Trash folder on Mac plays an important role in restoring back your important files deleted accidentally. There are certain situations wherein your Trash folder refuses to open or you may not be able to empty the Trash folder. This situation even blocks you from accessing files that were deleted accidentally and hence you cannot restore back those files. There are various reasons wherein you will be unable to open trash on Mac or you cannot empty it.

Here are some of the reasons and solutions to fix trash issues and access all files in it:

Solutions to Fix – Cannot empty Trash on Mac

Method 1: Force Empty Trash: Empty Trash using Terminal commands

Emptying Trash from terminal is quite an easy process compared to do it using GUI. To do this:

On your Mac, drag the item to the Trash in the Dock or select the item, then press Command-Delete. If an item is locked, click Continue to confirm you want to move the locked item to the Trash. If an item is locked, you need to confirm you want to move it to the Trash, or unlock the item before putting it in the Trash.

Go to – Applications - > Utilities -> Terminal

1. Close apps that might block you emptying the Trash. You can’t empty the Trash on your Mac.
2. TrashMe can also display an alert when your Trash is full and you’ll be able to empty your Trash just by clicking on alert button. Powerful tools to clean your Mac Many files on your Mac are junk files, for example incomplete downloads, hidden files stored by Windows or other apps (Desktop.ini,.git,.svn).

Here type the following command:

rm -rf ~/.Trash/*

If this doesn’t help then use command:

sudo rm –R

Now, open Trash from dock and select all files & folders in Trash. Then just drag & drop all items to the Terminal, where you had typed the command. This will add path of all files to the Terminal. Now, press ‘Enter’. This will empty your Trash bin. If files are more, then this may take longer.

Method 2: When Files are in Use – Close all Files and Background apps

Sometimes, some of the files in Trash might be in use by some applications. Also, some background applications might block you from emptying Trash. In such cases, first close all open files and folders.

Restart Your Mac

Mac Trash Can

Some of the applications would be running in the background that use files from Trash. Once you restart or reboot your mac, all these apps would be terminated.

Start Mac in Safe Mode

Your Mac might load some start-up items or use some files during start-up, thus it shows file in use when you try to empty Trash. Hence, you will have to start Mac in safe mode, that doesn’t use much of your hardware resources or any login items. Thus allowing you to empty Trash easily.

Once, done you can easily empty Trash bin on Mac.

Method 3: Turn off system integrity protection

Mac with its latest release Mac 10.11, it has got new feature – System Integrity Protection (SIP), in order to protect files from being modified by some malicious software. SIP would even block you from deleted files / emptying files from the Trash. Disabling SIP for a while may help fi the Trash issues. To turn off System Integrity protection on Mac OS X El Capitan or later, follow below steps:

• Enter recovery mode on your Mac by pressing Command + R keys as soon as you start / reboot Mac
• In the next window – listing all macOS utilities, select Terminal
• Here, you need to enter command: csrutildisable; reboot and hit ‘Enter’
• Now, you will receive a dialog box indicating thay the ‘System Integrity Protection’ is successfully disables, to complete the process, you need to restart Mac

Once Mac boots up, you can easily empty Trash. However, you need to enable SIP after Trash is cleaned up, for this again enter the recovery mode as explained and type: csrutil enable in your terminal command line. After completion, reboot your Mac.

Method 4: Unlock File permissions

Sometimes, you may not have proper permissions to delete the files. So, first check if your file is locked, if so unlock the files. For this, just right-click file and hit ‘Get Info’. If the ‘Locked’ option is checked, then uncheck the option to unlock the file.

