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Duplicate File Detective Changelog

What's new in Duplicate File Detective 7.2.74

Jan 7, 2024
  • Improvement: Added the ability to disable the preview window.
  • Improvement: Updated internal PDF rendering libraries (used by preview window).
  • Improvement: Creating a new project now prompts for confirmation if search results are present.
  • Improvement: Improved dialog themes and resizing behaviors.
  • Improvement: Fixes and improvements for PDF preview features.
  • Improvement: Improved performance of the AutoPrune feature.
  • Improvement: Various additional cosmetic improvements.
  • Bug fix: Installer was stopping prematurely in Windows Server 2012 environments.
  • Bug fix: Additional installer fixes and improvements.

New in Duplicate File Detective 7.2.69 (Mar 7, 2023)

  • Improvement: Fixes and improvements for PDF preview features.
  • Improvement: Fixes for ID3 tag extraction functionality.
  • Improvement: Scan summary window now has more vertical space available.
  • Improvement: Updated tab control themes contained in all dialogs.
  • Improvement: Various installer improvements.
  • Bug fix: SmartMarking files older than a given age produced an unspecified error.
  • Bug fix: Non-automatic file size display options were not working consistently.

New in Duplicate File Detective 7.2.65 (Mar 27, 2022)

  • Improvement: Duplicate File Detective now requires a 64-bit Windows operating system
  • Improvement: Added support for new personal edition license type
  • Improvement: UI font is now embedded in application resources (no longer system installed)
  • Improvement: Product installation storage footprint reduced by approximately 40 percent
  • Improvement: Improved performance for scenarios involving search path inclusivity tests
  • Improvement: Greatly improved XML duplicate search result import performance
  • Improvement: Improved performance for duplicate file report pruning functionality
  • Improvement: Improved performance of audio tag extraction file processing
  • Bug fix: Windows task bar progress indicator persisted after xml import cancellation
  • Bug fix: File name comparisons were not properly ignoring extensions (when configured to do so)
  • Bug fix: Fixes and minor improvements to PDF document preview support
  • Bug fix: Fixed bug in SmartMark targeting files by size
  • Bug fix: Additional minor UI improvements and fixes

New in Duplicate File Detective 7.1.70 (Dec 16, 2021)

  • Improvement: Ribbon bar command search improvements and extended command support.
  • Improvement: Docking pane positional stickers are now DPI-aware.
  • Improvement: Various cosmetic improvements to main window ribbon bar.
  • Improvement: Improved efficiency and conformance of XML data export escape routine.
  • Bug fix: Fixed rare unhandled exception in preview handler triggered by low memory conditions.
  • Bug fix: Summary report ribbon bar button remained disabled after successful XML report data import.
  • Bug fix: Fixed incorrect formatting of scan/exclusion paths contained in XML data exports.
  • Bug fix: Fixed bug in duplicate file report detail column visibility restoration logic.

New in Duplicate File Detective 7.1.66 (Oct 18, 2021)

  • Improvement: Added offical support for Windows Server 2022.
  • Improvement: Added offical support for Windows 11.
  • Improvement: Improved text clarity in specific portions of the UI.
  • Improvement: Updated internal HTTP, SMTP, and cryptographic libraries.
  • Improvement: Various minor performance enhancements and optimizations.
  • Bug fix: Fixed crashes related to PDF document preview rendering.
  • Bug fix: Fixed rare unhandled exception caused by failed temp file path resolution.

New in Duplicate File Detective 7.0.88 (Oct 18, 2021)

  • Improvement: Renewed code signing certificate.
  • Bug fix: Fixed rare crash that could occur on subsequent project executions.

New in Duplicate File Detective 7.0.87 (May 25, 2021)

  • Bug fix: File type information was not being populated for re-imported duplicate file reports.
  • Bug fix: Main detail report could show incorrect sort column arrows in rare scenarios.
  • Bug fix: Resolved unexpected outcomes when using SmartMark features with filtering engaged.
  • Bug fix: Resolved rare rendering failure relating to xml escape nullability.
  • Bug fix: Fixed incorrect case comparison of supported ID3 file extensions.

New in Duplicate File Detective 7.0.83 (Apr 22, 2021)

  • Improvement: Duplicate pruning process now honors hard linking tracking option.
  • Improvement: Updated main window ribbon bar minimize button location and appearance.
  • Bug fix: Fixed stale data bug relating to pruning of duplicates containing symbolic linkages.
  • Bug fix: Fixed folder view first initialization failure in rare cases.
  • Bug fix: Additional minor bug fixes and improvements.

New in Duplicate File Detective 7.0.79 (Apr 14, 2021)

  • Bug fix: Fixed possible crash relating to confirmation message when importing XML data.
  • Bug fix: Updated Excel export features with minor bug fixes and improvements.

New in Duplicate File Detective 7.0.78 (Mar 23, 2021)

  • Bug fix: Minor performance and memory enhancements.
  • Bug fix: Fixed possible incorrect path tokenization in folder view.
  • Bug fix: Fixed incorrect (case-sensitive) sort result for some music tag report columns.
  • Bug fix: Minor enhancements and fixes for Windows media player integration.
  • Bug fix: Improved error checking and load optimizations for PDF document preview scenarios.

New in Duplicate File Detective 7.0.75 (Feb 24, 2021)

  • Bug fix:
  • Folder view context menu operations could trigger a crash.
  • Minor installer fixes and improvements.

New in Duplicate File Detective 7.0.74 (Feb 17, 2021)

  • Improvement: Various minor cosmetic and user interface improvements.
  • Improvement: Various updates and fixes for audio tag extraction features.
  • Bug fix: Resolved issue with folder view not hiding files in search root folders.
  • Bug fix: Fixed threading issue that could cause audio tag data to be compared incorrectly.
  • Bug fix: Resolved PDF preview crash caused by invalid embedded font structures.
  • Bug fix: Resolved command routing bug that could trigger a crashe when double-clicking the folder view.
  • Bug fix: Resolved rare issue with embedded media player shutdown state.

New in Duplicate File Detective 7.0.71 (Feb 17, 2021)

  • Bug fix: Fixed previous version license preventing new version evaluation.

New in Duplicate File Detective 7.0.70 (Feb 3, 2021)

  • Bug fix: Resolved exit command line parameter behavioral regression.
  • Bug fix: Resolved crash resulting from use of the rename context menu command.
  • Bug fix: Fixed previous version license preventing new version evaluation.

New in Duplicate File Detective 7.0.67 (Feb 3, 2021)

