Criteria details

The following is a list of the criteria that can be used in duplicate rules to select photos from among a set of duplicates.

• Library: chooses based on what library they belong to. If you are searching across multiple libraries for duplicates, this criteria can be useful if you prefer to take actions on photos from one library over another library.
• File size: chooses either the smallest or largest file in the duplicate group. Note that for edited photos, this will use the size of the modified version of the photo, and not the original.
• Description: if you have entered custom descriptions in Photos for your photos, this criteria lets you choose duplicates based on the length of that description text. Photos with no description are treated as having a length of zero, i.e. they will always have the shortest description.
• # of named faces: chooses according to the number of faces that have been assigned names in Photos. Faces that have been located by Photos but not assigned a name are ignored.
• # of keywords: chooses according to how many keywords have been assigned to each photo.
• Modification date: chooses based on the date each photo was last edited.
• Date: chooses based on the date the photo was taken.
• Format: allows you to prefer one format of photo over another. For example, if you have some photos for which you have both a RAW and a JPG version, you can opt to always choose the RAW over the JPG.
• Album: chooses photos based on whether they belong to one of the albums in the Photos library. This can be used in cases where you have some duplicate photos, but one instance of the photo has been added to an album, and you want to make not to remove the copy of the photo that has been added to an album. Note that this only looks at the contents of “regular” albums, not smart albums.
• Place: chooses photos according to whether they have a geographic location assigned to them in Photos.
• Title: chooses based on whether the photo has been given a custom title or not. Photos assigns a default title to each photo base on the photo’s filename (e.g. “IMG_0001”), but if you have typed in your own titles for some photos, this can help preserve the photos that have those custom titles.
• Hidden: chooses based on whether a photo has been hidden in Photos.