Apply Selection to Expanded Groups Only

[donny]

I use "Select all files inside the folder structure of the file" to select files that I want to delete. AllDup is nice that it warns me if there are duplicates in the selected structure and lets me expand the dups in the same structure. Can I deselect all but one in the expanded groups?

Here's an example:

C:\first
D:\second

With the two directories above, everything is easy if the dups are across C: and D:. I can just select and delete the files from D: However, if the dups are all on D:, then there isn't an easy way to unselect dups that were automatically selected with the "folder structure" selector. I want to automatically leave one file selected in each group. I usually unselect manually, but lately I"ve had to unselect hundreds for files which is slow and error-prone.

I hope you can suggest a way for me to accomplish what I need.

[Administrator]

Why you don't use "Select only the first/last file" if the dups are all on D: and you want to automatically leave one file selected in each group?

[donny]

The dups I want to delete are on D:, but there are dups on C: that I don't want to delete. If I have these files:

C:\F1
C:\Copy of F1
D:\Copy of F1
D:\F2
D:\Copy of F2

After auto-selecting files under D:

C:\F1
C:\Copy of F1
+D:\Copy of F1

+D:\F2
+D:\Copy of F2

I want to unselect F2, but if I use "Select only first/or last", then files in C: get selected:

C:\F1
D:\Copy of F1
+C:\Copy of F1

D:\F2
+D:\Copy of F2

The files selected will depend on the name and order. With a few groups it's not a problem, but with hundreds of groups it takes a long time to unmark individual selections under every group. I hope you can think up a solution to simplify this task.

Thanks very much for the great software and outstanding support!

[Administrator]

Try this solution:

1. Select all files inside the following source folder: C:
2. Remove all selected files from the search result

Now you only have files from drive D at the groups and can start selecting and deleting all the files you dont need anymore.

[donny]

That's a great solution! It works well when the folders are selected as separate Source Folders. Would it make sense to add a "Remove marked files" to the context menu to protect subfolders? You can't select subfolders separately as Source Folders because AllDup prevents overlapping.

[Administrator]

What's the difference between "Remove all selected files from the search result" and your suggestion "Remove marked files"?

[donny]

Marking is selecting the row without checking the checkbox. Selecting is checking the checkbox.

I just discovered the function "Remove all groups with only one file". Would a new function named "Remove all groups with only file selected" be easy to implement and useful?

[Administrator]

"Remove groups with all files selected" ?

[donny]

It would be very useful if there is an "unremove". I could remove or "hide" the groups with all files selected. Delete files from the other groups. Then "unhide" to go back and work with the groups with all files selected. It would save me from having to rerun the search again.

[Administrator]

I will add "Hide groups with all files selected" to our ToDo-List.

[donny]

Awesome! Thanks!