Review copy differences

When a video has several copies, you can choose which one to keep by looking at the files’ technical details. The screen is titled Which one is more complete? Below it is the note Different rows are marked. The one you keep stays in the queue; the others are rejected.

You can open the comparison in two ways:

• For all copies of a video: select a clip with a copy badge and press V. Make sure no other clip is selected. Merceq finds all copies of this video, including those hidden by filters, on other disks, and on disks that aren’t connected at the time. There’s no upper limit on the number of copies. Files in Pending deletion are excluded. If fewer than two copies can be compared, the screen won’t open.
• For videos you choose yourself: select three or more clips together and press V.

Read the details side by side

1. Open the files you want to compare.
2. A small video image and its name appear above each column. Below them, you’ll see Resolution, Length, Size, Frame rate, and Codec details.
3. Different details are marked; identical ones look dimmer. The highest resolution, longest duration, largest file size, and highest frame rate are highlighted in each row. No best choice is made for Codec.
4. Choose the file you want to keep with the left / right arrow keys. After the last column, you’ll return to the first one. You can also click a column heading directly.

If all visible details are the same, the message The visible details for these copies are the same. Keep whichever one you like. appears.

You can also see where the file is:

Text on screen	Meaning
This Mac	The file is on your Mac’s internal disk.
Disk: NAME	On a connected external disk.
Card: NAME · Can’t move to Trash	On a camera card. Shown in a warning color.
Network disk: NAME	On a disk connected over the network. Shown in a warning color.

Merceq’s suggested copy: The first column is selected when the screen opens. This is the file Merceq suggests you keep. The suggestion follows these priorities:

1. Copies not on a camera card come before those on cards.
2. Copies you’ve already added to a folder or exported are prioritized.
3. Then come copies you’ve kept or put On hold.

Copies on cards and network disks are placed at the end of the order. This is only a suggestion. You decide which file to keep.

For example, one file may be an incomplete or short recording while another is the full take. Or one may be a lower-resolution version prepared for sharing while the other is straight from the camera. A larger file isn’t always better. Before choosing, consider both the technical details and how you plan to use it.

The copy differences screen doesn’t play videos side by side; it compares file details. Use Duel to choose by watching the footage. Opening this screen by selecting three or more videos yourself doesn’t mean those videos are actually copies of the same recording.

Keep one and reject the others

1. Make sure the file you want to keep is selected.
2. Check the number on the Keep this, reject N copies button. It shows how many videos will be rejected.
3. Press Enter or click the button.

Merceq moves the other clips you didn’t select to the Rejected group. No source file is deleted from disk.

Your work on exact copies isn’t lost. If the rejected videos are copies of the same file, the folder memberships, tags, notes, names, and scene selections you added to them are merged into the file you keep. The other copies are then rejected.

• If this merge adds the copy you kept to a folder, any existing On hold or Rejected decision is removed.
• If you compared different videos you selected yourself, this information isn’t transferred; only the rejection decision is applied.
• Merging information and rejecting the other copies count as one action. After returning to the main screen, you can undo both together with ⌘Z.

If you only want to see the differences, don’t press Enter. Press Esc to leave without making a decision.