What happens to duplicates I don't keep?
What happens to duplicate copies marked Remove: archiving, tag merge, Trash, and permanent deletion.
Use this article to understand what happens to duplicate copies you mark "Remove" when resolving duplicates, and how to recover them if you change your mind.
When you Click Apply in the duplicate resolver, copies marked "Remove" are "archived", not deleted immediately. Copies marked "Keep" stay in Media. Clipido merges useful metadata onto the keeper before archiving the rest.
What happens when you apply duplicate resolutions
For each duplicate set, Clipido:
- Keeps every copy you marked "Keep" active in Media
- Moves gallery and workspace references from removed copies onto the primary keeper
- Merges tags from all copies onto the keeper
- Archives every copy you marked "Remove"
- Marks the duplicate set as resolved
The "Apply duplicate resolutions" dialog shows how many copies will be archived, how many you are keeping, and "Recoverable storage" you will free.
Removed copies do not disappear instantly. They move to "Trash", the built-in archive gallery in Media.
Where archived duplicate copies go
Archived copies leave your regular Media galleries and appear in "Trash".
Open the gallery picker at the top of Media and Select Trash to find them. Each tile can show a countdown such as "30 days" or "Deleting soon" before permanent deletion.
You can restore archived copies from "Trash" the same way as any other archived file: select them and Click Unarchive, or hover a tile and Click Restore.
How long removed copies stay in Trash
By default, archived files can be restored for "30 days". After that, Clipido permanently deletes them.
A club admin can change this under Settings → Storage in the "Retention" section. "Delete archived files after" offers "30 days", "90 days", "180 days", or "1 year".
The "Apply duplicate resolutions" dialog warns how long you can restore removed copies. For example: "You can restore them for 30 days. After that they are permanently deleted."
Changing retention applies to files archived "after" you save the new setting. Copies already in "Trash" keep the retention period from when they were archived.
What the keeper keeps from removed copies
The keeper is the first copy in your "Keep" list for that set. It receives:
- Tags from all copies in the set, merged together
- Gallery and workspace placements from removed copies, so shared links do not lose the file
If two copies had different tag values on the same field, the merged result reflects the combined tags Clipido writes to the keeper.
What removing a duplicate copy does not do
Marking "Remove" during review does not delete the file on the spot. Nothing changes until you Click Apply.
Removing a duplicate copy is not the same as denying an upload. Denied uploads stay on the batch with a denied status and never reach Media. Removed duplicate copies are archived to "Trash" with a restore window.
Archiving removed copies does not free storage immediately. They still count toward workspace storage until retention expires and Clipido permanently deletes them.
Who can restore archived duplicate copies
Only "club admins" can Open Trash in the admin app and restore archived files.
If a workspace member applied duplicate resolutions through a shared workspace portal, they see that copies are archived but may not see the exact day count. Those copies still land in "Trash", where a club admin can restore them during the retention period.