Trash is Unable to Empty old Pages Application

After reinstalling Catalina on my friend’s iMac to solve a different problem, we noticed going through the Applications folder that there were two Pages apps, one new and one very old. We tossed the old one into the Trash but we couldn’t delete it (“could not be deleted…in use”). After confirming that Pages was not open I tried holding down Option while attempting to empty the Trash, restarting, to no avail. I moved Pages out of the Trash and put it back into Applications. At that point the old Pages renamed itself Pages 2 in the Applications folder. I put that into the Trash, but now both the Trash folder and the Applications folder had both Pages and Pages 2 copies. I tried using AppCleaner which did attempt to uninstall the old Pages but didn’t accomplish that task.

We also, via Get Info, changed the Sharing & Permissions to Read & Write, including all the related Package Contents.

One of the side effects of this is that now SuperDuper won’t make copies - here’s the error message:

So, what are we to make of this? How to get it out of the Trash is the desire. I realize Apple doesn’t like its own apps to be deleted sometimes.


Posted on May 17, 2022 8:48 PM

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6 replies

May 19, 2022 6:09 AM in response to generdude

Thanks for trying that and getting back to us, generdude. It's appreciated.


Since you're unable to clear the Trash using a normal start, see if you're able once you've restarted your Mac in safe mode: How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support. Please refer to this before beginning: Graphics performance limited in macOS Recovery, safe mode, or Guest User mode - Apple Support


Please let us know the results when you're able.


All the best.

May 18, 2022 2:55 PM in response to generdude

Hello generdude,


Try force closing all the apps on your Mac, then attempt to delete Pages again.


How to force an app to quit
Press these three keys together: Option, Command and Esc (Escape). Or choose Force Quit from the Apple menu  in the top left-hand corner of your screen. (This is similar to pressing Control-Alt-Delete on a PC.)

Then select the app in the Force Quit window and click Force Quit.

You'll find those steps here: How to force an app to quit on your Mac


Then, make sure you're following these steps to delete Pages: How to uninstall apps on your Mac


Cheers!

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Trash is Unable to Empty old Pages Application

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