Solutions to Fix – Cannot Open / Access Trash on Mac:

Solution 1: Open Trash from terminal

To open trash from terminal go to: Applications - > Utilities -> Terminal

Here Type:

• ls -al ~/.Trash - To open trash of current User
• sudo ls -al /Users/*/.Trash - To open Trash of all Users – Login admin account
• sudosh -c 'ls -al /Volumes/*/.Trashes/*/' - If you want to access Trash of even the external volumes

Solution 2: Restore Files from not opening Trash or from emptied Trash – Remo Recover

The above steps may not help in accessing file on trash. When you empty Trash, you lose your deleted files. In case you are looking for a solution to restore back your files from inaccessible Trash folder or emptied Trash then you need to run Remo Recover Mac tool.

Remo Recover is an easy-to-use tool that lets you recover your deleted files & folders from Trash in simple steps. Whether you Trash is corrupt and unable to access files in it or emptied Trash, Remo Recover will help you recover files back. Not just any common files, you can also use this tool to recover photos from empty trash on mac.

Its friendly interface makes the recovery simple. Even though the recovery process involves rigorous scanning, the Remo Mac File recovery tool takes care of everything and you just have to perform several clicks. Follow the below steps to recover deleted files from Mac Trash.

How to recover back deleted files from Mac Emptied Trash?

Step 1: Download Remo Recover Mac on your Mac computer and install it

macOS - Catalina
mac OS - Mojave

Step 2: Launch the tool and From the Main screen select ‘Recover Files’ Option

Step 3: Now, click on “Recover Deleted Files” option

Step 4: List of all available drives will be shown, select the one from which you need to recover files

Step 5: Software begins scanning process and lists them

Step 6: Preview the files using ‘Preview’ option and enable the full-version to save the required one’s at any location of your choice

So, Remo Recover Mac will help you restore back all deleted files or lost files from Trash. Hope the above solutions help you access your Mac Trash folder that is corrupt.

Sep 28, 2020 • Filed to: Solve Mac Problems • Proven solutions

Mac is one of the most popular operating systems in the world over. It offers a wide range of features to its users – one of them is its Trash folder. When we delete something from Mac, it is moved to the Trash folder for us to recover afterward. Though, there are times when users can't seem to delete trash on their system or struggle to undelete trash on Mac as well. To resolve this, we have come up with this in-depth guide on how to delete trash on Mac.

Part 1. How to Delete Files and Folders on Mac

To begin this guide, let's learn how to delete any file or folder on a Mac system. When a file is deleted from Mac, it is moved to the Trash folder for future recovery scope. Ideally, there are different ways to get rid of anything on Mac. Let's get to know about the two main approaches.

Trash Me For Mac Download

Solution 1: Drag and Delete Files

The easiest way to get rid of a file is by dragging it moving it to the trash folder.

View Trash Mac

1. Firstly, go to Finder and locate the file that you wish to get rid of.
2. Once you locate it, select the file, and drag it.
3. Drop it to the Trash folder present in the dock to delete the file.

Solution 2: Command Delete

Mac has made it very easy for users to delete trash simply by using the keyboard shortcuts.

1. Locate the file which you wish to delete and select it.
2. Then, press both Command and Delete keys at the same time.
3. Confirm your choice to move the file to the trash folder.

Part 2. How to Empty Trash on Mac

If you have accumulated a lot of data on your Mac, then emptying the trash becomes very important. It would release the storage from the trash completely and make your system run faster at the same time. So, to create this space, and to permanently delete trash on Mac, follow the step by step guide mentioned below.

I. When You Need to Delete Single Item from Trash Bin

Where Is Trash On Mac

Sometimes, users don't wish to get rid of the entire trash can as they may have to recover a few files back later for future use. So, to get rid of just a single item, you can follow these simple steps.

1. Firstly, open the trash folder and then open the terminal app from the applications.
2. Simply type the letter rm i.e. remove in the terminal app, then give space and drag any item you wish to delete from trash to terminal.
3. Let it process so that only that particular item will be deleted from trash.

II. When You Wish to Delete All Items from the Trash Bin

If you no longer have any useful content stored in the trash, you can delete multiple items in the trash as well.

