How to use Zenovix Storage Manager

Start with the folders, drives or network locations that are actually under storage pressure. Scan Setup keeps the selected scope visible before scanning, and the folder picker shows common Windows and cloud roots first when available.

• Use Add Folder to add folders you want Zenovix Storage Manager to analyse.
• In the folder picker, choose one or more deliberate roots instead of selecting an entire drive by habit.
• Network shares are supported. In the folder picker, enter a path such as \\server\share when you need to scan a network location.
• For OneDrive or other cloud-synced folders, make important files available locally before scanning.
• Avoid Windows system folders unless you deliberately need to inspect them.
• Use smaller source roots when a folder tree is very large or deeply nested.

Use the Simple and Advanced buttons in the left rail, or Settings > Analysis level, to choose the scan experience. Simple Mode is the default guided path. Advanced Mode exposes the detailed workflow rail, deeper matching controls and additional analysis views.

• Simple Mode guides the left rail through Choose folders, See results, Check duplicates, Review files, Empty folders and Clean up.
• Simple Mode keeps scan setup focused and applies conservative exact-match defaults for duplicate review.
• Simple Mode also keeps Recovery Centre and Settings available under Tools in the left rail.
• Advanced Mode shows Scan Setup, Analysis Dashboard, Exact Duplicates, Fuzzy Matching, Review Selection, Empty Folders, Archive, Recovery Centre and Settings.
• Use Advanced Mode when you need metadata matching, fuzzy name matching, fuzzy content matching, content-type controls or detailed dashboard tabs.
• Fuzzy Matching appears as an Advanced Mode review area because lower-confidence similar files need slower inspection.
• Recovery Centre remains available as a tool in Simple Mode, but the actual recovery workflow requires Pro.

Scan Setup shows selected sources, scan actions, current status, scan progress and a scan summary in one place. Use Fast Scan for a quicker storage overview, or leave Fast Scan off when you need duplicate, similarity and deeper review results.

• Fast Scan quickly analyses storage usage, file types, large files and empty folders.
• When Zenovix is launched as administrator on supported local NTFS volumes, Fast Scan can use NTFS Master File Table metadata scanning when you want a faster storage overview.
• If NTFS metadata scanning is unavailable for a selected location, Zenovix falls back to safe folder enumeration.
• Fast Scan can scan local folders, cloud-synced folders that are available locally and network shares.
• Use a full analysis scan when the job needs duplicate matching, fuzzy matching or deeper review workflow results.
• A full analysis scan uses the selected matching options to build exact duplicate, fuzzy matching and cleanup review candidates.
• The Fast Scan toggle can be changed before scanning and is disabled during an active scan.
• When Fast Scan is enabled, duplicate matching options are unavailable because Fast Scan does not run those matchers.
• Start Scan begins the selected scan type using the chosen folders and scan settings.
• Pause Scan and Resume Scan help when you need to reduce disk activity temporarily.
• Stop Scan ends the active scan before it completes. Recent versions respond more quickly during folder discovery.
• The progress bar includes active movement during long scans so it is clearer that disk work is still running.
• Skipped files are reported instead of hidden, so you can see if cloud-only, locked or inaccessible files were not included.
• The scan summary shows removable duplicate files, empty folders, reclaimable space and skipped-file details after a scan.
• If cloud-only files were skipped, download them locally and scan again for a more complete result.
• If duplicate-related dashboard insights say they are not available in Fast Scan, run a full analysis scan for that folder.

Settings is now the central place for preferences that used to be spread through scan setup and menus. It includes analysis level, theme, duplicate matching, cloud-file handling, safety exclusions, age insight threshold and table row counts.

• Use Reset to defaults when you want to return the workflow, matching, safety and row-count options to the recommended starting point.
• Analysis level chooses Simple or Advanced as the default scan experience.
• Theme can follow Windows, or force Zenovix into Light or Dark mode.
• Match by SHA-256 hash finds files with the same content.
• Require same file size keeps exact duplicate matching conservative.
• Match by file name and date/time can narrow review candidates but is less definitive than hash matching.
• Fuzzy name matching finds similarly named files when exact names are not enough.
• Fuzzy content matching can compare images, videos or movies, audio or music, documents or PDFs and archives.
• Duplicate matching settings are editable for Advanced full analysis work and are unavailable when they do not apply, such as during Fast Scan.
• Force download cloud files can open online-only cloud placeholders so the cloud provider downloads them during scans. Leave it off when you do not want scanning to pull cloud files onto the device.
• System file safety options can exclude system, read-only and hidden files from cleanup results.
• The old-file age threshold controls old-file insights and archive candidate guidance.
• Review table settings choose 50, 100, 250 or 500 rows for duplicate review, Review Files, Recovery Centre preview rows and Recovery Centre archive records.