  • Improvement: New, modernized main window ribbon bar style.
  • Improvement: Preview window now supports plain text file formats (.txt, .log, etc.).
  • Improvement: Preview window now offers simple (single-page) PDF document support.
  • Improvement: The file property window now shows additional properties (hash, owner, etc.).
  • Improvement: The file property window now handles multiple file selections (shows totals and common properties).
  • Improvement: Audio tag extraction has improved support for ID3v2 tags (for all supported file types).
  • Improvement: Support for M4V files has been added to the media preview window and ID3 tag comparison system.
  • Improvement: Extensive overhaul of user interface icons with perfect resolution scaling.
  • Improvement: Search path validation now considers (and monitors) search path check state.
  • Improvement: Improved, smarter default reparse point traversal and processing behaviors.
  • Improvement: Results filtering now infers wildcard placement when not specified by the user.
  • Improvement: Folders skipped as junctions or symbolic links are now logged (informational severity).
  • Improvement: Added path length field to the duplicate file list of the Duplicate File Manager window.
  • Improvement: Added protection option that warns when sending long NTFS paths to the Recycle Bin.
  • Improvement: Improved default layout for quick access area of the main window ribbon bar.
  • Improvement: Updated hash algorithm implementations with latest fixes and performance improvements.
  • Improvement: Duplicate report detailed tooltip is now only shown for the name column.
  • Improvement: Improved the speed of folder view tree population for larger workloads.
  • Improvement: Improved performance for the file system discovery phase of the duplicate search process.
  • Improvement: Improved memory usage across numerous features and subsystems, especially for larger data sets.
  • Improvement: Duplicate pruning operations are now much faster, especially for remote workloads.
  • Improvement: Added duplicate group count to existing main window status bar pane.
  • Improvement: Added the ability to ignore times when comparing last modified timestamps.
  • Improvement: Added the ability to ignore the "second" portion of times when comparing last modified timestamps.
  • Improvement: Added new filename match option that compares only a specified number of start characters.
  • Improvement: Added new filename match option that compares only a specified number of end characters.
  • Improvement: Added new filename match option that ignores a specified number of end characters.
  • Improvement: Sorting the duplicate results detail view now retains previous full selection.
  • Improvement: Sorting the duplicate results detail view is now much faster for large result sets.
  • Improvement: Significantly updated performance of file type lookups, benefiting multiple features.
  • Improvement: PDF exports are now slightly faster and have improved compatibility, rendering, and size.
  • Improvement: Improved performance and storage semantics (fewer temp files) for file system analysis data.
  • Improvement: Media preview now renders larger, better quality shell icons when available.
  • Improvement: Hard link tracking is now an explicit option (off by default for performance).
  • Improvement: Multi-page welcome wizard has been replaced with a simple, one-page welcome screen.
  • Improvement: Performance improvements when importing duplicate data from previously exported XML.
  • Improvement: Holding Alt key while double-clicking duplicate report detail entries now shows properties.
  • Improvement: Duplicate search summary window now includes an overview of search filter configuration.
  • Improvement: Using Alt + Enter in duplicate report shows properties the currently selected file(s).
  • Improvement: Updates to help file, including new examples, better high resolution support, and content additions.
  • Improvement: Improved handling of Windows default shell context menu actions.
  • Improvement: Overhaul of the product evaluation notification window.
  • Improvement: Hash calculator now computes hash (checksum) values across multiple threads.
  • Improvement: Hash calculator now offers utility function toolbar with various capabilities.
  • Improvement: Hash calculator offers improved layout and now displays file icon, file sizes, and more.
  • Improvement: Additional keyboard shortcuts, and improved ribbon command accessibility.
  • Bug fix: Double-clicking a duplicate file in the detail report to open it wasn't working.
  • Bug fix: Resolved issues with processing long file paths in some specific cases.
  • Bug fix: Fixed issues with print and print preview functionality on high resolution displays.
  • Bug fix: Resolved issue with application not terminating correctly in certain rare cases.
  • Bug fix: Fixed various user interface scaling limitations on high resolution displays.
  • Bug fix: Resolved visual resizing issues relating to file type detail report toolbar.
  • Bug fix: Docking detail view report panels were not using correct tooltip theme.
  • Bug fix: Fixed issue with chart views not applying font styles until after running duplicate search.
  • Bug fix: Filter notice pop-up was not closing automatically (if visible) when the project was re-executed.
  • Bug fix: Fixed potential memory leak during XML import processing.
  • CHANGE: Minimum OS requirements are now Windows 7 SP1 or later (Windows Server 2012 R2 or later).

New in Duplicate File Detective 6.3.62 (Jan 28, 2021)

  • Improvement - Docking panel caption text now consumes less space.
  • Improvement - Docking panel captions that display counters now use thousand separator.
  • Improvement - Pressing space bar in duplicate search progress window no longer cancels the search.
  • Improvement - Added confirmation prompt for duplicate search progress cancellation button.
  • Improvement - Duplicate File Manager now automatically removes read-only file attribute (if needed) during delete operations.
  • Improvement - Various enhancements, fixes, and optimizations for Excel data export operations.
  • Improvement - Improved locale date/time formatting for Excel data exports.
  • Improvement - Extended the default file type groups.
  • Bug fix: Fixed issue with frame window shadows in some multi-monitor environments.
  • Bug fix: Search path protection would sometimes fail to apply to immediate root files.
  • Bug fix: Trial information startup window was using incorrect font size in some environments.
  • Bug fix: Toggling the "compare full path" search filter option was not resetting project save state.
  • Bug fix: Minor cosmetic fixes.

New in Duplicate File Detective 6.2.62 (Jan 4, 2020)

  • Improvement - Docking panel caption text now consumes less space.
  • Improvement - Docking panel captions that display counters now use thousand separator.
  • Improvement - Pressing space bar in duplicate search progress window no longer cancels the search.
  • Improvement - Added confirmation prompt for duplicate search progress cancellation button.
  • Improvement - Duplicate File Manager now automatically removes read-only file attribute (if needed) during delete operations.
  • Improvement - Various enhancements, fixes, and optimizations for Excel data export operations.
  • Improvement - Improved locale date/time formatting for Excel data exports.
  • Improvement - Extended the default file type groups.
  • Bug fix: Fixed issue with frame window shadows in some multi-monitor environments.
  • Bug fix: Search path protection would sometimes fail to apply to immediate root files.
  • Bug fix: Trial information startup window was using incorrect font size in some environments.
  • Bug fix: Toggling the "compare full path" search filter option was not resetting project save state.
  • Bug fix: Minor cosmetic fixes.

New in Duplicate File Detective 6.2.58 (Jul 10, 2019)

  • Improvement - Enhanced digital signature applied to all executable components.
  • Bug fix: Setting "show top n" file types/owners to zero would result in a crash during duplicate search operations.

New in Duplicate File Detective 6.2.54 (Jun 22, 2019)

  • Bug fix: Fixed incorrect ribbon bar icon placement when resizing main window.
  • Bug fix: Fixed issue with buffer invalidation during certain SID resolution operations.

New in Duplicate File Detective 6.2.53 (Jun 11, 2019)

  • Bug fix: Fixed crash that could occur when using certain quick access ribbon bar commands with print preview active.
  • Bug fix: Fixed rare potential access violation during file system object owner name resolution.
  • Bug fix: Fixed constrained report tooltip widths in high resolution environments.
  • Bug fix: Scheduled tasks no longer impose a three-day run time limit by default.
  • Bug fix: Update checker desktop popup window links were not working consistently.
  • Bug fix: Improved layout of update checker desktop popup window.
  • Bug fix: Automatic update checks were not properly initiated.

New in Duplicate File Detective 6.2.52 (May 29, 2019)

  • Feature: Added official support for Windows Server 2019.
  • Feature: Added support for single and multi consultant licenses.
  • Feature: Updated cryptographic libraries for improved file hashing performance.
  • Feature: Task scheduling features have been updated to support new COM interfaces available on Vista and later.
  • Feature: Scheduled tasks created by FolderSizes now run with highest available privileges.
  • Feature: Added orphaned scheduled task check on scheduler dialog startup.
  • Feature: Improved standards conformance of data exported to HTML file format.
  • Feature: Improved compatibility, security, and performance of all Excel export features.
  • Bug fix: Scheduling Excel file report creation wasn't generating the correct export command line parameter.
  • Bug fix: Fixed potential crash during file processing log output.
  • Bug fix: Fixed crash that occurred when changing theme with print preview active.
  • Bug fix: Fixes to non-inclusive search path mode functionality.
  • Bug fix: Fixed rare issue with partial hash optimization causing incorrect comparison partitioning.
  • Bug fix: Fixed interpolation of open and rename ribbon bar icons (home tab).
  • Bug fix: Now installing primitive symbols needed to work around Windows 10 untrusted font blocking.
  • Bug fix: Updated zip compression components to eliminate zip slip vulnerability.
  • Change: Support for Windows XP and Server 2003 has been discontinued.

New in Duplicate File Detective 6.1.84 (Aug 14, 2018)

  • Bug fix: Some error conditions could be left unreported during duplicate file processing.
  • Bug fix: Crash reporting was not working as expected.
  • Bug fix: Other minor corrections and performance improvements.

New in Duplicate File Detective 6.1.79 (Jun 5, 2018)

  • Bug fix: Fixed duplicate report tooltip display issues on 32-bit platforms.
  • Bug fix: Updated version of Zlib library (for zip compression support).
  • Bug fix: Fixed issues with dialog z-order on Windows XP.
  • Bug fix: Fixed issue with ribbon bar customization not working as expected.
  • Bug fix: Additional minor improvements and bug fixes.

New in Duplicate File Detective 6.1.67 (Mar 5, 2018)

  • Bug fix: Fixed incorrect counter displays on 32-bit platforms.
  • Bug fix: Fixed incorrect font usage within the search docking panel.
  • Bug fix: Fixed incorrect item background transparency within the search docking panel.
  • Bug fix: Fixed incorrect search filter panel icon sizes when running in high DPI environments.
  • Bug fix: Fixed incorrect search filter panel margins when running in high DPI environments.
  • Bug fix: NTFS attribute strings were missing the L character for reparse points (symbolic links, etc.).
  • Bug fix: NTFS attribute letter ordering has been modified to match Windows Explorer.
  • Bug fix: Other minor fixes.

