iPhoto Script to Tag Duplicates

I merged a whole lot of photo folders and albums recently and ended up with hundreds of duplicates. Not wanting to manually clean up the mess I searched for something that would help me out. I eventually found a script from Karl.

It inspired me to develop the idea a bit more. I wanted it to tag exact duplicate photos, photos that should be duplicates but are not, and photos that have been processed in some way. I also added some dialogs to remind you how to use it.

To use it, open iPhoto, select some or all of your photos and run the script.
I have also written a short script to remove the "duplicate", "similar" and "processed" comment tags so that you can 'reset' everything.

Note, this script only tags photos. It will not delete any photo (although it could be altered to do that if you wanted it to).

This is the AppleScript code. Copy and paste it into a file called pcIPhotoMarkDuplicates.scpt.

(*
iPhoto Mark Duplicates

Based on work by Karl Smith
http://blog.spoolz.com/2008/11/03/iphoto-applescript-to-remove-duplicates/
Copyright 2008 Phil Colbourn

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program. If not, see .
*)
tell application "iPhoto"
display alert "This script will tag photos that are
* duplicates - identical,
* similar - dates and sizes match but somehow different, and
* processed - dates match but smaller than the 'original'.

WARNING: This script is only effective if the selected photos are in date order. Please ensure that the photos are sorted by selecting the

View - Sort Photos - By Date, Ascending

from the iPhoto menu."
set curPhotos to selection
if (count of curPhotos) ≤ 1 then
display alert "You need to select the photos you want me to process."
else
-- this assumes the selected list of photos is in date order
set lastPhoto to item 1 of curPhotos
repeat with thisPhoto in rest of curPhotos
-- skip tagged duplicates
if comment of thisPhoto = "duplicate" then
else
set dupFound to false
try
if (date of thisPhoto = date of lastPhoto) and (width of thisPhoto = width of lastPhoto) and (height of thisPhoto = height of lastPhoto) then

set thisSize to size of (info for (image path of thisPhoto as POSIX file))
set lastSize to size of (info for (image path of lastPhoto as POSIX file))

if thisSize = lastSize then
set diff to "anything but empty"
try
-- run the unix diff program to compare the files.
-- if they are the same the variable diff will be empty.
-- if they are different or an error occurs then diff will not be empty.
set diff to (do shell script "/usr/bin/diff -q '" & (image path of thisPhoto as text) & "' '" & (image path of lastPhoto as text) & "'")
end try

if diff = "" then
set comment of thisPhoto to "duplicate"
set dupFound to true
else
-- there must be subtle changes so I will mark thisPhoto
--set comment of lastPhoto to "similar" -- for testing
set comment of thisPhoto to "similar"
set dupFound to true
end if
else
-- here I assume that the larger file has more information
-- and therefore it is the original
if lastSize > thisSize then
set comment of thisPhoto to "processed"
set dupFound to true
else
set comment of lastPhoto to "processed"
-- thisPhoto is assumed to be the original
end if
end if
end if
end try
-- Last=This keep using Last
-- Last~This keep using Last
-- Last>This keep using Last - Last is assumed to be he original but the next could be the original
-- Last <>This step onto This
if not dupFound then
set lastPhoto to thisPhoto
end if
end if
end repeat

beep
beep
display alert "All duplicate, similar and processed photos have been marked.

Switch to the Photos Library and search for one of these keywords: duplicate, similar or processed.

Then delete the photos you do not want.

NOTE: If you do nothing then no photos will be harmed.

(I will now try to switch you to the Photo Library.)"
set current album to photo library album
end if
end tell

This is the AppleScript code. Copy and paste it into a file called pcIPhotoClearDuplicateComments.scpt.

(*
iPhoto Clear Duplicate Comments

Copyright 2008 Phil Colbourn

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program. If not, see .
*)
-- clear comment field on all selected photos if it is duplicate, similar or processed
tell application "iPhoto"
set current album to photo library album
repeat with thisPhoto in (photos of current album)
if (comment of thisPhoto) is in {"duplicate", "similar", "processed"} then
set comment of thisPhoto to ""
end if
end repeat
end tell