1. Open trash can and click on the empty button at the right corner of the screen.
2. The system would ask for your confirmation, just click on the 'yes' option to proceed.

Part 3. How to Empty Trash by Repairing Mac Disk

We've already learned how to secure delete trash on Mac. As you can see, emptying the trash is an easy and uncomplicated process. But, what if you're not able to delete items in the trash or you get an error like the trash won't empty. If this happens to you, do not worry, there are several solutions through which the user could empty trash by repairing Mac OS X.

Files being used

The first situation could be when the user is unable to delete the file in use, so if you wish to know how to delete the files that are being used, follow these steps:

1. Firstly, shut down all the apps in use including the app you wish to delete.
2. Once you've closed all the applications, open the trash and delete the files you wish to get rid of.

Files Being Locked

Trashme App Mac

The second obstacle that the users might face in deleting a particular file is when the file appears to be locked. When the operating system shows us this error message that the file is locked. Simply, hold the down option and again choose to empty trash. The OS X would overwrite the file, resulting in deleting it.

Other Situations

Still, if the user is not able to delete or empty the trash. The steps below to get all unwanted files out of the system permanently may seek great help to them.

1. Firstly, search and open Terminal in applications or utilities from the right corner.
2. After the terminal appears on the screen, type cd ~/.Trash and simply press the return button.
3. Then, type rm followed by space.
4. Next, click on the trash icon. Then, select and drag all items to the terminal.
5. In the end, it would be deleted from the trash folder.

Bonus Tips - Recover Accidentally Emptied Trash

Trash is one of the overlooked aspects of OS X that users think of only if they get stuck. Though, if you get to learn how to manage the trash folder on Mac, then you can easily make the most of our data and speed-up the processing of your system as well. Here are some more tips to add that could be really advantageous for a Mac user in the long run.

I. If you wish to undelete trash on Mac, you can simply download Recoverit Mac Trash Recovery Software and get back all of your precious files/folders/pictures/videos in 3 simple steps. It can recover all sorts of files that have been removed from the Trash folder in a user-friendly way. The data recovery tool supports all the leading Mac versions and has one of the highest recovery rates. It features different data recovery modes for users to get back their lost data in all scenarios.

II. If you wish to remove items from the Trash automatically after 30 days, simply open advanced options from the settings and choose to remove items from the Trash in 30 days.

III. If you want to secure delete trash. Deleting the trash without getting any error is another important feature that Mac provides to its users. To activate it, follow these steps:

1. Click and hold the trash can icon in the dock.
2. The user needs to hold down the command key and click Trash. By doing this, empty trash would change to secure empty trash.
3. Select it and delete the trash securely.

IV. If you want to delete trashes file on Mac USB: A lot of people find it hard to delete the trash from a connected USB source. The rm command of the terminal works well in this case. File(s) can be deleted from USB by following 4 simple steps:

1. Go to the applications and open the terminal.
2. Type rm followed by a space.
3. Drag all files you want to delete from the finder to the terminal.
4. Press return.

Trash Me Application For Mac

V. How to undo delete trash Mac: Sometimes, we end up deleting something we didn't wish to remove. Mac has an option to simply undo and recover the files back. You can do this in 4 easy steps:

1. Open the trash folder.
2. Select the file(s) you wish to put back in the original location.
3. Right-click after selecting the files.
4. Choose the 'put back' option and your files will get back to its original location.

VI. How to automatically empty the trash: If you wish to manually empty the drive, then follow this technique. Just access an amazing feature on Mac from the Apple menu > About this storage > Manage. You will find an option to automatically empty the trash. Click on it and be free from the hassle of emptying trash again and again.

Trash Me For Mac Osx

After reading this article, you'll definitely be able to delete, undelete, and recover data from the Trash. In case if you have accidentally deleted something, then try Recoverit Data Recovery. Apart from that, you can also follow some of our suggestions to manage trash in Mac like an expert.

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