New in Duplicate File Detective 6.1.65.0 (Feb 28, 2018)

  • Bug fix: Fixed rare potential for shell context menu crash.
  • Bug fix: Shell context menu icon now fully supports transparency.
  • Bug fix: Fixed folder view panel icon and checkbox sizes in high DPI environments.
  • Bug fix: Fixed small checkboxes in main duplicate file report in high DPI environments.
  • Bug fix: Fixed small graph text in high DPI environments.
  • Bug fix: Fixed incorrect file property column sizing in high DPI environments.
  • Bug fix: Fixed incorrect button icon sizing in high DPI environments.
  • Bug fix: Fixed incorrect new project wizard banner sizing in high DPI environments.

New in Duplicate File Detective 6.1.62.0 (Feb 18, 2018)

  • Feature: Improved keyboard navigation in main window ribbon bar.
  • Feature: Improved DPI scaling in the report detail views.
  • Feature: Improved DPI awareness in search panel (specifically for state icons).
  • Feature: Improved shell icon extraction performance and stability.
  • Bug fix: Fixed issue with context menu "Find duplicates with recent project settings" option not working with spaced paths.
  • Bug fix: Fixed transposed "folder" and "is marked" columns in CSV export.
  • Bug fix: Fixed potential for export columns to sync incorrectly with visible report columns.
  • Bug fix: Tray area notification for scan errors was truncated at higher DPI settings.
  • Bug fix: Improvements and bug fixes for Excel export features.
  • Bug fix: Duplicate search summary window didn't appear when using shell context menu.
  • Bug fix: Fix for rare potential shutdown crash.

New in Duplicate File Detective 6.1.60.0 (Feb 17, 2018)

  • Feature: Improved keyboard navigation in main window ribbon bar.
  • Feature: Improved DPI scaling in the report detail views.
  • Feature: Improved DPI awareness in search panel (specifically for state icons).
  • Feature: Improved shell icon extraction performance and stability.
  • Bug fix: Fixed issue with context menu "Find duplicates with recent project settings" option not working with spaced paths.
  • Bug fix: Fixed transposed "folder" and "is marked" columns in CSV export.
  • Bug fix: Fixed potential for export columns to sync incorrectly with visible report columns.
  • Bug fix: Tray area notification for scan errors was truncated at higher DPI settings.
  • Bug fix: Improvements and bug fixes for Excel export features.
  • Bug fix: Fix for rare potential shutdown crash.

New in Duplicate File Detective 6.1.51.0 (Jul 21, 2017)

  • Features:
  • Official support for Windows 10 Creators Update.
  • Increased maximum potential size of thumbnail images shown in preview docking panel.
  • Using enter key in main window duplicate report now opens the currently selected file (if any).
  • Improved default report view column widths for non-standard DPI settings.
  • The "Explorer Operation" section of the shell context menu now supports a broader range of actions and third-party applications.
  • Reduced the amount of memory consumed by Excel data export operations.
  • Updated cryptographic hashing subsystem for improved performance.
  • Added minimize button to file processing progress dialog.
  • Bug fixes:
  • SmartMark "Mark Matching File Paths" dialog was incorrectly limiting input text.
  • Fixed display of date/time values where timestamps of midnight were not being shown.
  • Maximizing, minimizing, and then restoring main window would not restore to a maximized state.
  • Using non-inclusive search paths could result in incorrect duplicate file groupings in some scenarios.
  • File size display option (view tab of main window ribbon bar) was not working.
  • Fixed possible app shutdown crash.

New in Duplicate File Detective 5.1.57 (Dec 20, 2014)

  • Bug fix: The "Mark Last File in Each Group" SmartMark function wasn't correctly clearing existing markings.
  • Bug fix: The "Mark Last File in Each Group" SmartMark function worked incorrectly when the detail view sorting was changed.

New in Duplicate File Detective 5.1.52 (Dec 11, 2014)

  • Feature: Added a "Show Next Duplicate Group with All Files Marked" option to the SmartMark menu (Ctrl+Shift+N).
  • Feature: Improved (more logical) sorting of file system (name, folder, full path) strings in main window detail view.
  • Feature: Logic has been added to ensure that search paths are pruned of duplicate/inclusive entries prior to the search.
  • Feature: Added option to always extract music file tag data (even when music tag comparison option is not engaged).
  • Bug fix: Added a number of keyboard shortcuts relating to the main window detail SmartMark context popup menu.
  • Bug fix: Preventing use of SSE2 processor instructions to better support older CPUs.
  • Bug fix: Installer now removes FileHashCache.xml when product is uninstalled or reinstalled.
  • Bug fix: Resolved a couple rare (edge case) file system enumeration bugs.

New in Duplicate File Detective 5.0.74 (Jan 27, 2014)

  • Feature: Added a folder browse button to the Mark Matching File Paths (SmartMark) dialog window.
  • Feature: Added "Mark Last File in Each Group" function to top-level SmartMark menu.
  • Feature: Added several thousand new file extension types to the file type researcher database.
  • Bug fix: Resolved a couple of cases where comparison logging would indicate an unknown failure reason.
  • Bug fix: Use of the Mark Matching File Paths function of SmartMark would fail to update the marked status bar indicator.
  • Bug fix: Preventing use of SSE2 processor instructions to better support older CPUs.
  • Bug fix: Resolved issue with certain report file type icons rendering incorrectly (as small square blocks).
  • Bug fix: File type graphs were not printing correctly to specific device types.

New in Duplicate File Detective 5.0.70 (Nov 8, 2013)

  • Improvement: An error is now recorded in the application event log if a duplicate search log file cannot be opened.
  • Bug fix: Fixed failure to find duplicates in specific cases when using the parent folder comparison option.
  • Bug fix: Search log files were not being deleted between project runs.

New in Duplicate File Detective 5.0.68 (Oct 9, 2013)

  • Bug fix: Fixed potential crash due to unhandled regular expression parsing exception. Such errors are now reported in the application event log.

New in Duplicate File Detective 5.0.67 (Aug 14, 2013)

  • Improvement: Search filter regular expression support has been extended, and now supports the ECMAScript (JavaScript) expression grammar.
  • Improvement: Shell context menu now appears for drives, network shares, and network servers.
  • Improvement: Other minor improvements in shell context menu.
  • Bug fix: Fixed potential crash in Explorer due to a bug in a third-party library used by the shell context menu.

New in Duplicate File Detective 5.0.64 (Jul 30, 2013)

  • Improvement: Minor changes to comparison options window to increase clarity of zip file hashing option.
  • Bug fix: Welcome wizard could possibly be shown when using shell context menu to start duplicate search.
  • Bug fix: Shell context menu was being (incorrectly) shown for Windows Library virtual folders.

New in Duplicate File Detective 5.0.63 (Jul 30, 2013)

  • Feature: Added logic to detect and break file system reparse point loops.
  • Feature: Added "search with recent project settings" to shell context menu.
  • Feature: Improved duplicate search file system enumeration performance.
  • Bug fix: Resolved rare concurrency-related crash when showing duplicate search progress.

New in Duplicate File Detective 5.0.62 (Jul 30, 2013)

