Guide · Files
Clean up files in the safer order.
Published: August 14, 2026 · Maintained by: Jisung Kim · This guide explains WEBBE-B workflows and does not replace professional advice.
File cleanup becomes risky when several operations are mixed together. Deleting duplicates, identifying large files, renaming batches and producing an inventory are different jobs, and each one benefits from a different verification step. A safer workflow starts with observation, moves to confirmation, and only then makes changes.
1. Inventory before you change anything
FolderList turns a selected folder into a file inventory with names, paths, extensions, sizes and dates, with export options such as CSV, TSV, JSON, Markdown or plain text. An inventory is useful before a cleanup because it gives you a record of what was present before files were renamed, reorganised or removed.
This is especially helpful for project folders shared across devices. A simple file list can reveal duplicate names in different subfolders, unexpected extensions and old exports that are hard to notice when browsing folder by folder.
2. Find where the storage is going
If the problem is disk space rather than organisation, start with FolderHeat. A size-oriented view answers a different question from a file inventory: not “what files are here?” but “what is consuming the space?” Large video exports, caches and archive files often dominate storage even when the folder contains thousands of smaller documents.
Size alone is not evidence that a file is disposable. Treat the largest-file list as a shortlist for review, not an automatic delete queue.
3. Verify exact duplicates with content hashes
Two files can share a name and be different, or have different names and contain identical bytes. ExactDupe uses full SHA-256 hashing to identify byte-for-byte duplicates locally. Exact duplication is a stronger condition than “these photos look similar” or “these documents have the same title.”
Even with an exact match, check location and purpose before deleting a copy. A duplicate may exist intentionally as part of a backup, a deliverable package or a software project that expects a specific path.
4. Preview batch renames before applying them
RenameDeck is built around previewing batch rename rules, including numbering and search-and-replace operations, before exporting the result or a rename script. A good rename preview should reveal collisions, empty names and unexpected substitutions before they affect a whole folder.
A useful naming rule is stable enough to remain readable outside the original app. Prefer meaningful project terms, dates in a sortable format when dates matter, and simple numbering when order matters. Avoid relying on invisible folder context to explain every filename.
5. Extract structured information only from appropriate documents
CiteSweep addresses a narrower document task: extracting common U.S. legal case citations from searchable PDF briefs, cleaning PDF spacing and deduplicating authorities. A searchable PDF contains actual text; a scanned page that is only an image may require OCR before any text extractor can work reliably.
6. Separate analysis from destructive action
WEBBE-B file tools are designed around inspection, preview and export rather than silently rewriting a whole disk. That separation is intentional. When the next step is destructive—deleting files or running a rename script—review the result outside the tool and make sure you have a backup or recovery path appropriate to the value of the data.
A safer cleanup order
- Export an inventory.
- Identify the largest folders and files.
- Hash suspected duplicates.
- Review which copies are intentional.
- Preview rename rules and collisions.
- Back up important data.
- Only then perform destructive changes.
This order is deliberately conservative. It costs a few extra minutes and makes it much easier to explain what changed if something later looks wrong.