Simple Process to Empty Trash on a Mac?

Question

Simple Process to Empty Trash on a Mac?

Hoping to find a simple process to empty my trash on an Apple machine...

I'm using an OSX v 10.9.5 processor 2.6 GHz Intel Core i7 Memory 16GB 1600 MHz DDR3 Apple Mac.

Every time I empty the trash, I need to go through a complete re-education process. I do online research, experiment with various command line options and finally rediscover the way to force my trash to empty on this Apple Mac.

The problem appears to only be unique to Apple, I have never had it happen on other platforms, machines or operating systems. Is there a simple way to just click "empty trash" and have the trash empty without googling for solutions, testing command line functions, opening the hood of the Mac and reconfiguring options or downloading software applications designed to assist me in emptying the trash?

I want this to be as simple as emptying the kitchen trash at home, my young child can do that alone and she's not a computer programmer.

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.7.5), Desktop Trash

Posted on Dec 29, 2014 10:33 AM

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Answer 1

Japib

Level 4

2,831 points

Dec 29, 2014 10:36 AM in response to JimmyHashTagYearApp

it's supposed to empty itself very simply, your OS must be corrupt... try a clean install of OS X.

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Answer 2

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Dec 29, 2014 10:37 AM in response to JimmyHashTagYearApp

You can't empty the Trash or move a file to the Trash

My Mac Won't Empty the Trash | Easy PC Tutorials

Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on solving Trash issues. You can also try using Trash It! 5.1 to fix the problem. Or you can try this:

Open the Terminal in the Utilities folder and paste the following at the prompt:

sudo rm -Rf ~/.Trash

Press RETURN. Enter your admin password when prompted. It will not echo to the screen. Press RETURN again.

(Should anyone tell you this is dangerous or unnecessary, please ignore the comment.)

Open the Finder's preferences, click on the Advanced icon in the toolbar then uncheck the option to Empty Trash Securely.

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Answer 3

seventy one

Level 7

27,430 points

Dec 29, 2014 10:39 AM in response to JimmyHashTagYearApp

Go down to the dock ... click on the waste basket ... then go to finder and click on empty trash or secure empty trash as you need.

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