How to Find Duplicate AutoCAD Designs & Layout Files?

AutoCAD is a computer-aided drafting and design software. It’s first version got rolled out way back in 1982 for microcomputers with internal graphics controllers.

AutoCAD is extremely popular with architects, engineers, graphic designers, city planners, and project managers. It is currently available in major world languages including English, French, Italian, Brazilian, Korean, Russia, Czech, Polish, Spanish, German, Hungarian Portuguese, and Chinese.

The web-based version of AutoCAD does not require any kind of installation at all. You can create highly detailed 3D and 2D drawings straight from your browser using industry-specific tools. You can even import existing drawings from your hard drive, external hard drive, USB, emails and even cloud storage platforms such as Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, & Box.

Drafters can make digital blueprints, building designs, industrial art projects, prosthetics, panel layouts, automotive & shipbuilding designs, schematic diagrams, computer chips, plant designs, and bridges. AutoCAD makes it extremely easy to turn blueprints in the hard form into digital blueprints.

You can even choose to work offline and any changes you’ve made to your drawings will be automatically synchronized after connecting to the Internet.

Since it deals with high-fi graphics, AutoCAD is a highly resource intensive software app. This means that it requires far superior hardware requirement that supports highly detailed Graphics rendering aided by a dedicated RAM than your average computer system.

You can easily use the advanced drawing tools to add, insert, rotate shapes, objects, as well as change their positions. You can even use thin learning curves to create perfect digital drawings. While it takes an enormous amount of time to draw complex shapes on paper, AutoCAD simplifies the whole work with the use of advanced toolkits.

You can embed citations and notes within your projects to provide details. You can do so by importing vector-based PDFs as vertical line entries. You can even import specific parts of your PDF such as geometrical equations, raster images, and TrueType text objects. AutoCAD is also used by filmmakers to produce special animation effects.

One of the drawbacks of AutoCAD is that it doesn’t contain any templates. The user needs to be well versed with the software and the possibilities it provides for the user, and from then onwards they have to pull it off based on their experience, skills, and imagination.

AutoCAD is definitely on the expensive side, so it is best suited for large sized firms that can afford to pay for an expensive license. Small companies, however, typically rely on cheap alternatives that do not usually provide as much as functionality, features as much as AutoCAD does.

 

Manually Finding Duplicate AutoCAD Files

Windows sadly does not contain any native feature to find duplicates. You will have to rely on the File Explorer to sort all of your AutoCAD project files in the ascending order (name wise) to detect any duplicates.

The major drawback with this approach is that there might be two or more files with identical names but different content altogether. This will greatly increase the odds of a wrong detection if you rely on the filename, but if you decide to examine each file, it will require a gigantic effort on your part.

1. Click the File Explorer icon on the taskbar.
2. Open the directory that contains your AutoCAD projects.
3. Click the View tab on the Ribbon interface.
4. Now select the Details option in the Layout category.
5. Click the Sort by icon and select Name in it.
6. Now click the Group by icon and select Name, once again.
7. The files will now be rearranged in the ascending order. Check for files with similar names and move them to a separate folder or to the Recycle Bin.

 

Automatically Finding Duplicate AutoCAD Designs, Layouts, Projects & Much More

An easy way to find duplicates file is to use Clone File Checker. This software program helps to scan and get rid of virtually all kinds of duplicate files under the sun. The user interface is very simple, and only requires the minimum amount of input from the user. The user also has the option to either go for a universal file scan, or they can specify a single/several file categories which will be scanned for duplicates. The same customization is also available for file size filters as well.

Once the scan is over, the file selection feature helps the user easily select files for further action. CFC is the best solution for both advanced as well as novice users to get rid of duplicate AutoCAD material.

AutoCAD files stored on cloud drives such as Google Drive, OneDrive, and Dropbox can also be scanned with great ease. Rather than syncing the data to your computer, the user can scan the cloud data directly from CFC with the help of the Cloud Scan tab.

Let’s take a look at the entire process in a stepwise manner.

1. Download Clone File Checker. It is available for both the Windows and Mac.
2. Install the program and launch it.
3. Click the Add button and then select the directory that contains your AutoCAD project content.
4. Click OK to add the target location for the scan.
5. Select the scan type you wish to perform. We recommend using the All Files option.
6. Now click Start Search to set the scan into action.
7. Click the Fix Wizard button once you get the scan results pop up. You can even use the Review & Fix option, but here we’re taking the easier and simpler way for duplicate cleanup.
8. Chose between retaining the Newest or Oldest file in each duplicate group.
9. Finally, the last step requires you to choose between Permanent Delete and Move to Folder (if you think you might need these files at some time in the future).