Slow moving file off desktop to Trash - Exceptionally slow Finder

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Slow moving file off desktop to Trash - Exceptionally slow Finder

I use Screenshots a lot and have iCloud set up with Desktop and Documents set up to sync there. But I am trying to delete one of those screenshots and no matter what I do, it won't go - In fact, I took a screenshot of the message I get [ie Moving to trash etc] and then tried to move it to Downloads so it wouldn't be 'trapped' on the Desktop and it's not moving, just as it did not delete to Trash = I tried to move it about 2-3 minutes ago and it still says Preparing to Move. And I clicked on the message to stop the move and it has been saying "Stopping" for a minute or two and nothing is happening.

iMac 27″ 5K, macOS 10.14

Posted on Dec 10, 2020 7:31 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Sharhari

Level 5

6,293 points

Dec 10, 2020 8:45 AM in response to Victoria Herring

iCloud sync will happen in background.

But deleting/Moving to trash should not take long for a single file.

To further troubleshoot you can try same steps in safe mode.

How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support (Takes longer to boot than your normal boot)

Note: Safe mode prevents your Mac from loading certain software as it starts up, including login items, system extensions not required by macOS, and fonts not installed by macOS. It also does a basic check of your startup disk, similar to using First Aid in Disk Utility. And it deletes some system caches, including font caches and the kernel cache, which are automatically created again as needed.

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Answer 2

Dec 10, 2020 8:22 AM in response to Sharhari

I quit all apps, restarted and tried again -- I kept a timer and at 7 minutes or so it finally was deleted. I am trying it again just now == so far it's 1.5 minutes and still "Moving ....to Trash"...it's up to 4 minutes and counting. Finally went to trash at 6.5 min. -- I was able to download something in the Downloads folder = I changed the Screenshot default to the Downloads folder -- my thought is that perhaps whatever is on Desktop is trying to upload to iCloud? and won't be quickly deleted???

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Answer 3

Sharhari

Level 5

6,293 points

Dec 10, 2020 7:45 AM in response to Victoria Herring

Looks like some app is not responding.

Have you tried after "Relaunch" the Finder or the app which is not responding from the "Force Quit…"

If above didn't work you may need to do Restart… and check again if you are able to delete the problematic file.

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Slow moving file off desktop to Trash - Exceptionally slow Finder

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