I accidentally removed the trash can from the dock. Where do I find the trash app to put back on the dock

I know this is pretty old but I wanted to add this for anyone else who might come across this thread.

I have PathFinder on my system and there is an option to add the "Remove from Dock" contextual menu items to the Finder and Trash. I accidetally removed the Trash icon, and to get it back do this:

1. Open Terminal.app from the "Utilities" folder in the main Applications folder. Or simply open Launchpad or Spotlight and start typing Terminal.

2. Copy and paste the below command exactly, be very careful with Terminal as it can cause terminal damage to your computer if used incorrectly.

killall Dock

Your Desktop background may flash and the Dock will disappear and will repear after a short pause.

You should now have your Finder and Trash icons back.

Hope this helps,

xeni

I accidently clicked moved the trash that caused it to be deleted.

I don't understand what that means. You should not be able to move the trash can icon on the Dock. It is always at the right side of the Dock (or bottom if you have the Dock on the side of the screen), and cannot be moved, nor can it be dragged off the Dock in the same manner as other Dock icons. There is also no "Remove from Dock" item in the contextual menu that appears when you control-click the trash icon, unlike other Dock icons. So what, exactly, did you do? What exactly did you click? Details are important.

There is also no "Remove from Dock" item in the contextual menu that appears when you control-click the trash icon, unlike other Dock icons.

That must have changed with ML because it happened to me too. Instead of clicking on "Empty trash", I accidentally clicked on "Remove from Dock", and I have no clue how to get it back.

See if this helps.

1. Quit all running applications.

2. Click on the Desktop.

3. Select the word 'Go' from the mfinder's menu bar (while holding down the 'option' key) and select 'Library'.

4. In the Library Finder window select the word "Preferences'.

5. In Preferences find the files with 'com.apple.dock. In their names, highlightly them and riright click to 'Move to Trash'.

6. Reboot and see the Trash can is back into your Dock.

Good Luck.

The first thing you can try is to reset the Dock settings file to default settings, so the Trash should appear again on the Dock.

First, open Finder, select Go menu > Go to Folder and type ~/Library/Preferences. Then, delete "com.apple.dock.plist", open Terminal and type:

killall Dock

Finally, the Dock will reopen and the Trash should be there. If not, you may need to reinstall OS X

How did you take the Trash out of your dock? I couldn't do that if I TRIED!!!

You don't have to reinstall OS X. There are other ways.

How did you manage to do that? I'm not aware of any method for removing it. Did you run some kind of script or install a system modification that removed it? If so, what?

Also, I note that your profile indicates you have Mac OS X 10.5.6, but this is the Mountain Lion (Mac OS X 10.8) forum. Which system do you actually have installed?

tabazzzco wrote:

There is also no "Remove from Dock" item in the contextual menu that appears when you control-click the trash icon, unlike other Dock icons.

That must have changed with ML because it happened to me too. Instead of clicking on "Empty trash", I accidentally clicked on "Remove from Dock", and I have no clue how to get it back.

No. I am running Mountain Lion 10.8.3 and cannot drag the Trash icon out of the dock, nor do I get the Remove from Dock option when I right click the Trash icon. I am also running as an administrator. Something else is goin on with your system.

So, Robert --

Did you remove the Trash?

Or the actual Trash Can icon from the Dock???

Thanks, that did the trick! Much appreciated!