How to find and clean up duplicate notes

Recollect can find notes that are duplicates of each other and move the extra copies to the Trash in one step. One copy of each note is kept, with the tags from every copy added to it.

What counts as a duplicate#

• Exact copies — notes with the same title and the same content. Extra spaces are ignored (except in code blocks), but any other difference, such as formatting, a link, an image, or an attachment, means the notes are not copies.
• Bookmarks of the same page — bookmarks that point to the same web page, even when one link uses http and the other https, or one includes www. and the other does not. A bookmark copy is only moved to the Trash if the copy that is kept already has everything in it, such as a copy with just the link next to one that also has the saved article.

Contact notes synced from Contact Garden are never included.

Finding duplicates#

Click the gear icon and select Settings, then open the Notes tab. Under Duplicate notes, click Find duplicates. Recollect checks all of your notes and shows how many have duplicates and how many extra copies there are. Nothing changes at this point.

Moving the extra copies to the Trash#

Click the Move extra copies to Trash button (it shows how many copies will move), then click Move to Trash to confirm. Recollect keeps one copy of each note, adds the tags from every copy to it, and moves the other copies to the Trash.

You can restore any of them from Settings → Trash for 30 days. See restoring a deleted note.

Which copy is kept#

A copy that has a public link, is shared with someone, or is linked from another note is always the one kept, so nothing that depends on it breaks. Otherwise, Recollect keeps the bookmark that uses https, then the copy with the most tags, then the oldest copy.

To decide for yourself, click Review what will be kept before moving anything. Each group of copies is listed with the copy that will stay, and where more than one copy could be kept, you can choose which one.

Groups that need a look#

Some notes look like copies, but moving one to the Trash could lose something. Recollect leaves these alone and lists them under need a look so you can compare them yourself. This happens when:

• One copy has something the others do not, such as your own notes added to a bookmark.
• The copies have different titles.
• More than one copy has a public link, is shared, or is linked from another note.
• A copy was edited in the last 10 minutes.
• Combining the tags would give a note more than 100 tags.

Copies with changes that have not synced from the device you are using are skipped until they sync.

Finding duplicates with search#

You can also type is:duplicate in the search box to list every note that has a copy, or -is:duplicate to hide them. See filtering notes for more search options.

Teams#

On a team, duplicate cleanup only looks at notes you own. Notes shared with you and your teammates’ notes are never moved.