Getting started with GDriveKit

Scan your Google Drive for duplicate files and reclaim storage in minutes.

What is GDriveKit?

GDriveKit scans your Google Drive for duplicate files using content hashing - not just filename matching. It groups identical files, shows you how much space each group wastes, and lets you preview before deleting anything.

It works entirely through Google OAuth. Your files never leave your Google account.

Prerequisites

A GKit account (free) - sign in here
Google Drive access granted to GKit during sign-in

Start a scan

Open the GDriveKit dashboard
Click New scan
Choose a scan scope:
- My Drive - scans your personal Drive
- Shared with me - includes files others have shared (read-only; you won't be able to delete shared files you don't own)
Click Start scan

GDriveKit runs the scan in the background. You can leave the page and come back - scan history is saved to your account.

What happens during a scan

GDriveKit fetches file metadata from the Google Drive API (name, size, MIME type, MD5 checksum)
Files with identical MD5 checksums are grouped together
The group with the most recent modification date is treated as the "keep" candidate - the rest are flagged as duplicates
Results are streamed back to the dashboard as they arrive

Scanning large Drives (tens of thousands of files) can take a few minutes. The progress bar updates in real time.

Review results

After a scan completes, the results page shows:

Groups - sets of identical files, sorted by wasted space (largest first)
Keep - the file GDriveKit recommends keeping (most recent; you can change this)
Duplicates - files flagged for potential deletion
Space saved - how much storage you'll reclaim

You must manually confirm every deletion. GDriveKit never deletes files without an explicit confirmation step.

Delete duplicates

Review a group of duplicates
Verify which file to keep
Click Delete duplicates on the group (or select individual files)
Confirm in the dialog - this action moves files to Google Drive Trash, not permanent deletion
Empty your Drive Trash to permanently reclaim the space

Files in Trash can be restored from Google Drive directly within 30 days.

What is GDriveKit?

It works entirely through Google OAuth. Your files never leave your Google account.

Start a scan

Open the GDriveKit dashboard

Click New scan

Choose a scan scope:

My Drive - scans your personal Drive
Shared with me - includes files others have shared (read-only; you won't be able to delete shared files you don't own)

Click Start scan

GDriveKit runs the scan in the background. You can leave the page and come back - scan history is saved to your account.

What happens during a scan

GDriveKit fetches file metadata from the Google Drive API (name, size, MIME type, MD5 checksum)

Files with identical MD5 checksums are grouped together

The group with the most recent modification date is treated as the "keep" candidate - the rest are flagged as duplicates

Results are streamed back to the dashboard as they arrive

Scanning large Drives (tens of thousands of files) can take a few minutes. The progress bar updates in real time.

Review results

After a scan completes, the results page shows:

Groups - sets of identical files, sorted by wasted space (largest first)

Keep - the file GDriveKit recommends keeping (most recent; you can change this)

Duplicates - files flagged for potential deletion

Space saved - how much storage you'll reclaim

You must manually confirm every deletion. GDriveKit never deletes files without an explicit confirmation step.

Delete duplicates

Review a group of duplicates

Verify which file to keep

Click Delete duplicates on the group (or select individual files)

Confirm in the dialog - this action moves files to Google Drive Trash, not permanent deletion

Empty your Drive Trash to permanently reclaim the space

Files in Trash can be restored from Google Drive directly within 30 days.