  • eature: Search name masking can now compare full paths (not just file names), providing even more path management flexibility.
  • Feature: Greatly improved ribbon bar customization capabilities (including ribbon tabs, quick access bar, and shortcuts).
  • Feature: Added PDF export support (recommended for small to medium sized reports).
  • Feature: PDF export is also now supported from the command line (using /pdf:"path" syntax).
  • Feature: Added the ability to ignore numeric characters (digits) during filename comparison operations.
  • Feature: Added "mark by longest full path" and "mark by shortest full path" selections to SmartMark tool.
  • Feature: Search paths can now be flagged as "non-inclusive", preventing files within path from being compared against other files in the same path.
  • Feature: Added file name length matching to search filtering mechanism.
  • Feature: Aded file name and full path length elements to docking properties window.
  • Feature: Shell context menu now supports selection of multiple folder paths (within Explorer, etc.).
  • Feature: Shell context menu can now initate "quick", "checksum", "strong checksum", and "duplicate song" searches.
  • Feature: Shell context menu can initiate a search that uses the settings from the default project (see Preferences | General | Startup).
  • Feature: Byte-by-byte file content comparison now uses partial hashing for comparison partitioning, making it more efficient.
  • Feature: Added option to duplicate result manager to create move/zip path folders if they don't already exist.
  • Feature: Added the ability to specify a specific startup project (plus an option to use a blank one).
  • Feature: When a project file is saved, the user is now warned that duplicate search results won't be saved along with it (use File | Export Results for this purpose).
  • Feature: Improved printing and print preview for duplicate search results report.
  • Feature: Updated zip, cryptographic, and music file tag extraction libraries.
  • Feature: The folder view tree is no longer automatically re-built after use of the auto-prune function.
  • Feature: Added new post-export prompt that allows export file (or its parent folder) to be opened.
  • Feature: Product installation improvments (user can elect to run program from final step of installation, etc.).
  • Feature: Promoted the "mark/unmark all files in project path" option to the top-level SmartMark ribbon bar menu.
  • Feature: File types detail report now support smooth vertical scrolling.
  • Feature: When only exclusionary search path filters are specified, a global ("*") match filter is now inferred.
  • Feature: Added the ability to specify the color of marked items in the duplicate search result report.
  • Feature: Added the ability to navigate to the next/previous marked file from the duplicate search results context menu.
  • Feature: Added "search typing" to search results view (type letters to select associated duplicate files).
  • Feature: Various general performance improvements.
  • Bug fix: Installer could show "warning 1910" in some scenarios (cosmetic only).
  • Bug fix: Improved UI in high DPI environments.
  • Bug fix: Eliminated flicker from folder view docking panel.
  • Bug fix: The "% Dup Space" column in the docking file types detail panel was not sorting correctly.
  • Bug fix: Default "document" file type match presets didn't match .xsls or .pttx files.
  • Bug fix: Exclusion path context menu incorrectly allowed engagement of path protection option (cosmetic).
  • Bug fix: In new project wizard, if you click "back" on the last step the "finish" didn't change to "next".
  • Bug fix: Fixed possible exception during shutdown from command line (e.g. using the "exit" command line parameter).
  • Bug fix: Visible columns associated with project weren't always correctly synced with the UI.
  • Bug fix: Double-clicking on duplicate search result row checkbox no longer attempts to open associated file.

New in Duplicate File Detective 4.3.54 (Jan 24, 2013)

  • Feature: Minor tweaks to folder tree exposed through new project wizard.
  • Feature: The Search & Excluded Panels now support the selection of Windows 7 library entries when adding directories.
  • Feature: Added header and footer values to printed duplicate file reports.
  • Bug fix: Resolved rare crash that could occur during program startup (status bar was being accessed prior to being fully initialized).

New in Duplicate File Detective 4.3.53 (Aug 27, 2012)

  • Feature: Added formal support for Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012.
  • Feature: Added helpful information to duplicate search summary dialog instructing users on how to take next steps.
  • Feature: Added the ability to right-click one or more duplicate search result entries and remove all files of the same type (e.g. same file extension).
  • Feature: Added the ability to right-click one or more duplicate search result entries and remove all files in the same folder and/or subfolders.
  • Feature: Minor changes to ribbon bar layout and command text to streamline user interaction and improve clarity.
  • Feature: Added upgrade policy clarification text to the update notice pop-up window and update check dialog. Also enhanced the text on this subject in the product help file.
  • Feature: Minor tweaks to main window startup size for new product installations.
  • Change: Duplicate File Detective no longer automatically selects entries within the duplicate file search results report by default.
  • Bug fix: Hash cache UI settings prevented entry of new maximum size limit.
  • Bug fix: Fixed problem with Files counter in main window status bar not showing a value (a v4.3 regression).

New in Duplicate File Detective 4.3.50 (Aug 6, 2012)

  • Feature: Added "files compared" metric to the duplicate search summary window (includes link to log file when logging enabled).
  • Feature: Updated underlying zip libraries in order to improve performance and resolve minor / rare issues.
  • Feature: Zip file creation (during duplicate file processing) now enables unicode file and folder name support by default.
  • Feature: Performance of zip file creation (during dupliate file processing) is dramatically improved.
  • Feature: Increased maximum hash cache size limit.
  • Feature: Added a "Mark matching file paths in folder" option to the SmartMark section of the duplicate search result report right-click menu.
  • Feature: The advanced tab of the Preferences window now allows users to decide whether the comment "Shortcut created by Duplicate File Detective" is added to shell shortcuts created during duplicate file processing. The option is off by default.
  • Bug fix: Resolved problem that could limit scalability in environments with many millions of files.
  • Bug fix: Resolved rare case where a large temp file could be left in the target file system after Duplicate File Detective closes.
  • Bug fix: Main window ribbon bar now uses a small delay when showing tooltips.
  • Bug fix: Resolved defect in file size display logic that could affect decimal precision in some (non-default) circumstances.
  • Bug fix: Report view options relating to file size display and grid lines were not showing checkmarks on the active setting.
  • Bug fix: Resolved "out of memory" error that occurred when attempting to re-import XML search result files exceeding 2GB in size.
  • Bug fix: Resolved minor (cosmetic) bug with drawing "no items to show" text in file properties window.
  • Bug fix: Attempting to link files during duplicate file zipping operations could fail in some circumstances.
  • Bug fix: Fixed a rare crash that could occur during application start-up.

New in Duplicate File Detective 4.2.47 (Jun 6, 2012)

  • Feature: Added support for comparing music tags within .ape (Monkey's Audio) file format.
  • Feature: New optimizations reduce program memory consumption (often quite dramatically, and especially for large search result sets).
  • Feature: Added minimize box to duplicate file search progress window.
  • Feature: Added a "Move parent with this window" checkbox to the duplicate file search progress window. When engaged, the main application window is kept centered over the progress window, allowing users to move the main window during the duplicate search process.
  • Bug fix: Corrected possible unhandled exception when log file entries were being written (only occurred in specific circumstances).
  • Bug fix: Resolved bug that incorrectly required genre tag to match when comparing music tags (regardless of comparison options used).
  • Bug fix: Numerous minor bug fixes relating to ID3 music file tag parsing.

New in Duplicate File Detective 4.1.54 (Dec 29, 2011)

  • Bug fix: Resolved a problem with duplicate file processing shell linkages not including the target file extension.
  • Bug fix: Resolved rare Winsock heap corruption anomaly that could occur in some environments.

New in Duplicate File Detective 4.1.50 (Nov 8, 2011)

  • Feature: Added the ability to change the duplicate search report font size (normal, large, and very large sizes available).
  • Feature: Added the ability to export/import protected file types to/from file.
  • Feature: The duplicate file search progress window now operates modally, preventing changes to the underlying project definition while a search is in progress.
  • Feature: Duplicate search result detail report now always shows sort triangle (even when column width is smaller than header text).
  • Feature: Added two new letters to details list attribute columns ("I" = "Not indexed" and "P" = "Sparse file").
  • Feature: Improved visibility of ribbon bar expand/collapse functionality by adding a right-aligned toggle button.
  • Feature: Added smooth scrolling support to duplicate file detail report view.
  • Feature: Detail report view selection colors are now maintained even when the control window does not have active focus.
  • Feature: Detail report view now shows a dotted border around the current focused row to differentiate it from other selected rows.
  • Feature: F1 key now used by main window as shortcut to access help file.
  • Feature: When users elect to remove files during duplicate zipping, the actual file removal is now deferred until after the zip file is finalized / closed.
  • Feature: When Duplicate File Detective encounters a file system security identifier that is not mapped to an account name, it will now convert the SID to a string (e.g. it will present something like "S-1-5-21-9259032911-4949815421-2563717148-1001 " rather than displaying "unknown"). Note that "unknown" will still be presented if the security descriptor itself is inacessible.
  • Bug fix: Resolved rare crash that could occur if system settings (such as theme, etc.) were changed during an auto-prune operation.
  • Bug fix: The link to review logged events in the duplicate search pop-up notification window was broken.
  • Bug fix: Resolved minor file types detail toolbar icon transparency flaw.
  • Bug fix: File properties docking panel tooltips are now themed correctly.
  • Bug fix: Now catching unhandled exception that could occur while flushing duplicate search log file.
  • Bug fix: Now catching unhandled exception that could occur when finalizing zip archives.
  • Bug fix: Duplicate file processing progress dialog would show file names after they were processed, rather than before / during (cosmetic bug).

