Install
Download the Bot and follow the instructions to install it in your AAE Control Room.
File Duplicate Detection - VIS Global
A Python script integrated with Automation Anywhere to scan a folder, detect duplicate files by content (SHA-256/MD5), and generate a CSV report.
Top Benefits
- Content-based accuracy – Catches duplicates by content, even if files are renamed.
- Saves manual effort – No need to compare files one by one.
- Frees up storage – Finds redundant files taking up space.
- Reusable and configurable – Just change the folder path or settings, no script edits needed.
- Clear, auditable output – CSV report shows unique, duplicate, and error files at a glance.
Tasks
- Variable creation – String variables (sInputFolder, sOutputFolder, sIncludeSubfolders, sHashAlgorithm, sPythonResult) an
- String → Assign – to set configuration values
- List → Insert into list – to build the ordered argument list for Python
- Python Script → Open – to start the Python session and load the script
- Python Script → Execute Function – to run find_duplicate_files with the argument list
Duplicate File Detector helps teams find and eliminate duplicate files sitting across shared drives, project folders, or archives — even when those files have been renamed or copied. Instead of relying on filenames, this automation scans actual file content to catch true duplicates that manual checks often miss.
To run this automation, provide an input folder path containing the files to scan, an output folder path for the report, whether to include subfolders, and a hash algorithm choice (SHA256 or MD5). No spreadsheet templates or external data sources are required — just point it at a folder.
The bot uses a Python script to calculate a content hash for every file in the input folder. Files with matching hashes are flagged as exact duplicates, regardless of their filename or location. The automation then produces a CSV report listing every file's name, path, size, hash, and status (Unique, Duplicate, or Error).
Manually comparing files for duplication is slow, error-prone, and impossible to scale across large folders with hundreds or thousands of files. Teams often end up with wasted storage, confusing duplicate copies, and no reliable way to clean things up. This automation solves that by giving a fast, accurate, repeatable way to identify redundant files and free up storage — with zero manual comparison required.