Duplicate File Finder AllDup 4.0 released

Martin Brinkmann
Oct 31, 2016
Updated • Oct 31, 2016
Software
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AllDup 4.0 has been released; the popular duplicate file finder for the Microsoft Windows operating system ships with search, interface, and customization improvements.

You may download the new version of the program  as a portable version that you can run from any location after download and extraction, or as an installer if you prefer it that way.

The program opens with an interface that has been redesigned. Especially the iconography is different and may be easier to understand for first time users.

The program displays two rows of icons on start. The first lets you start searches or look at search results, switch between profiles, open the options, or logs.

The second defines the search parameters. There you find options to select one or multiple folders for the search, define search methods and options, filters, and enable or disable file previews.

AllDup 4.0

The sheer number of options, toggles and switches can be intimidating at first. While advanced users may find AllDup to be the holy grail of duplicate file finders, inexperienced users should not give up on the program either.

While you may configure the search and filter options in detail, it is not necessary to run searches. You can get your first search underway in a matter of seconds. All you have to do is select a folder that you want searched, and hit the start search button afterwards.

That search is limited to file name comparisons though which is not the best way to find duplicates as different names or files with identical sizes may not be included in the results.

Search method lets you define comparison criteria in detail. You can select one or multiple options there, for instance to search by file content and size, or by similar pictures. The performance of file content searches using hashes has improved by about 50% according to the developer, and similar pictures is a new file comparison option that finds identical and "almost identical" pictures.

The latter can be useful to find duplicate pictures that use different file extensions, or have slightly different resolutions.

Other new options include ignoring ID3 tags of mp3 files and metadata of FLAC files, and new file name comparison options to only compare the characters at the beginning of files, or requiring a set percentage for partial file name matches.

The program displays a log window will the search runs which keeps you updated on the progress.

A truckload of new options have been added to the search results window.  Some allow you to display or hide information, e.g. displayed toolbars, or new search options.

AllDup 4.0 supports two new command line parameters. The parameter -c runs a file content comparison search from the command line for instance.

As far as negatives are concerned, there are two but they may not matter to most users. First, Windows 2000 is no longer supported by the program. Second, all profiles, program settings or stored search results from version 3 cannot be carried over to the new version.

Closing Word

AllDup is a powerful duplicate file finder with an impressive set of features and options. The new AllDup 4.0 version improves the program further in many regards without taking away functionality or introducing an awkward interface that is harder to use or navigate.

Summary
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5 based on 5 votes
Software Name
AllDup
Operating System
Windows
Software Category
Multimedia
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Comments

  1. Anonymous said on December 15, 2017 at 9:16 pm
    Reply

    No context menu with 64bit explorer like DOpus, useless to me.

  2. Ben said on November 1, 2016 at 4:36 pm
    Reply

    Thank you so much Martin.
    This program looks really useful and better than the one I used before.
    Love it.

  3. chesscanoe said on November 1, 2016 at 4:23 am
    Reply

    The user manual hasn’t been updated for over 3 years, but a new code version is more important and no doubt more fun for the programmer. I don’t see it added to Windows Explorer, nor to the task bar as I requested during the install. Functionally it seems to work nicely with my limited testing on Windows 10 x64 Home machine.

  4. Oxa said on November 1, 2016 at 12:34 am
    Reply

    This is something that should be built in to Windows File Explorer. MS is wasting its time on new gewgaws that no one will ever use and overlooking simple functions such as this.

  5. shinyplastic said on October 31, 2016 at 8:46 pm
    Reply

    Have tried a lot of duplicate file finders (including paid), and this is by far my favorite. Haven’t installed the 4.0 yet, but used most of the beta versions leading up and there are excellent. There a lot options and menu bars in the interface, but it’s the only one that has made a dent in 4TB of mixed backups (from my wife!).

  6. Anonymous said on October 31, 2016 at 4:25 pm
    Reply

    First i tried it in English as I do not understand German, but most of the sentences at the end are not visible due to the software does not respect the windows scale factor other than 100%, annoying. Secondly when I clicked on “Start Search”, immediately I have had an alert Firewall blocking an outgoing connection. I searched how to deactivate this behavior, not found any setting related. Directly to trash.

    1. A different Martin said on November 2, 2016 at 8:06 pm
      Reply

      Also, it created a German-language Windows Explorer context-menu entry even though I didn’t check the box for an Explorer context-menu entry during the install routine. Checking the box for it in AllDup Options, exiting, restarting AllDup, unchecking the box, and exiting again seems to have fixed the problem. I can live with small glitches like that, which will doubtless be corrected in future updates, provided the program itself works well. Unfortunately, my eyesight isn’t great and I upscale my display, so that may prove to be a problem — at least if the gist of the truncated lines isn’t clear without being able to read them to the end. Scaling can be problematic for a fair number of programs in Windows 7. I’ve run into more than one where the command buttons (OK, Cancel, Save, Reset, etc.) in dialog boxes were below the bottom of the screen and couldn’t be seen or clicked.

      1. Anonymous said on November 7, 2016 at 10:50 am
        Reply

        I don’t know if the scaling problem is specific to Windows 7 i use?, i have the same problem with few other programs, the most annoying is with “ScreenToGif” (https://screentogif.codeplex.com/) the best for making animated gifs in my opinion, that’s why i continue to use the v1.4.2 instead of the new version. Anyway i need a duplicate images finder i can sort the result (and delete files) by folders, which is like most of this kind of programs not the case here…

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