How to Find Duplicate Files In excel using VBA?
Yesterday I was working on my computer and cleaning the drives to make some more space. I was surprised to see so many files saved at multiple places which was consuming huge space of my computer drives.
One of the biggest tasks was to identify such duplicate files. Initially I tried to manually find those files by opening and comparing different folders, files and file size but later decided to create a VBA code to help myself.
The code really helped me; hence I thought to share it with all of you.
Find Duplicate Files In Excel using VBA Follow This Code:
'This function lists files in a folder and sub-folders 'and mark the files as duplicates where name and size are same 'Note: The code does not delete any file Public Sub FindDuplicateFiles() 'Variable Declaration Dim objFSO As Object Dim objFile As Object Dim objFolder As Object Dim vFile As Variant Dim strPath As String Dim iCurRow As Integer 'Remove filter (if already applied) Sheet1.AutoFilterMode = False 'Clear old data Sheet1.Range("B9:E1000").ClearContents 'Set the path of the folder strPath = Sheet1.Range("B4").Value 'Validate if the given folder path is valid If Dir(strPath, vbDirectory) = "" Then MsgBox "Invalid Folder path", vbInformation Exit Sub End If 'Initialize file system objects Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject") Set objFolder = objFSO.getFolder(strPath) 'Set Directory to folder path ChDir objFolder.Path vFile = Dir(objFolder.Path & "\*.*") 'Change or add formats to get specific file types iCurRow = 9 Do While vFile <> "" 'LOOP until all files in folder strPath have been looped through Sheet1.Cells(iCurRow, 2).Value = vFile Sheet1.Cells(iCurRow, 3).Value = objFolder.Path Set objFile = objFSO.Getfile(objFolder.Path & "\" & vFile) 'Set the object to file Sheet1.Cells(iCurRow, 4).Value = Round(objFile.Size / 1024, 0) 'Divide the size by 1024 to convert to KB vFile = Dir iCurRow = iCurRow + 1 Loop 'Call the function to list files in sub-folders Call ListFilesInSubFolder(objFolder) 'Add formula to find duplicate file based on file name and file size Sheet1.Range("E9").Value = "=IF(COUNTIFS(B:B,B9,D:D,D9)>1,""Duplicate"","""")" 'Find the row number where formula needs to be copied iCurRow = Sheet1.Range("B" & Rows.Count).End(xlUp).Row 'Copy the formula to all records Sheet1.Range("E9").Copy Sheet1.Range(Sheet1.Range("E9"), Sheet1.Range("E" & iCurRow)) 'Calculate sheet Sheet1.Calculate 'Sort the data based on File Name and Size Sheet1.Sort.SortFields.Clear 'First Clear old sort field (if any) 'Add sort field on column B (File Name) Sheet1.Sort.SortFields.Add Key:=Sheet1.Range("B8:B" & iCurRow), SortOn:=xlSortOnValues, Order:=xlAscending, DataOption:=xlSortNormal 'Add sort field on column D (Size (KB)) Sheet1.Sort.SortFields.Add Key:=Sheet1.Range("D8:D" & iCurRow), SortOn:=xlSortOnValues, Order:=xlAscending, DataOption:=xlSortNormal With Sheet1.Sort .SetRange Range("B8:E" & iCurRow) .Header = xlYes .MatchCase = False .Orientation = xlTopToBottom .SortMethod = xlPinYin .Apply End With 'Add filter in column E (Is Duplicate?) Sheet1.Range("B8:E" & iCurRow).AutoFilter Field:=4, Criteria1:="Duplicate" MsgBox "Done" End Sub 'This function lists files in the sub-folder Public Sub ListFilesInSubFolder(objFolder As Object) Dim vFile As Variant Dim iCurRow As Integer Dim objSubFolder As Object Dim objsubfld As Object Dim objFSO As Object Dim objFile As Object 'Initialize file system object Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject") 'Find the row number where data needs to be entered iCurRow = Sheet1.Range("B" & Rows.Count).End(xlUp).Row + 1 'Run the loop for each sub-folder For Each objSubFolder In objFolder.SubFolders 'Set Directory to folder path ChDir objSubFolder.Path vFile = Dir(objSubFolder.Path & "\*.*") Do While vFile <> "" 'LOOP until all files in folder strPath have been looped through Sheet1.Cells(iCurRow, 2).Value = vFile Sheet1.Cells(iCurRow, 3).Value = objSubFolder.Path Set objFile = objFSO.Getfile(objSubFolder.Path & "\" & vFile) 'Set the object to file Sheet1.Cells(iCurRow, 4).Value = Round(objFile.Size / 1024, 0) 'Divide the size by 1024 to convert to KB vFile = Dir iCurRow = iCurRow + 1 Loop Next 'If the sub-folder contains more sub-folders then call the same function For Each objsubfld In objFolder.SubFolders Call ListFilesInSubFolder(objsubfld) Next End Sub
There are two functions to Follow This Code
- FindDuplicateFiles: This is the main function which gets file details and apply formula and filters.
- ListFilesInSubFolder: This is the secondary function which is called from the main function to get details from sub-folders
How to use this VBA code to find duplicate files in folder?
The easiest way is to download the excel file which is at the bottom on this post and use the file to find duplicate files in your system. If you want to use this code in your VBA tool, then follow below steps:
- Open the Excel file in which you want to copy this code
- Press Alt+F11
- Insert a Module (Insert>Module) from the menu bar
- Paste the code in the module
How to run this code?
- Go to ‘View’ tab on the ribbon
- Click on ‘Macros’ button
- Select ‘FindDuplicateFiles’ from the list of macros
- Click on ‘Run’ button
What will happen when we run this code?
- The code is reading folder path from cell B4 of Sheet1, ensure that you supply correct folder path in the cell.
- Macro will read file details (Name, Path and Size) of each file the folder and sub-folders
- After that a formula will be applied in column E (Is Duplicate?) to find duplicate files based on file name and size
- At the last a filter will be applied in column E (Is Duplicate?) as ‘Duplicate’
- Macro will show confirmation to user once it gets complete
Download Practice File
You can also practice this through our practice files. Click on the below link to download the practice file.