Why Duplicate QR Codes Are a Real Problem
Two codes for one destination split your scan counts, confuse staff who cannot tell which code is current, and leave an old code in circulation after the campaign ends. Duplicates creep in quietly: someone re-exports a batch, a URL gains a trailing slash, a colleague retypes a link with different capitalisation, and suddenly the same destination has three codes. This detector groups the list after normalisation, so copies that look different on the surface still land in one group.
Exact vs near-duplicates
Exact duplicates match after normalisation — same destination, different spelling of the same text. Near-duplicates are different strings a small edit distance apart, such as menu and menus, which are usually a typo but could be two genuinely different pages. The tool flags near-duplicates for a human decision instead of deleting them, because only you know whether both pages are meant to exist.
Cleaning a batch before printing
- Paste the full payload list, not just the labels — labels can match while payloads differ.
- Resolve every exact duplicate: keep one code per destination.
- Check each near-duplicate pair and confirm both pages are intended.
- Re-run the check after edits: fixing one duplicate can reveal another.
- Keep the cleaned list with the job file so the next reprint starts from it.