New in Duplicate File Detective 4.0.45 (Jun 17, 2011)

  • Feature: Project path management controls are now disabled when a duplicate search is in progress.
  • Feature: Added new protection feature that checks disk space availability during duplicate file move / zip operations. If the target volume has less than 100 MB of space free, a warning will be issued. This behavior is enabled by default, and can be changed in Preferences | Protection.
  • Bug fix: Resolved GDI resource leak (relating to media preview and file property panes) that could eventually lead to a crash.
  • Bug fix: Resolved potential incompatibility with Windows 7 Service Pack 1, experienced by a small subset of users.
  • Bug fix: Resolved rare main window report column visibility crash.
  • Bug fix: Added exception handler for additional file exceptions occurring during duplicate processing.

New in Duplicate File Detective 4.0.43 (May 19, 2011)

  • Bug fix: Fix for potential divide by zero exception introduced in v4.0.42.

New in Duplicate File Detective 4.0.42 (May 19, 2011)

  • Feature: Improved formatting of duplicate file report group indices.
  • Feature: File type detail report duplicate percentage column drawing improvements.
  • Bug fix: Resolved rare floating point operation failure during file type statistics computation.
  • Bug fix: Resolved rare search report scrollbar drawing artifact that could occur in certain graphics adapter environments.
  • Bug fix: Additional exception handling for obscure music file tag read fault.
  • Change: When a duplicate file candidate is skipped because it resolves to the same physical path as another candidate, an event log warning is no longer generated. Instead, a search log entry is now created (skipped file logging must be enabled in perferences window) which details the files in question.

New in Duplicate File Detective 4.0.40 (May 12, 2011)

  • Feature: Added support for compression of temp files created by Duplicate File Detective during search operations. Option is enabled by default, but can be turned off in the advanced tab of preferences window. Requires that user/system temp folder location resolves to NTFS file system.
  • Feature: Added ability to compare parent folders (up to a specified depth) when searching for duplicate files.
  • Feature: Added drop arrow to search/excluded panel toolbars to allow for adding of mapped network drive or drop-and-drop of paths from Windows Explorer.
  • Feature: Improved detection of cases were two files refer to the same physical file system location, and thus should not be compared. Some tests are NTFS file system specific.
  • Feature: Improved efficiency and scalability of event log viewer. It can now display a very large number of events with minimal impact on memory consumption.
  • Feature: Event log viewer now remembers column sizing changes, and no longer flickers when window is resized.
  • Feature: Various performance (XML import, etc.) and theme improvements.
  • Bug fix: Fixed rare exception that could occur when attemping to hash zip files with invalid / corrupt field data.
  • Bug fix: Ribbon bar customizations were not being retained between sessions.
  • Bug fix: Fixed two obscure cases where file open return checks were not being performed correctly.
  • Bug fix: Changing the log file directory would cause logging to fail until the application was restarted.
  • Change: Removed "delete all" button from search/excluded path panel toolbars. This function can still be accessed via context menu (right-click within panel).
  • Change: Retired the "do not compare hard linked files" comparison option. This behavior is now always in effect.

New in Duplicate File Detective 4.0.25 (Apr 20, 2011)

  • Bug fix: Fixed rare crash in ribbon bar UI update handler routine.
  • Bug fix: Fixed exception that could occur when attemping to open corrupt / invalid zip files for hashing.

New in Duplicate File Detective 4.0.24 (Apr 20, 2011)

  • Feature: Duplicate File Detective is now available in native x86 (32-bit) and x64 (64-bit) builds. The 64-bit build increases the scalability of the product considerably.
  • Feature: Added new file hash caching feature. The goal of hash caching is to improve the performance of subsequent duplicate searches involving the same paths.
  • Feature: Added a special file hashing option for ZIP files, allowing their contents to be enumerated and hashed (rather than the zip file itself).
  • Feature: Added support for extracting and comparing music file tags. Supported audio file formats include MP3, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, MPC, Speex, WavPack TrueAudio, WAV, AIFF, MP4 and ASF.
  • Feature: Added support display of music file tag data in primary duplicate file results report. New columns include artist, title, album, track, year, genre, duration, and bitrate.
  • Feature: Extended duplicate results report filtering to include new music tag attributes (see above) as well as duplicate group count and size.
  • Feature: The image preview docking window has been renamed to "media preview" and now supports numerous audio and video formats.
  • Feature: Extended SmartMark system to support marking duplicates by shortest duration or smallest bitrate (music tags).
  • Feature: The file properties window has been extended to show audio tag data for supported audio file formats (see above).
  • Feature: Added the ability to strip non-alphanumeric characters from filenames during comparisons.
  • Feature: Expanded the built-in music file type preset to include taggable formats.
  • Feature: File group editor is now easier to understand and use, with improved validation, etc.
  • Feature: A new step has been added to the project wizard that allows users to select which columns will appear in the duplicate results report
  • Feature: The project wizard now offers more assistance in path, file type, and report column selection screens based upon the project type specified in the first step.
  • Feature: Duplicate search result report column visibility is now stored at the project level, rather than globally.
  • Feature: Export and import processes have been extended to include music tag data.
  • Feature: When exporting duplicate report results, default export column selections are synced with the current visible columns in the results report view.
  • Feature: Exporting duplicate search result data in XML format now exports all available duplicate file data, making result imports much more intuitive.
  • Feature: Added ability to print duplicate search summary report.
  • Feature: In the path selection step of the new project wizard, the folder path list offers improved folder browsing and validation.
  • Feature: Memory and performance optimizations during file hashing (checksum generation) operations, particularly when combined with other match options (such as file name and/or extension matching).
  • Feature: Added adaptive threading technology, designed to maximize performance during file hash / checksum generation.
  • Feature: Changing hash thread pool size settings no long requires an application restart to take effect.
  • Feature: When running the 64-bit product build, project default folder exclusions now take their x86 path counterparts into account.
  • Feature: Added switch to allow for (non-Internet) temp file folder to be excluded by default in new projects.
  • Feature: Added duplicate report column header context menu option for restoring columns to their default widths.
  • Feature: The ability to compare file extensions now operates independently of file name comparison (see comparison options window).
  • Feature: Selecting the music tag comparison option in the Match Settings dialog will sync the visible duplicate report columns accordingly.
  • Feature: Added support for specifying HTTP proxy login and password during update check operations.
  • Feature: Handling of folder reparse points (junctions, symbolic links, and mount points) now provides recursion avoidance.
  • Feature: The Duplicate File Manager can now remove empty directories which are the result of duplicate file delete/move operations.
  • Feature: General application theme improvements in all areas.
  • Feature: File type graph views have been redesigned for superior performance and presentation.
  • Bug fix: Duplicate result records associated with protected search paths were still eligible for processing.
  • Bug fix: In very specific circumstances, the duplicate search elements in the progress window could show incorrect values.
  • Bug fix: It is no longer possible to change projects through the "most recently used" file listing while a duplicate search is in progress.
  • Bug fix: Resolved duplicate search result report selection not being restored upon sort column change in specific circumstances.
  • Bug fix: Fixed existing duplicate search file type and summary data not being cleared when opening a project.
  • Bug fix: Resolved an issue where certain error log entries that occurred while opening a locked file would show "unknown error" (rather than the actual failure reason).
  • Bug fix: Project search / exclude path listings were constrained to roughly a third of their maximum supported allowance.

New in Duplicate File Detective 3.6.3 (Jan 8, 2011)

  • Feature: Added ability to disable duplicate group sorting within primary detail report.
  • Feature: Significant performance gains in all wilcard comparison mechanisms (e.g. scan-time filtering, resulting filtering, etc.).
  • Feature: Improved usability and appearance of product within high DPI display modes.
  • Feature: The duplicate file report view now draws a line between duplicate groups to better separate them.
  • Feature: Duplicate and scanned file distribution graphs have been re-worked to improve layout and spatial efficiency.
  • Feature: Re-organized certain ribbon bar functions to improve workflow.
  • Feature: Added the ability to mark *only* the selected files (and unmark all others) in the same group. Uses Ctrl+G shortcut key.
  • Feature: Users can now drag and drop files from Windows directly onto the Hash Calculator tool window to add them to the list of files to hash.
  • Bug fix: Low-priority I/O mode on Vista or later is now engaged properly.
  • Bug fix: Resolved SmartMark defect that caused marking of files in project paths to work too greedily in certain instances.
  • Change: Switched to a three-part application version number.