The Analysis dashboard is interactive. Simple Mode focuses the dashboard on storage impact and next review steps. Advanced Mode adds tabs for Storage by Type, File Activity Over Time and Biggest Space Users. In both modes, supported visuals can narrow the current analysis scope before moving into Review and Execute.

• Summary insight cards show current cleanup candidates, old-file candidates, largest file category, largest folder in scope and empty folders when those insights are available.
• Empty insight cards are hidden so the dashboard focuses on what the current scan actually found.
• Simple Mode highlights removable duplicate files, largest category, largest folder, Recent Growth and empty folders.
• Advanced Mode adds fuzzy matches, archive candidates, timeline, candidate and technical breakdowns.
• Storage by Type includes Storage by Category and File Size Distribution.
• File Activity Over Time shows created or modified activity by year, quarter, month or day with Back to Years and Up one controls after drilling in.
• Biggest Space Users contains views such as Top 10 Largest File Types, largest folders and largest files.
• The category Sunburst can be clicked to drill into a category group, category or file type, and the drill-up control moves back toward the overview.
• The Files in Focus detail pane shows the files or folders behind the current dashboard selection, and can be opened in a separate preview window.
• Clicking a supported dashboard visual applies cross filtering across the linked dashboard views.
• Current filter chips appear at the top of the dashboard so you can see and remove the active filter context.
• Dashboard cards, charts, tables and review lists update to reflect the filtered scope.
• For example, selecting duplicate cleanup candidates and then Audio limits the dashboard to the audio files inside that cleanup scope.
• If you then move to Review, Zenovix keeps that same persistent analysis scope active so you continue working only with those files.
• Click the same visual again to remove that filter, remove it from the filter bar, use drill-up, or use Clear filters to reset the dashboard completely.
• Always review selected files before archiving, recycling or permanently deleting them.

The top menu now stays focused on file, recovery and help commands. Workflow preferences such as analysis level, theme and row counts live in Settings instead of a separate View menu, while group-level duplicate actions live inside the duplicate review screen.

• Use File for Open Scan, Save, Save As, Deep Verify Saved Scan, Cancel Deep Verification and Export Visible Results CSV.
• Use Recovery for Recovery location, Restore archive, Restore destination, Rename archive, Clean archive and Delete archive.
• Restore destination lets you choose a restore folder or use original paths.
• The Upgrade to Pro menu appears when Pro-only actions are locked.
• Use Settings for analysis level, theme, matching rules, cloud-file handling, safety exclusions and row counts.
• Use the Group actions control inside exact duplicate or fuzzy matching review when you want to process the currently visible groups with one rule.
• Group actions includes Keep oldest, Keep newest, Keep largest, Keep smallest, Keep shortest path, Keep longest path, Keep all and Clear choices.
• Check the current review filters and visible group scope before using Group actions, because those commands are intended for the visible review set.
• Use Help for Support, Manual, Changelog, FAQ and About Zenovix Storage Manager.

Large folder structures can take time to review properly. Zenovix Pro can save scan results so you can load them again later and continue working through the same review instead of starting from scratch.

• With Pro, use File > Save or Save As to create a .zenovix-scan file when a large review will take more than one session.
• Use File > Open Scan, or open a Zenovix scan file from Windows, to return to the scan, analysis and review state later.
• When saved scans are opened, Zenovix validates the saved file and restores the review workspace before showing the results.
• If files have changed or gone missing since the scan was saved, Zenovix may reset affected review decisions so stale cleanup choices are not silently reused.
• Use Pro saved results for careful long-running reviews of photo libraries, project folders, archives or external drives.
• With Pro, use File > Export Visible Results CSV when you need a file-by-file record of the current visible review scope.
• Use the CSV report to check which scanned files are kept, marked for cleanup or still unreviewed.

When you open a saved scan, Zenovix first checks file metadata (size and last modified time). For full content validation, Deep Verify computes SHA-256 hashes to confirm files haven't changed.

