options that might fight generation of duplicates

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Spitfire_ch
Posts: 84
Joined: Mon May 21, 2007 9:11 am
Location: Basel, Switzerland

options that might fight generation of duplicates

Post by Spitfire_ch »

Hi again and thank you very much for reading this forum so regularly, this is really superb support!

I know that the find duplicate thing has already been discussed and that you have suggested to use other, specialized tools for this. Still, there are some cases where it would make sense to have Synchronize it! recognize identical files in the target and source folder, although they have different names, or are in different subfolders. Otherwise, synchronization can easily lead to duplication.

Example A: different filenames

In the process of organizing my files at work, I decide to rename some files (without changing them): CV.doc -> CV 2006.doc

Now I go home and want to synchronize my files. The result will be, that I know have both, CV.doc AND CV 2006.doc, although they are exactly identical. If Synchronize it! would recognize duplicates, this could be prevented and it could suggest to simply rename the file.

Example B: different subfolder

To better organize my files at work, I decide to create some subfolders, e.g. a folder cold "old CVs". I move CV.doc into this subfolder. When I now use the synchronize action at home, it will result in having CV.doc inside and outside of the subfolder. Again, synchronization led to duplication. It would be very useful if Synchronize it! would recognize that the file is indeed present in the target, but in a different subfolder, and consequently would suggest to move it to the correct subfolder.

Both cases mostly occur when a lot of time has passed since the last synchronization, and I have made changes to the files at home and at work, so that I must use the synchronize action and cannot simply use the backup action. The capability of identifying identical files between target and source would be extremely helpful in such a case, saving a lot of time by making it unnecessary, to go through the files manually.

Thank you very much and best regards

- spit

grigsoft
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Post by grigsoft »

Thank you for suggestion! In fact I already have detection of moved\renamed files in my wish list.
Problem with duplicate files finding is possible multiple instances of same file, which can not be handled in curent UI. And making UI more complicated for this sole purpose doesn't make any sense. While moved\renamed files can be easily shown and handled in existing approach.

Spitfire_ch
Posts: 84
Joined: Mon May 21, 2007 9:11 am
Location: Basel, Switzerland

Post by Spitfire_ch »

That's nice to hear, you have already planned such a feature :). I didn't quite understand what will be possible and what won't be possible. So, normal identification of duplicates is not planned (and can easily be done by other software), but an algorithm that can detect renamed or moved files is planned? That'd be great!

When I think more about it, I do see the problems you have mentioned. Let's say, I decide to create a backup subfolder at work and copy some files in it. Now I want to synchronize it with my folder at home. As it is know, it will simply create the backup folder at home, which is good. But what if it also scans for identical files in subfolders? It will detect the files in both, the parent folder and the backup folder. So we need to think of a way how to handle this properly. Two possible scenarios could be distinguished:

Scenario 1 (backup, intended duplication)
Source: FileA is in parental and subfolder (backup)
Target: FileA is in parental folder, but not in subfolder
-> in the preview, group the three entries together and suggest to copy the backupfolder including FileA from source to target

Or with different names:
Source: FileA.doc + FileA backup.doc
Target: FileA.doc
-> copy FileA backup.doc from source to target

Scenario 2 (movement due to reorganization)
Source: FileA is not found in parental, only in subfolder
Target: FileA is in parental folder, but not in subfolder
-> group the two entries together and suggest to move FileA from parental to subfolder in Target

With different names:
Source: FileB.doc
Target: FileA.doc (identical to FileB.doc)
-> rename FileA.doc to FileB.doc in Target (or copy FileB.doc to Target and delete FileA.doc)

The backup action already does this properly. However, the current synchronize action would lead to a duplication of FileA in Scenario 2, which is not desirable.

grigsoft
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Post by grigsoft »

Yes, that's what I mean. Grouping items from different folders together might be confusing. I'm planning to add some highlighting, with added commands to easily see where file was moved and what to do with it now.

Spitfire_ch
Posts: 84
Joined: Mon May 21, 2007 9:11 am
Location: Basel, Switzerland

Post by Spitfire_ch »

That's a good idea. Maybe you could also add an option to manually rename a folder / file from within Synchronize it! Sometimes it's obvious to the human eye, that the folders are not different folders rather just have a different name, whereas it may be more tricky for the AI to recognize that. So simply clicking the folder and rename it - or even better: manually point to the folder in the target which is the same but has a different name - would make things easy.

Something like: Select the two folders, right click, and choose between the options: make target folder name identical to source / make source folder name identical to target.

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