Duplicate copies of a photo
How we spot copies of the same photo, which copy we use, and how to correct us.
The same photo often lands in your library more than once: the original from your phone, a smaller copy from a messaging app, another from a cloud drive. We group these copies into a stack and use the best one, so your timeline shows the photo once. Nothing is deleted. Every copy stays in your library.
Stacks work on every plan.
How copies are found
- When you import. Each new photo is compared with the ones you already have.
- In the background. A scan checks photos that were already in your library. It runs on its own and picks up where it left off.
We compare how the pictures look, not their file names. A smaller or re-saved copy of a photo is found, even if the file is different.
Some things are not stacked as duplicates:
- Burst shots, even when the frames look almost the same.
- A RAW file and its JPEG from the same shot. Those are joined as one RAW+JPEG photo instead.
- A crop of a photo to a different shape.
The copies badge
When a photo has other copies, its tile on your Timeline shows a badge such as 2 copies. The number counts the copy we use plus the others. The same badge appears when you open the photo in the viewer, and clicking it opens the stack. See Look at a photo up close.
The stack viewer
The stack viewer shows every copy side by side, with its Dimensions, Format, Size and Quality score, so you can see why one copy was picked. Each copy is marked:
- In use: best copy. We chose it.
- In use: your choice. You chose it.
- Other copy. It is kept, but not used.
- Edited version. See below.
Which copy we use
We pick the copy with the best quality. Larger pictures and better file formats win, and a file with its camera details beats one without. If two copies are equal, the one imported first wins.
Your albums, the viewer and your downloads use the best copy. If a stack has several copies and you add one of them to an album, or select one for a download, you get the best copy, once.
Choose a different copy
Click Use this one on the copy you want. It is used everywhere from now on. We won’t swap it back when new copies arrive or the scan runs again. Your choice holds until that copy leaves the stack.
When it isn’t a duplicate
Sometimes two photos are not duplicates after all. Click Not a duplicate on the one that doesn’t belong. It leaves the stack and appears on its own again. We won’t stack it with those photos again, not on import and not in the scan.
If only one photo is left in a stack, the stack goes away.
Edited versions
If you imported a photo together with an edited version of it, the edit is marked Edited version. Edited versions are kept, are not counted in the copies badge, and can’t be chosen as the best copy, so your original stays the one we use.
Who can change a stack
You need to be able to add photos to the library. People who can only view it see the stack, but not the buttons.
If something goes wrong
- “We couldn’t load the copies of this photo. Try again.” Check your connection and open the stack again.
- “That didn’t work. Try again.” The change wasn’t saved. Try the button again.
- A copy you expect isn’t in the stack. The stack may not be built yet. Imports are checked soon after they finish. Older photos are checked by the background scan.