New in Duplicate File Detective 3.5.2.50 (Aug 25, 2010)

  • Feature: Improved the column names assocated with the file type detail view to make them more intuitive.
  • Feature: Improved internal crash reporting mechanisms have been added.
  • Bug fix: Resolved a problem with the mark newest / oldest feature working in reverse.
  • Bug fix: Resolved a problem with "mark / unmark in project path" feature not working properly for duplicate files residing in root drive paths.
  • Bug fix: Resolved an obscure bug where entry of overlapping duplicate search paths resulted in erroneous report results.
  • Bug fix: Resolved issue with search path protection not always covering exact path matches.
  • Bug fix: Resolved minor cosmetic issue with color depth in search path toolbar images.
  • Bug fix: Minor corrections to application themes

New in Duplicate File Detective 3.5.0.49 (Feb 20, 2010)

  • Bug fix: Resolved a problem that caused duplicate searches to abort prematurely in the comparison phase. This issue only occurred in the v3.5.0.48 release.

New in Duplicate File Detective 3.5.0.48 (Feb 19, 2010)

  • Feature: Introduced a new "Folder View" docking panel that provides a hierarchical representation of the folders involved in the current duplicate search results. Users can control the visibility of related duplicate search result records using the checkboxes next to each folder.
  • Feature: Introduced the ability to "protect" duplicate search paths, accessible through the lock toolbar button in the search paths docking panel. When a search path is protected, all its descendants in the search results report will be unavailable for marking (and therefore cannot be processed by Duplicate File Detective). Such entries will show a small lock icon in place of their marking check box.
  • Feature: A new File Extension Researcher tool has been integrated into Duplicate File Detective. It is accessible from the toolbar of the File Types detail panel, or from the detail report's right-click (context) menu.
  • Feature: Duplicate File Detective now provides an option for excluding protected file types from the duplicate file search process. This option is enabled by default, and should improve the performance and security of many common duplicate search scenarios.
  • Feature: Added the ability to create symbolic links (in addition to existing shell shortcut link support) when moving or deleting duplicates. This feature is available on Windows Vista and later only (Windows XP and earlier do not support symbolic links) and requires that DFD be run "elevated" and with administrative privileges.
  • Feature: Added the ability to create hard links when moving or deleting duplicates. Note that hard links cannot cross volumes (e.g. you cannot link a file on one hard drive to a file on another drive).
  • Feature: The AutoPrune feature has been enhanced so that it prunes files which are recognized as symbolic or hard links. This helps to make use of the new symbolic / hard linking features (described above) more seamless, as linked files will be removed from duplicate results reports during pruning.
  • Feature: Added "group count" and "group size" columns to the duplicate search results detail listing. Note that both columns are hidden by default - use the column chooser (or right-click on the detail view header) to expose them.
  • Feature: Right-clicking a project search / exclude path now selects that item prior to showing the context menu. Right-clicking outside of all list items will now also remove any existing selection.
  • Feature: Added an option (enabled by default) to the file match settings dialog that causes hard-linked files to not be considered duplicates. File linkage tests are performed prior to content analysis, eliminating the need for performance-intensive hashing when hard links exist.
  • Feature: Group count and size metrics can now be exported in all formats (CSV, HTML, XML).
  • Feature: Results filtering now offers the ability to filter by group index.
  • Feature: Autoprune dialog now indicates the number of duplicate groups pruned thus far (as well as the total number being pruned).
  • Feature: Performance of file type statistics generation has been significantly enhanced.
  • Feature: Improved log entry descriptions for "file compared" search log events (non-matches now identify which test failed).
  • Feature: The duplicate search summary window now provides direct links to search log files for "file found", "folder scanned", "file skipped", and "folder skipped" log event types.
  • Feature: Added a duplicate file search report context menu that allows for reversing (toggling) of markings for currently selected duplicate files. This feature can also be accessed by pressing the spacebar.
  • Bug fix: Resolved a problem in version number comparisons that could incorrectly alert users about a new product release when using automatic update checking.
  • Bug fix: Skipped reparse point files were being incorrectly reported as skipped folders in search logging and report summary.
  • Bug fix: User's preferred column auto-sizing mode could be disrupted by use of the column chooser tool.
  • Bug fix: The duplicate search complete notification pop-up window would not be responsive to user interaction if the search summary dialog was on-screen at the same time.
  • Bug fix: Resolved a potential buffer overrun condition within the Duplicate File Manager window that could be triggered by the display of very deeply nested folder paths.
  • Bug fix: Creation of CSV files (during search log file generation, or when exporting file type detail reports) now employ UTF-8 encoding, rather than Unicode. This provides better compatibility with MS Excel.

New in Duplicate File Detective 3.0.1.69 (Dec 18, 2009)

  • Feature: Dynamic cluster size resolver improves accuracy of allocated file size (aka "size on disk") computations.
  • Feature: The ability to SmartMark oldest / newest duplicate files (in each group) has been extended to allow users to choose what file date/time stamp (modified, created, or last accessed) is used for the comparison.
  • Bug fix: Replaced main application icon with correct, higher resolution version.
  • Bug fix: Fixed a problem in which specific SmartMark functions would issue an incorrect (unecessary) warning.
  • Bug fix: Results filtering would not be applied when ribbon bar was minimized. This has been fixed.
  • Bug fix: User's preferred column auto-sizing mode could be disrupted by the addition / removal of duplicate search report columns.
  • Bug fix: Duplicate file search report tooltips could become corrupted if the duplicate file path contained specific character sequences.
  • Bug fix: Configuration of update checking through an HTTP proxy was not working correctly.
  • Other: Installer improvements, minor adjustments to product license dialog, etc.

New in Duplicate File Detective 3.0.0.57 (Nov 18, 2009)

