# Duplicates and reclaiming space

**You'll need:** an administrative role to open the screen, and media delete permission to
act on a group, since resolving duplicates deletes files. **Administration → Media
Duplicates.**

Libraries accumulate copies: the same photo uploaded twice, a resized version saved
alongside the original, a file re-exported with a new name. They consume storage and
they make searches ambiguous.

## Find duplicates

The duplicates screen groups files that are identical or near-identical and shows each
group with a suggested **keeper**, usually the largest, earliest, most-used copy.

The suggestion is a starting point, not a decision. Check it against the group's actual
contents before acting: the highest-resolution file is not always the one your designs
point at.

## Before you delete anything

The screen shows what depends on each file. A copy used in three designs and a share
link cannot be removed without breaking them.

Removing a duplicate **re-links** whatever was using it to the keeper first, then
deletes. That ordering is the reason to do this here rather than by hand in the library,
where deleting leaves designs and posts pointing at nothing.

## Reclaim space

**Administration → Storage** is where you see what the library is actually using:

- what is stored, broken down by module, file type, origin and person
- the largest files
- how much is **reclaimable**, from duplicates and from the trash

Two buttons on that screen do the reclaiming: **Review duplicates**, and **Open trash**.

## The trash

Deleted files stay recoverable for a retention window set by your storage plan, under
**Media → Library → Recently Deleted**. They still count against your storage until
that window passes.

Each shows when it was deleted and how long it is recoverable for. **Recover** puts it
back with its tags, albums and analysis intact.

If a file shows **Not recoverable**, the underlying object is no longer retained and
recovery is not possible.

<Callout type="caution">
	Emptying the trash is the fastest way to free space and the only irreversible one on
	this page. Everything else here can be undone.
</Callout>

## Prevent duplicates

One habit prevents most of this: when you have a corrected or re-exported version of a
file already in the library, add it as a **new version** of that file rather than
uploading it as a new one. See [uploading files](/guide/media/uploading).

Versions count against storage too, and the library keeps a bounded number of them per
file. But they stay attached to one identity, so the library never has to guess which of
four files is current.