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My Tags: "maybedouble" "double"

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This is an article from "My Tags" blog series.

If you're hoarding some files you downloaded from the Internet, you might end up in situations where you get the same document multiple times.

For identical copies, there are great tools to find duplicates automatically.

However, there are situations where you get non-identical copies of the same document. For example, you may have downloaded an image showing an overview of the Mars rovers in JPEG format. Without noticing, you also downloaded the same image in a different image resolution or even a different format such as PNG or PDF. Those are duplicates as well, although they do have different file contents from a tech perspective. Therefore, tools that identify identical files don't help here because the actual content is different and not recognized as a duplicate.

Labeling Duplicate Files or Potential Duplicate Files

When I stumble over a file I think that I've got somewhere else as well, I apply the tag "maybedouble". If I'm sure that there is a duplicate file somewhere else, I use the tag "duplicate". Most of the time, I don't look for the second file right away. So the "maybedouble" tag might sit there, waiting for my to spring-clean my files some day.

Identifying Duplicate Files and Purging

By visiting a TagTree for "maybedouble" or "duplicate", I can quickly check already identified pairs of files. This way, I may get rid of one of them after checking for potential file links in my knowledge management.

Furthermore, I may use TagTrees for finding duplicates for pairs of files where one item haven't been identified as duplicate yet. Using my concept of controlled vocabulary, I may go down the TagTrees for two or three tags that I've associated with the first "maybedouble" file already. Chances are pretty high that the potential second duplicate file is within that folder and can then be tagged with "duplicate" as well.


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