  • Feature: Duplicate File Detective is now Unicode enabled. Note that report export operations now generate Unicode files (e.g. which include byte order markers).
  • Feature: Added the ability to create shell shortcuts when moving or deleting duplicate files using the Duplicate File Manager dialog
  • Feature: Logging support has been added to Duplicate File Detective, providing users with details on how file system objects are processed during duplicate search runs. Use the application preferences window to configure logging.
  • Feature: A new "welcome wizard" tutorial has been added to Duplicate File Detective.
  • Feature: Application toolbars and menus have been replaced with a new "ribbon" command interface.
  • Feature: Application themes have been re-designed and heavily augmented. Available themes now include "blue", "black", "silver", "aqua", "scenic", and "white". These can be set via the "theme" drop-down menu located to the right of the ribbon.
  • Feature: The display of duplicate groups within the results report has been re-engineered. Duplicate File Detective no longer displays duplicate groups as a series of hierarchical nodes. This new "flattened" view delineates duplicate groups with alternating background colors, greatly improving use of vertical space.
  • Feature: The scalability and efficiency of Duplicate File Detective have been improved dramatically. Extremely large duplicate file reports can now be produced without exhausting available system memory.
  • Feature: Added the ability to create zip archives that contain Unicode file names. This feature can be enabled on the advanced tab of the preferences window, and is disabled by default. Be sure that the zip archive utility you use supports Unicode before enabling this option.
  • Feature: The design of the duplicate results summary window has been re-engineered to be cleaner and more informative.
  • Feature: Error handling and reporting during duplicate result processing has been improved considerably.
  • Feature: A new "auto prune" feature is now available from the Results menu. It allows users to manually trigger a report pruning process that removes file report items no longer present within the file system. This allows for automatic updating of report results without needing to re-execute a complete search.
  • Feature: The pruning process that occurs after duplicate file processing (or through the "auto prune" option mentioned above) now has a progress indicator and is cancellable.
  • Feature: The report data import process now offers an option for launching the auto-pruning process after an import completes successfully.
  • Feature: When exporting duplicate search results, current file markings are now available as an optional export column. When exporting in XML format with this option enabled, a subsequent import of this XML will restore the markings.
  • Feature: Exporting report data to HTML or CSV will now retain current report view characteristics such as current sorting and filtering. Note that XML export format remains unchanged - it exports all duplicate search data in a manner that supports re-importing at a later date (via File | Import).
  • Feature: Search result filtering has been re-designed to be report column specific, with new "wild card" character support. These changes improve flexibility and performance dramatically.
  • Feature: A number of search result filtering shortcuts have been added to the report context menu, making it easier to isolate duplicates by name, folder, owner, etc.
  • Feature: When processing (moving, deleting, zipping) duplicate files, Duplicate File Detective checks (by default) to see if any duplicate file groups have all of their entries marked and allows the user to cancel processing operations and review markings before proceeding. Also, such a cancellation will now cause the first duplicate file group with all entries marked to scroll into view (with the first duplicate of the group selected).
  • Feature: The file hash calculator tool has been improved to allow for the generation of multiple hash type values for multiple file paths in a single pass. It is also now operates within a separate worker thread so that the UI doesn't become unresponsive when hashing larger files.
  • Feature: The duplicate report context menu now exposes a "compute file hash" option that launches the file hash calculator tool. Multiple path selections are supported.
  • Feature: When filtering duplicate search results, users can now elect to show the siblings of matching items. In other words, if any member of a duplicate group passes the filter, then the entire duplicate group that contains it will be shown (rather than just the duplicate that passed). This option is available as a switch within the general tab of the preferences window.
  • Feature: Duplicate search report print previewing has been enhanced significantly. It now includes more intuitive zoom controls as well as multi-page preview and more.
  • Feature: Error handling during report export operations has been improved considerably.
  • Feature: New project default exclusion paths have been improved via the addition of a switch for the "common program files" folder. Default exclusions now also include both x64 and x86 paths when running on 64-bit Windows.
  • Feature: Added the ability to retain existing folder structures when moving duplicate files.
  • Feature: The search summary dialog has been extended to include a new "search log" view. This new mechanism provides insights into which folders were scanned during duplicate searching, as well as which files and folders were skipped (and why).
  • Feature: Duplicate search report tooltips have been enhanced significantly, and an option has been added (see preferences window) allowing them to be disabled.
  • Feature: The default docking panel configuration has been altered to be more intuitive.
  • Feature: A new status bar pane shows the number of duplicate files that are currently marked, along with the amount of space they consume.
  • Feature: A new file "single threaded" file content hashing option was added to the advanced tab of the application preferences window. It is also now the default threading mode, as it yields the best performance for local storage devices. Users scanning network resources should consider use of multiple threads.
  • Feature: All status bar panes now intelligently resize themselves to their current textual contents, providing more efficient use of space and eliminating unwanted trimming.
  • Feature: The progress bar that appears during duplicate comparison operations has been re-designed and split into two sections, the first showing the number of bytes scanned and the second showing the number of files scanned.
  • Feature: Application keyboard shortcuts have been dramatically improved. The existing v2.x shortcuts still work, but are now also supplemented by entirely new ribbon bar shortcuts (press the Alt key to display).
  • Feature: The coloring of duplicate file report rows by duplicate file attributes can now be disabled completely, with a single switch. This can improve duplicate file report viewing performance in some scenarios (e.g. when search for duplicates over a slower network connection).
  • Feature: Duplicate search result XML file exports now store a reference to the current project file (if the project had been previously saved). This value is then queried during XML import operations, and the user is prompted to load the associated project file (if it is present, and if it is different from the currently loaded project).
  • Feature: Smart marking within the duplicate search result context menu now allows users to mark or un-mark all items within a specific project path. This provides users with a simple means of ensuring that no files within a particular project path are processed (or vice versa).
  • Feature: Duplicate file records can now be removed from the duplicate search report (without deleting the associated file). To remove a range of entries with the same properties (e.g. same hash, folder, etc.), use filtering to narrow down the visible entries and then remove them.
  • Feature: Added automatic update checking, which occurs in a background thread when Duplicate File Detective starts up. Can be disabled through preferences window.
  • Feature: On Windows 7, the Duplicate File Detective task bar button now shows a marquee style progress indicator whenever a duplicate search is in progress.
  • Feature: Improved support for Windows Restart Manager.
  • Feature: Marked duplicate file report items can now be displayed in a lighter color than those that are un-marked. Users can also elect to display the filename of marked files using a strike-through font.
  • Feature: When adding a search or exclude path (through the respective docking panel), users of Windows Vista and later can now choose multiple folders.
  • Feature: Added support for extremely long paths to the duplicate file search and management features. Note that the "delete files to recycle bin" option of the Duplicate File Manager is still limited to working with paths that are 255 characters or less due to limitations in the Windows shell.
  • Feature: The Duplicate File Manager now continues processing files when errors occur, presenting a summary of errors (if any) when the process completes. There is also a new option that causes file processing to halt upon the first occurrence of an error (similar to how previous versions behaved).
  • Bug fix: Resolved a problem with filename-only duplicate matching when "ignore extensions" was also enabled.
  • Bug fix: The contents of the duplicate results summary window are now reset immediately when a new project is created. Previously, they weren't cleared until a new duplicate scan was run.
  • Bug fix: Fixed a couple of relatively obscure bugs in the code that handles document modification flags.
  • Bug fix: File | Import menu option is now disabled when a duplicate file search is in progress.
  • Bug fix: Selecting the default color from the color selection control on the file attributes option panel wasn't working as expected.
  • Bug fix: When matching duplicates via filename and ignoring extensions, blank filenames are no longer considered a match.
  • Bug fix: ProjectPath node of XML export file was not properly enclosed in CDATA block.
  • Bug fix: User interface now responds better to changes to Windows system themes, etc

New in Duplicate File Detective 2.2.0.0 (Jun 11, 2008)

  • Extended hash algorithm support, improved file hash calculator, improvements to the SmartMark duplicate marking system, improved image preview, numerous performance enhancements.

New in Duplicate File Detective 2.1.1.0 (Nov 30, 2007)

  • Feature: Added a total file space metric to the Duplicate Result Manager window. Provides a better sense of how much space will be freed based upon the pending action.
  • Feature: Duplicate file manager window can now be maximized.
  • Feature: When files are removed from the Duplicate Result Manager window, the file list scroll position is no longer changed. This makes it easier to track the position of such changes relative to other files being processed.
  • Feature: Added "mark all but first" duplicate file marking capabilities to the duplicate report context (right-click) menu, so that this feature can operate at the duplicate group level (in addition to existing SmartMark implementation, which operates on all duplicate groups).
  • Feature: When using Duplicate Result Manager to zip files with the "delete originals" option engaged, the deletions will now honor the "delete to Windows recycle" bin option.
  • Feature: Numerous improvements to application performance and error handling, particularly within Duplicate Results Manager.
  • Bug fix: Resolved a problem with duplicate file project paths not being cleared between loading of projects (v2.1.0.1 regression).

New in Duplicate File Detective 2.1.0.1 (Nov 23, 2007)

  • Bug fix: Resolved a defect in which DFD could crash when attemping to generate a preview for a duplicate file that had been deleted by an external program.
  • Bug fix: Fixed a bug in which the duplicate result manager window could have its protection flags out of sequence.
  • Bug fix: Added code to guard against runtime error display (and subsequent abort) when DFD encounters invalid date/time stamps on files.
  • Other very minor tweaks.

New in Duplicate File Detective 2.1.0.0 (Nov 20, 2007)

  • Feature: Added support for regular expression syntax to the filename masking system utilized throughout Duplicate File Detective (e.g.scan-time search filtering, smart filename marking, etc.).
  • Feature: Significant enhancements to duplicate file report navigation performance, particularly when scanning network file paths. Image preview loading is now threaded, and operates on a slight delay to allow for smoother file selection transitions within the duplicate result report.
  • Feature: Added a new switch to the performance section of the advanced setting dialog that allows users to disable retrieval of file ownership data during the duplicate file search process. Use of this switch can enhance duplicate search performance, especially when scanning network paths.
  • Feature: Whenever Duplicate File Detective saves a project to file, it creates a backup copy of the original (if one exists). The location of this .bak file has been moved to the user's local Application Data system folder (previously it was saved to the same path as the project file).
  • Feature: Added a switch to the general tab of global preferences that allows for the auto-completition feature of drop-down combo boxes within DFD to be disabled.
  • Feature: Added a switch to the View | Toolbars submenu that allows you to "lock all toolbars" (prevent them from being moved / re-docked to other parts of the application frame).
  • Feature: Added a warning / confirmation window that appears when duplicate files are processed and one or more groups are found to have all of their entries marked. The display of this window can be managed via the Protection tab within the Global Preferences window.
  • Bug fix: Resolved a memory leak that would occur during XML data import processes.
  • Bug fix: Resolved an issue with adding invalid paths via the "search folders" panel where the folder browser dialog would be closed and the last browse path would be added. Now the folder browser path will stay on-screen when an invalid path is entered, allowing the user to correct the situation.
  • Bug fix: In some specific cases, clicking the cancel button during a duplicate file comparison process would not immediately cancel pending search operations (e.g. it could take several seconds). Now, cancellation occurs much more quickly (nearly instantly).
  • Bug fix: Status bar statistics were not being updated after the Duplicate Dile Results Manager tool was utilized. Now when duplicates are moved, deleted, or zipped, the status bar will be updated to reflect the change in duplicate file count and disk space consumed.
  • Bug fix: File type classification panels are now updated after the Duplicate Dile Results Manager tool is utilized.
  • Bug fix: The auto-completion feature of the drop-down box used to input file name masks (in various places within the application) was not operating in a case-sensitive manner.
  • Bug fix: Resolved a crash that could occur on Win9x operating systems when a project is run a second time.
  • Bug fix: File size and count values within the File Types detail report were not using a thousands separator character (comma).
  • Significant performance enhancements in many areas of the application.
  • Numerous minor improvements in usability and appearance.

