Czkawka GTK - Instructions

Deprecation notice: Czkawka GTK 12.0 is the last released version. No new binaries will be provided. New users and existing users are encouraged to migrate to Krokiet.

GUI overview

The GUI is built from different pieces:

• 1 - Image preview - used in duplicate files and similar images finder. Cannot be resized, but can be disabled.
• 2 - Main Notebook to change the active tool.
• 3 - Main results window - allows choosing, deleting and configuring results.
• 4 - Bottom panel - contains buttons which perform specific actions on data (like selecting them) or hide/show parts of the GUI.
• 5 - Text panel - prints messages, warnings and errors about executed actions. Can be hidden by the user.
• 6 - Directory panel - for selecting directories to include or exclude. Also specifies allowed extensions and file size limits.
• 7 - Buttons to open the About window and Settings, where the scan can be customized.

Translations

GTK GUI is fully translatable. At least 10 languages are supported (some translations were done automatically and may not be perfect).

Opening and Manipulating Files

• Double-click a file to open it in the default application.
• To open multiple files: hold CTRL while clicking each file, then double-click one of them with the left mouse button.
• To open the folder containing a file: double-click it with the right mouse button.
• To invert the selection within a group: click a file with the middle mouse button - it will flip the selection of all other files in the same group.

Adding Directories

By default, the current path is loaded as the included directory and excluded directories are filled with sensible defaults.

You can override this by passing arguments when launching the app:

czkawka_gui /home /usr --/home/rafal --/home/zaba

This includes /home and /usr and excludes /home/rafal and /home/zaba. When command-line arguments are used, the "save on exit" option is disabled - the directory list will not be saved automatically.

Both relative and absolute paths are supported: ../home and /home are both valid.

After adding a path, you can mark it as a Reference path by right-clicking it. Reference paths appear in scan results but cannot be acted on (selected, moved, deleted) by any automatic action.

Common Workflows

Finding and Removing Duplicates

Scenario: Find and remove duplicate files from Downloads, keeping Documents as a protected reference.

1. Open Czkawka GTK and select the Duplicate Files tab (panel 2)
2. In the directory panel (6), add your Downloads folder to included directories
3. Add your Documents folder and mark it as Reference Path (right-click → Mark as Reference)
4. Open Settings (7) and configure:
   • Check Method: Hash
   • Hash Type: Blake3
5. Click Search
6. After the scan completes, use the bottom panel buttons (4) to select duplicates
7. Click Delete and confirm

Finding Similar Images

1. Select Similar Images tab
2. Add all photo directories in panel 6
3. In Settings (7), set:
   • Similarity threshold (lower = more strict): 5-10 is a good starting point
   • Hash algorithm: Gradient (recommended for photos)
   • Hash size: 16x16 (balanced)
4. Click Search
5. Use the image preview panel (1) to compare similar images before deciding
6. Select the images to remove, then click Delete

Working with Reference Paths

1. Add both your working directory and reference directory to included directories
2. Right-click the reference directory and select Mark as Reference Path
3. Files in reference paths appear in scan results for comparison but are never selected or deleted by automatic actions
4. Run the scan and delete normally - reference files are protected

Settings

Settings are opened via button 7. Key options:

• Check method - for duplicates: Name, Size, Size+Name, Hash
• Hash type - Blake3, XXH3, CRC32
• Min/Max file size - filter out files outside this range
• Use cache - enable/disable hash and thumbnail caching
• Use prehash cache - cache partial hashes (first and last 4 KB) of large files; speeds up re-scans; must be explicitly enabled in Settings
• Delete outdated cache entries automatically - evict stale cache entries each scan

Tips and Tricks

For cross-frontend tips (cache management, prehash, partial scans, native CPU build) see Tips, Tricks and Known Bugs in the main guide.

Note: prehash cache must be explicitly enabled in GTK Settings - it is not on by default (unlike Krokiet where it is enabled by default).

• Manually editing directories - You can directly edit the config file czkawka_gui_config.txt to add, remove, or change directories. Reload the config after editing.

• Column visibility - Some columns (modification date, file size) may not be visible if others are too wide. Scroll the results list horizontally or narrow other columns by dragging their dividers.

Config and Cache File Locations

For default cache paths, env var overrides, and portable-drive setup see Config/Cache files in the main guide.

Configuration files (GTK-specific):

Cache is shared with Krokiet and CLI (~/.cache/czkawka/ on Linux; Flatpak: ~/.var/app/com.github.qarmin.czkawka/cache/czkawka/).