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How do i arrange deleted files (in trash) in order of deletion time/date?

I accidentaly deleted several files (not sure of their files names, at least not all of them) so went to the trash to recover them and i didn't find a way to arrange or sort them by date of deletion. Given that they were just deleted it would have been the last 5-6 files or so. But i don't remember the files names or when they were last accessed of course! Is there any way to just short by deletion time and be done with that???

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mountain Lion, Order / recovery of deleted files

Posted on Sep 23, 2012 1:09 AM

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Posted on Sep 23, 2012 1:42 AM

This might work:


Open the trash; go File, Find and the Finder window for Trash will change. Choose "Trash" (i.e. not "This Mac")


Click the search criteria box (it defaults to "Kind", and choose "Other" from the drop down. Select Date Added from the list (check the box that says "add to menu" if you think you might need it again in the future. Pick a date, and OK


That will list everything moved to Trash on that date


What you can also do is to right-click the column headers in Trash, and add the Date Added as a column. If you click that column, it'll sort the files by the date they were last moved around.


Hope that works

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Question marked as Best reply

Sep 23, 2012 1:42 AM in response to Printezis

This might work:


Open the trash; go File, Find and the Finder window for Trash will change. Choose "Trash" (i.e. not "This Mac")


Click the search criteria box (it defaults to "Kind", and choose "Other" from the drop down. Select Date Added from the list (check the box that says "add to menu" if you think you might need it again in the future. Pick a date, and OK


That will list everything moved to Trash on that date


What you can also do is to right-click the column headers in Trash, and add the Date Added as a column. If you click that column, it'll sort the files by the date they were last moved around.


Hope that works

Sep 23, 2012 12:03 PM in response to nick101

This is weird !


When i am in the "Trash" 😟 i cannot click on the column header "Date Added" .. they are not clickable.

If i choose a folder in my trash (or any other folder in the finder) then i can click and short .. but not in the Trash !


I appreciate your time trying to help me here .. i have actually gone to the Apple store asking for this in person and the Genius told me "it cannot be done". So, thanks for sharing here !

Sep 23, 2012 12:13 PM in response to nick101

Well, i am starting to think that "it cannot be done" is right actually ..


I emptied the trash and started deleting files, keeping track of what is going on.


The "Date Added" is not the date added to the trash, it is the date added to the location the file was -before- it was deleted. Moving something into the trash does not "modify" its properties in a way that can be tracked. I tried and verified this.


So basically, i dont' think that there is no way to sort files in order of deletion with a Mac !

Feb 2, 2013 7:08 AM in response to Printezis

I discovered that if you have Trash open, you can select View > Show View Options in the toolbar. That lets you choose how the Trash is organized (using which column). Not as easy as it used to be, but still lets you arrange them in other ways than the default.


Unfortunately, "date deleted" is not one of them, but other sorting methods may help you find things.

How do i arrange deleted files (in trash) in order of deletion time/date?

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