New in Duplicate File Detective 2.0.0.0 (Oct 19, 2007)

  • Feature: Added an image preview docking window. Current supported image file formats are: BMP, EMF, GIF, ICO, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, and WMF.
  • Feature: Numerous changes (to application file storage, etc.) to make Duplicate File Detective more Windows Vista friendly.
  • Feature: The "mark all files in group" context menu option available at the duplicate group level now descends into any sub-groupings that may have been established through the use of the report grouping bar.
  • Feature: It is now possible to shift click and ctrl click multiple duplicate report record selections and use the "mark selected file(s)" context menu function to mark them.
  • Feature: Added the ability to ignore file extensions when performing file name based duplicate matching. When this feature is enabled, the resulting duplicate file report will group entries by file name (minus the extension).
  • Feature: Added an option to automatically show the duplicate file summary report upon completion of scanning operations. This checkbox is available within the summary report window itself, and is turned off by default.
  • Feature: Added the ability to perform byte-for-byte matching during file comparison operations. This feature is useful when even the smallest potential for false positive matches cannot be tolerated. Although strong hashing algorithms such as MD5 and SHA1 are *extremely* accurate, the only way to be 100% certain that two files match is byte-for-byte binary comparison. Note that use of this feature can slow the file comparison process significantly (especially when comparing large files).
  • Feature: Paths in the "search paths" and "exclusions" docking panels can now be double-clicked for editing. A "browse for folder" dialog will appear with the path being edited visible. If a new path is chosen, it will replaced the one that was double-clicked.
  • Feature: Numerous improvements to scan-time error handling throughout the application. For example, if a project contains an invalid starting path, it now notifies the user of such once scanning operations are complete. File access exceptions that occur during file content comparison operations are also better exposed now.
  • Feature: Added "last accessed" and "created" date / time columns to duplicate file report results. Both new columns can be exported to any of the supported export formats (and can also be re-imported from an XML export). Also note that both columns are hidden by default (right click on the report header and use the field chooser to make them visible).
  • Feature: Created a new "Office 2007" visual theme for the application that closely resembles Microsoft Office 2007 (minus the ribbon bar). Users can freely switch between this and the older Windows sytem-based theme used by DFD v1.x (see view menu).
  • Feature: Added an option to the "appearance" section the preference window that allows users to control whether date-based report columns (such as "created", "modified", etc.) include a time value. By default, they will show date only.
  • Feature: Added "attribs" column to duplicate file report results. The column expresses common file attributes as a series of alpha flags. For example, "HSA" is representative of the file attributes "hidden", "system", and "archive". This new column is hidden by default (use the report field chooser to make it visible) and can be included in all export operations.
  • Feature: Made extensive improvements to the DFD v1.x "smart marking" system (which is now referred to as "SmartMark"). New capabilities include marking of duplicates file file size (largest or smallest in each group), filename length (longest or shortest file name in each group), and filename pattern. Filename pattern marking supports compound wildcard masks with exclusions, and can also ensure that at least one duplicate file in each group is left unmarked.
  • Feature: A context (e.g. right-click) popup menu has been added to the "search paths" and "exclusions" path management panels. The context menu provides access to existing functions and adds new ones (including the ability to check or uncheck all paths at once).
  • Feature: Enhanced the duplicate file scan progress dialog to include a "files compared" indicator. The progress bar control logic has also been revised (and is now more accurate) and is supplemented by progress percentage text.
  • Feature: The duplicate scan summary data that is included with XML data exports is now more complete (it now includes files scanned / skipped, folders scanned / skipped, report start and end times, etc.). Scan summary data is also now brought back into the application during an XML data import, making the "Summary" window more useful in these situations.
  • Feature: Made numerous performance enhancements, especially with regard to file content comparisons (which can now operate concurrently, making better use of modern hardware capabilities).
  • Feature: Added a new "advanced" tab to the global settings window. Currently, it provides access to file hashing thread pool settings, and will be further extended in future releases.
  • Feature: The default style sheet (which applies to HTML exports) has been completely revised, and now provides a simpler, more professional appearance. As before, the style sheet can be customized to the needs of the user.
  • Feature: Search and exclusion path management intelligence has been expanded considerably. DFD will now attempt to resolve a broader range of conflicts when new paths are added (such as when a parent directory already exists, or the new path is a parent to an existing path) through warnings, confirmations, and additional actions.
  • Feature: The duplicate result manager dialog window can now be resized, and will retain it's size and position between uses.
  • Feature: Added new options to the duplicate report context (right-click) menu that allow all files in the same folder as the selected item to be marked (or un-marked).
  • Feature: Added a new option to the general tab of the settings window allowing you to disable "save current project" prompts. Currently, if any unsaved changes exist to the project, you will be prompted to save them under certain circumstances. Use this new switch to disable these entirely (project is never saved unless you save it explicitly).
  • Feature: The file properties docking window can now be switched between "categorized" (the default) and "alphabetized" property sorting orders. The alphabetical view is slightly more compact, for those who might find the extra space beneficial.
  • Feature: The duplicate file scanning event (error) log window is now resizable and remembers its position between uses. It also provides intelligent column resizing within the event log list control that it contains.
  • Feature: It is now possible to drag directory paths from Windows Explorer and drop them onto the "Search Paths" and / or "Exclusions" docking panels.
  • Feature: Added an option to the Export window that allows style settings to be merged directly into HTML export files (rather than having the CSS file copied to the export target path and linked into the HTML). This helps to create a more portable HTML export document, and is engaged by default.
  • Feature: Added an option to the general tab of the global settings which causes DFD to display a desktop notification whenever a duplicate scan process completes. You can also elect to show such notifications only when duplicate scan errors occur.
  • Feature: Duplicate file result manager window path list is now sorted alphabetically.
  • Feature: New MSI application installer package.
  • Bug fix: File name filter edit / combo history no longer stores duplicate entries.
  • Bug fix: Auto group results function (see general tab of preferences window) would fail if the correlative "preferred column" was hidden by the user (through the field chooser window or some other means). This has been resolved.
  • Bug fix: Closing the main application window and then choosing "cancel" when prompted to save any changes to the active project would cause problems (and prematurely cancel any duplicate scans in progress). This has been resolved.
  • Bug fix: Resolved a problem with file size filtering not always performing comparisons correctly.
  • Bug fix: Shell icons displayed within the duplicate file report detail view could be incorrect in specific, rare situations (usually on the Win9x family of operating systems). This has been resolved.
  • Numerous other minor improvements and bug fixes.

New in Duplicate File Detective 1.5.3.0 (Aug 7, 2007)

  • Bug fix: Resolved a problem with a key binary sorting algorithm that could cause some duplicates not be identified.
  • Bug fix: Resolved a file shell icon association bug in the main report view.
  • Bug fix: Resolved issue with folder and file scan / skip counts being off under certain conditions.
  • Bug fix: Resolved a problem with the search paths docking panel not showing vertical scrollbars when its contents exceeded available window space.
  • Bug fix: Fixed a problem within the duplicate result manager window where radio button exclusivity was not properly enforced.
  • Bug fix: Resolved a problem with large numbers of folder paths not being saved properly as part of the project.
  • Change: Default file name scan masks have been changed from "*.*' to "*", which matches a broader range of files (including those without extensions) by default.

New in Duplicate File Detective 1.5.2.1 (Oct 11, 2006)

  • File types distribution reports,
  • duplicate report importing,
  • file type group management

New in Duplicate File Detective 1.5.1.5 (Mar 5, 2006)

  • Improvement: Report fields are now quoted during export to CSV format.
  • Bug fix: Resolved a problem with filter criteria file name masks not honoring upper case characters (when the case sensitive masking switch is engaged).
  • Bug fix: Resolved a problem with small duplicate file result sets being ignored under specific, rare conditions.