What if you want to live dangerously and delete a file immediately, perhaps because you need to recover the disk space right away? Hold down Option and choose File > Delete Immediately, or press Command-Option-Delete. The Finder always asks whether you want to do this.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/tcn.tidbits.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Delete-Immediately-dialog.png\")
<\/p>\n
Remove Files from the Trash<\/h3>\n
We all make mistakes and trash files by accident, or sometimes realize later that a file we put in the Trash is still needed. Taking something out is easy: click the Trash icon on the Dock to open its window, and then drag the file out of the window. But, there is more to know about the best ways to remove files from the Trash.<\/p>\n
First, if you trash a file and immediately realize it was the wrong thing to do, press Command-Z or choose Edit > Undo Move to Trash to put it back where it started<\/p>\n
We like viewing the Trash window in Cover Flow view (open it, and then choose View > as Cover Flow) because of the document preview at the top of the window. We also like to sort by Date Added so that we can see the items we\u2019ve trashed most recently (if the Date Added column isn\u2019t showing, choose View > Show View Options and select the Date Added checkbox).<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/tcn.tidbits.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Trash-window-with-View-Options-1024x684.png\")
<\/p>\n
In the Trash window, you can select an item and use the Put Back command to return it to its original location. Try one of these techniques:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Press Command-Delete. It\u2019s the same shortcut as for Move to Trash, but does the reverse when the selection is in the Trash window.<\/li>\n
- Control- or right-click on one of them, and choose Put Back.<\/li>\n
- Choose File > Put Back.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Empty the Trash<\/h3>\n
The main reason to empty the Trash is if you need to reclaim the disk space its contents occupy. You can do that at any time, as we\u2019ll explain momentarily, but in macOS 10.12 Sierra and later, you can have the Mac automatically remove items from the Trash after they\u2019ve been in there for 30 days. Just choose Finder > Preferences > Advanced, and select the \u201cRemove items from the Trash after 30 days\u201d checkbox.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/tcn.tidbits.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Trash-after-30-days.png\")
<\/p>\nTo empty the Trash manually, choose Finder > Empty Trash. If \u201cShow warning before emptying the Trash\u201d is selected in the window shown above, you\u2019ll be prompted to confirm the deletion. If you don\u2019t like the prompt, deselect that checkbox. Other shortcuts include:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Click and hold the Trash icon on the Dock, and choose Empty Trash.<\/li>\n
- Press Command-Shift-Delete.<\/li>\n
- To avoid the warning even when it\u2019s enabled, press Command-Shift-Option-Delete.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Emptying the Trash doesn\u2019t have to be an all or nothing action. Imagine that you\u2019ve just trashed a few huge files and want to recover their disk space without tossing every other file in the Trash. Just select them, Control- or right-click one, and choose Delete Immediately. You can also press Command-Option-Delete.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/tcn.tidbits.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Trash-Delete-Immediately.png\")
<\/p>\nFiles in your Mac\u2019s Trash smell better than the inside of a typical garbage can, but that doesn\u2019t mean you want to spend a lot of time fussing with them. With these tips, you can trash files, recover from mistakes, and clear disk space quickly and confidently.<\/p>\n
\nSocial Media:<\/strong> Did you know you can easily restore trashed Mac files to their original location? For that and other Trash-related tips and techniques, check out our post.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One of the great innovations of the Mac, way back when, was the concept of the Trash. Instead of deleting files immediately, you\u2019d put them in the Trash, where they\u2019d sit until you either took them out or removed them for good by emptying the Trash. You undoubtedly know the basics of working with the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6566,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,25,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-apple","category-mac","category-macintosh"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6482,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398\/revisions\/6482"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}