• Metadata verification is fast and catches moved or deleted files.
• Deep Verify performs actual file content checks using SHA-256 hashing.
• For large datasets, Deep Verify is not performed automatically to keep scan loading responsive.
• Use Deep Verify when you need confidence that file contents match the original scan.
• Deep Verify runs automatically before Pro Archive operations to ensure only current files are processed.
• After Deep Verify, Zenovix reports how many files are verified, changed or missing.

Review is where user-controlled cleanup decisions are made. Zenovix separates exact duplicate groups from Advanced fuzzy matching results so lower-confidence matches do not get mixed into the most reliable duplicate removal path.

• Exact Duplicate Review is for high-confidence duplicate groups.
• Fuzzy Matching Review is available in Advanced Mode for similar files that need closer inspection.
• The duplicate review screen has a Duplicate groups workbench on the left and a Selected group comparison and keep-rule panel on the right.
• Use Previous and Next for paged duplicate groups. Change the page size in Settings > Review tables.
• Simple Mode keeps review filters focused, while Advanced Mode adds group size, category and match type filters.
• Keep, Clean up and Unreviewed labels show the current review decision for each item before any action runs.
• Keep oldest, newest, largest, smallest, shortest path or longest path rules can help mark groups consistently. Size-based keep rules are mainly useful for fuzzy duplicate review.
• Group actions can apply these keep rules across the currently visible duplicate or fuzzy matching groups.
• Right-click duplicate groups, preview cards or file rows for quick review actions such as Mark selected as keep, Mark selected for cleanup or Mark selected as unreviewed.
• The selected-group preview shows thumbnails where available, with improved handling for image previews such as HEIC files.
• Review Cleanup Selections brings reviewed files together in one place so you can search, filter by review state, preview files and make final Keep or Clean up choices before Execute.
• Large Review Files lists use Load more so very large scans stay responsive.
• Empty Folder Review lets you search folders, filter by review state and mark selected empty folders as Keep or Mark for cleanup separately from file duplicates.

Execute is the final action stage. Free users can send reviewed items to the Recycle Bin or permanently delete them; Zenovix Pro adds the recoverable Archive path.

• Archive is a Pro option that copies reviewed files into an archive location, verifies the archived copy, removes the original and writes a manifest-backed recovery record.
• Empty folders selected for Archive are tracked with restore markers so the folder can be recreated later.
• Recycle Bin uses Windows recovery behavior, may be limited by available Recycle Bin capacity and is not tracked in Zenovix Recovery Centre.
• Permanent delete is user-confirmed, creates no Zenovix recovery record and should be treated as final.
• Zenovix writes an execution summary for reviewed cleanup so completed, skipped and failed items can be audited.
• Partial completion, skipped files and failed items should be read before starting another cleanup pass.

Pro Archive is the recommended cleanup option when you want Zenovix to keep an auditable record of what happened. The Archive screen keeps the main destination and execution controls clear, while advanced archive details remain available when needed.

• Choose Archive in the Pro Execute stage after duplicate or empty-folder decisions have been reviewed.
• Check the archive location before running Archive Reviewed Cleanup.
• Use Advanced archive details when you want to set a clearer archive name or review manifest details before execution.
• Keep the recovery manifest and archive files together so the Recovery Centre can preview and restore them later.
• Read the progress and outcome panels after execution so skipped or failed items are not missed.
• Use Recycle Bin or permanent delete only when you understand their different recovery limits.

The Pro Recovery Centre lets you inspect archive records, preview restore paths and restore selected items or full archive jobs.

• Use Recovery > Recovery location to choose the archive location you want Zenovix to inspect.
• Recovery Centre refreshes when you open it or change the recovery location.
• The Recovery menu provides quick access to recovery location, archive restore, restore destination, rename, clean and delete archive commands.
• Set Recovery Centre preview row counts and archive-record row counts in Settings > Review tables.
• Rename archive records when a generated job id is not descriptive enough.
• Preview restore paths so you know where files will go, including conflict-folder restores when an original path is already occupied.
• Restore selected files, restore the full archive, or choose a custom restore folder when you do not want to restore to original paths.
• Filter and search recovery preview rows by category, status and path before choosing what to restore or skip.
• Double-click an available duplicate-copy preview item, or click its thumbnail, to open the archived copy with its associated app.
• Clean archive records only when restored or missing entries should be removed from the manifest, and delete archive records only when you no longer need that recovery path.