Hey mmusa3,
I see this is your first post to Apple Support Communities. Welcome! We’re happy to have you.
My understanding of your post is that you’re unable to free up space on your Mac as the Trash isn’t behaving like you’d expect. In a possibly related issue, you’ve also noted that your Mac has no disk space available. I’d love to point you in the right direction on this one - it’s important to have space available on your Mac!
Let’s start with the Trash issue first. You might find this article helpful: You can‘t empty the Trash or move a file to the Trash
Specifically, here are the instructions we’d like to follow:
If you can't empty the Trash or move a file to the Trash
For example, this message might appear when you try to empty the Trash: "The operation could not be completed because the item '(item name)' is locked."
First, try holding the Option key as you choose Empty Trash from the Finder menu.
Otherwise, check for these conditions:
- Is the file locked?
If files are locked, unlock them before deleting or delete using the tips in the "Deleting locked files" section below. Also, see this article.
- Do you have correct permissions to modify the file?
Every file and folder in Mac OS X has some permission settings to help define what you or other users can do with the file or folder, for example whether you may modify it or not. If see an alert box with a message that says you do not have "sufficient" privilege or permission, see the tips in the "Emptying the Trash" section of this article.
- Does the file or volume have special characters?
Usually, Mac OS X can delete files whose names contain special characters, but sometimes you might need to follow this advice.
- Note the name of the volume which the files are being deleted from. If you are not sure of the item's location, you can verify that by selecting it then choosing Show Info from the File menu. If the name of the volume contains any special ASCII characters, such as a bullet or trademark character, temporarily rename the volume so that it does not contain these characters.
Example: If you cannot delete files from a volume named "·Dox", rename the volume to "Dox". After the Trash is empty, restore the volume's original name as desired.
- Examine the name of the files or folders you cannot delete. They should not contain a solidus ("slash", "/") character or any other special ASCII character such as a trademark, quotation mark, or copyright symbol. If the file does, remove the special character or slash from its name, then delete it.
Example: If you cannot delete a file named "Things/stuff", rename the file to just "t", then delete it.
Deleting locked files
Locked files can easily be deleted if you press Shift-Option or Option key combination while emptying the Trash (in Mac OS X 10.1 and later). For Mac OS X versions 10.0 to 10.0.4, use Show Info to deselect the item's Locked checkbox.
If you still cannot delete the item, start up your computer from the Mac OS X installation disc and choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu of the first screen. Use Disk Utility to verify and, if necessary, repair your disk.
If a file can't be unlocked, you may not have permission to unlock it. See this article to learn how to get write permissions.
If the issue persists, use Disk Utility's Repair Permissions feature to check your Mac OS X volume.
Once we’ve got you on the right track for being able to remove files from Trash as expected, we’ve created a document with a few tips on increasing disk space. Specifically, you might find this portion from the OS X El Capitan: Increase disk space document helpful:
Locate large files
You can find your largest files and then compress them or move them to another disk.
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In the Finder, choose Go > Home, or press Shift-Command-H.
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Choose File > Find, or press Command-F.
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Click the Kind pop-up menu, then choose Other.
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Below “Select a search attribute,” select the File Size checkbox. Make sure no other checkboxes are selected, then click OK.
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Click the “equals” pop-up menu, then choose “is greater than.” Click the “KB” pop-up menu, then choose “MB.”
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Enter a minimum file size. A good starting point is 100 MB. You can change the value to see more or fewer results.
Searching begins as soon as you type a file size. It may take a moment for all the search results to appear.
Enjoy your day!