want to remove as the
Wizard will use some of the files information to try and guess what files you want to
mark).
The right click menu gives you access to extra features such as unmarking all the files or
opening the file in whatever application is registered on your computer to read that type
of file (the application to be used is shown in the brackets after the "Open
file").
If you select the Mark Wizard you will see the following screen....
The Mark Wizard will open with the path of the file you right clicked on in the path box
at the top. You can edit this, or change it completely if you like.
As you can see there is a lot of power wrapped up in the Wizard, and it's one of Duplic8's
unique features. If you make a habit of downloading files into a temporary directory
before putting them into an organised archive it's very simple to get Duplic8 to mark all
the files for you. Simple search the two paths (c:\download and c:\archive for example)
and then right click on any matched file in the download directory, select the Mark Wizard
and then just select "Mark all files in this directory and below". Duplic8 will
them mark all the files in your c:\download directory (or it's subdirectories) for you.
The Mark Wizard does NOT delete anything, it
only marks file for deletion. You can manually add or remove the delete mark from any, or
all of the files. You can run the Mark Wizard several times for different directories and
rules. It will never mark all the files in a matched group. If the Mark Wizard finds a
matched group of files that are all marked, it will remove the mark from the last one.
You can zoom in and out of the matched file list, and even resize the columns or the
entire Duplic8 screen to get a better view of the files.
Once you are happy with the files selected, press the "Delete" button.
Answer "Yes" to the "Are you sure", and
Duplic8 will delete the marked files. By default these files will be deleted to the
recycle bin, so even if you do press delete and then say "Yes" by mistake, you
can still get them back! How safe is that?
What can I delete?
I often get emails from people saying Duplic8
has found this file, or that file, and is it safe for them to delete it?
I have a golden rule regarding deleting files. If your not sure what it is, or what it
does.... DON'T!
Any files found in, or below the "c:\windows" directory ("c:\winnt"
for Nt and Windows 2000 systems) or "c:\program files" should not be deleted.
Anything with .dll or .exe on the end of the name should also be left alone.
Duplic8 is really for controlling archives and collections of your own files (pictures,
midi, mp3's etc), not programs. Programs should always be removed using the
"Add/Remove" Program option in the Windows control panel.
If you have any comments about these
instructions please feel free to drop me a line. duplic8@kewlit.com
Legal Disclaimer (The small print!)
All specifications and prices quoted are correct at time of publishing.
Prices and specification are subject to change without notice. |