Find and merge duplicates automatically

The Duplicates filter collects all references Paperpile has flagged as potential duplicates in one place, so you can review and clean them up in one go. You can merge pairs individually or let Paperpile merge everything at once.

Find duplicates

Open the filter menu and click Duplicates. The reference list updates to show only groups of references flagged as duplicates.

Check reference metadata

To help you decide what to do with duplicates, you can review their reference metadata. Click the three-dot button of a reference to open its reference details.

Merge duplicates

To merge, you have two options:

• Click Merge all to merge every flagged group in your library at once.
• Click Merge selected to merge only the groups you've selected.

For each group, all metadata, attachments, folders, and labels will be consolidated into a single reference. The original references will be moved to Trash.

Dismiss false matches

If some of the grouped references aren't actually duplicates, click Not a duplicate on any of the references—Paperpile removes the flag and will no longer treat it as a duplicate.

You can also select one or more references and click Trash in the toolbar (or press the # key) to remove them from your library instead of merging them.

Common questions

Why isn’t Paperpile detecting a pair of duplicates?

This usually happens when the two references don’t share any supported identifiers (like a DOI), and their metadata differs enough that Paperpile can’t find an exact match. Open the metadata edit dialog Edit metadata and check that both references have a DOI or other identifier filled in—and that the values match exactly.

How can I force Paperpile to detect duplicates if it’s missing a group?

Paste the DOI from one reference into the others in the metadata edit dialog Edit metadata.This can trigger duplicate detection and flag the group automatically as duplicates.

Paperpile flagged references as duplicates, but they aren’t. What should I do?

Open the Duplicates filter and click Not a duplicate on each reference to dismiss the false matches.

I need to contact support about a specific duplicates issue. What should I include?

Select each reference and press Cmd+J (Mac) or Ctrl+J (Windows) to copy its JSON to the clipboard, or go to More > Export > JSON in the toolbar. Paste the JSON output into your support message so the team can investigate the exact metadata.