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New Way to Empty Trash

It seems that since updating to Ventura, I have a new and only way of emptying Trash. All routes lead to the little Emptying the Trash window, whose progress bar moves back and forth saying "Deleting..." This will continue forever.

Moving the cursor over the little X at the end of the progress bar shows that it means "Stop Emptying the Trash". Clicking the X promptly empties the Trash.

iMac 24″, macOS 13.1

Posted on Dec 18, 2022 12:05 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Dec 20, 2022 1:07 PM

Hello vintage42,


You can empty the trash on your Mac by completing the steps listed here: Delete files and folders on Mac that are also listed below.


" Empty the Trash

  1. On your Mac, click the Trash icon in the Dock.
  2. In the window that appears, do one of the following:
  • Empty one item from the Trash: Control-click the item you want to delete, then choose Delete Immediately.
    • In the warning message that appears, click Delete.
  • Empty all of the Trash: Click the Empty button in the upper-right corner of the Finder window. You can also click the Finder icon  in the Dock, then choose Finder > Empty Trash.
    • In the warning message that appears, click Empty Trash.

Items that you move to the Trash from your Mac remain until you empty the Trash. You can choose to automatically empty the Trash in Finder settings.

Items that you move to the Trash from iCloud Drive are automatically emptied from the Trash after 30 days, regardless of Finder settings. You can choose to empty the Trash sooner than 30 days.

WARNING: Any items emptied from the Trash are no longer available."


Best regards.

5 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Dec 20, 2022 1:07 PM in response to vintage42

Hello vintage42,


You can empty the trash on your Mac by completing the steps listed here: Delete files and folders on Mac that are also listed below.


" Empty the Trash

  1. On your Mac, click the Trash icon in the Dock.
  2. In the window that appears, do one of the following:
  • Empty one item from the Trash: Control-click the item you want to delete, then choose Delete Immediately.
    • In the warning message that appears, click Delete.
  • Empty all of the Trash: Click the Empty button in the upper-right corner of the Finder window. You can also click the Finder icon  in the Dock, then choose Finder > Empty Trash.
    • In the warning message that appears, click Empty Trash.

Items that you move to the Trash from your Mac remain until you empty the Trash. You can choose to automatically empty the Trash in Finder settings.

Items that you move to the Trash from iCloud Drive are automatically emptied from the Trash after 30 days, regardless of Finder settings. You can choose to empty the Trash sooner than 30 days.

WARNING: Any items emptied from the Trash are no longer available."


Best regards.

Jan 29, 2023 4:33 AM in response to vintage42

I fixed the problem that appeared a few months ago -- the unending progress bar and needing to click the X to stop emptying in order to make the Trash then empty itself.

In Finder Settings, check the box Show Warning Before Emptying Trash.

The Trash will then work after acceptance of the warning.

Then go back to Finder Settings and uncheck that box.

The Trash will then immediately empty as expected.

New Way to Empty Trash

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