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How to empty the Trash on Mac, even when it won't empty

Control-click the Trash in the Dock and choose Empty Trash, or press Shift-Command-Delete in Finder. It's permanent, so look first. When the Trash won't empty, the cause is nearly always a file that's still open, a locked item or a drive that isn't connected, and the fixes below go from simplest to strongest.

By · Updated · 8 min read · For Macs with Apple silicon running macOS 15 or later

Empty the Trash

Any of these works on macOS 15 Sequoia, macOS 26 Tahoe and macOS 27 (Apple, Delete files and folders on Mac):

  • From the Dock: Control-click the Trash and choose Empty Trash, then confirm.
  • From the Trash window: click the Trash in the Dock to open it, then click Empty in the top-right corner of the window.
  • From the menu bar: click the desktop or a Finder window, then choose Finder › Empty Trash.
  • From the keyboard: in Finder, press Shift-Command-Delete. Add Option (Option-Shift-Command-Delete) to skip the confirmation (Apple, Mac keyboard shortcuts).

Holding Option while you click Empty or choose Empty Trash also skips the warning, once. To turn the warning off for good, choose Finder › Settings, click Advanced and deselect the option to show a warning before emptying the Trash.

Emptying is permanent. Apple's wording is that emptied items are permanently deleted and no longer available. After that, the only way back is a backup, such as Time Machine.

Delete one item for good

You don't have to empty everything to get rid of one large file. Open the Trash, Control-click the item and choose Delete Immediately, then click Delete. The rest of the Trash stays as it is.

Empty the Trash automatically

Choose Finder › Settings, click Advanced and select the option to remove items from the Trash after 30 days. The same switch appears as Empty Trash Automatically in System Settings › General › Storage (Apple, Optimize storage space). Items removed this way are permanently deleted.

Items you move to the Trash from iCloud Drive follow their own rule: they're emptied after 30 days whatever this setting says, and you can empty them sooner.

Before you empty it

  • Look through it. Open the Trash and sort by Date Added or Size. To rescue something, drag it out, or select it and choose File › Put Back to return it to where it came from.
  • Wait a day after a big clean-up. Things you moved in a hurry are the ones you'll want back.
  • Check your backup. If Time Machine is on, let a backup finish first; if it isn't, Apple suggests keeping a copy of anything important on another drive.

When the Trash won't empty

Work through these in order, starting with the simplest. Each one is safe.

1. A file is still in use

If Finder says an item can't be deleted because it's in use, an app still has it open. Quit the app that opened it, including any menu bar part of it. A disk image that's still mounted counts too: eject it under Locations in the Finder sidebar. If you can't tell which app it is, restart the Mac and empty the Trash before opening anything else.

2. The item is locked

Locked items need an extra confirmation when you move them to the Trash, and can get in the way of emptying it. Open the Trash, select the item, choose File › Get Info (Command-I) and deselect Locked. If you're not an administrator, macOS may ask for an administrator's name and password.

3. You don't have permission

Items that belong to another user, or that an installer created, may need an administrator's password to delete. Finder asks for it when it's needed; if you're not an administrator, someone who is has to enter it.

4. The files are on another drive

Files you delete from an external drive or a USB stick stay on that drive, in a hidden Trash folder of its own, and they only show in your Trash while the drive is connected. To free that drive's space, connect it, then empty the Trash before you eject it.

5. Start up in safe mode

Safe mode stops login items and extensions that macOS doesn't need from loading, so whatever was holding the file usually isn't running (Apple, Start up your Mac in safe mode). On a Mac with Apple silicon:

  1. Shut down the Mac.
  2. Press and hold the power button until "Loading startup options" appears, then release it.
  3. Select your startup disk, then press and hold Shift and click Continue in Safe Mode.
  4. Log in (you may be asked twice), empty the Trash, then restart normally.

6. Check the disk

If the Trash still won't empty after a restart and safe mode, the disk itself may have a problem. Run First Aid in Disk Utility; for your startup disk, Apple says to do it from macOS Recovery (Apple, How to repair a Mac storage device with Disk Utility). Make sure your backup is current first.

Commands to skip

Forums often suggest forcing the Trash empty in Terminal with sudo, rm -rf and a wildcard. We don't recommend it, for three reasons:

  • There's no safety net. rm doesn't use the Trash and doesn't ask. With sudo, a mistyped path or a stray space can delete something outside the Trash.
  • It usually doesn't work anyway. On recent macOS, the Trash folder is privacy-protected. On our Mac running macOS 27, even listing it from a command-line shell without Full Disk Access returned "Operation not permitted". Giving Terminal that access to run one delete command isn't a good trade.
  • The steps above fix the cause. An open file, a lock or a disk error doesn't go away because the command is stronger; it just fails louder, or deletes more than you meant.

Never turn off System Integrity Protection to empty the Trash. Nothing in the Trash needs it.

What happened to Secure Empty Trash

Older versions of OS X had a Secure Empty Trash command that overwrote files as it deleted them. Apple removed it in OS X El Capitan 10.11, explaining in its security notes that secure deletion couldn't be guaranteed on some systems, such as those with flash storage (Apple, About the security content of OS X El Capitan v10.11).

What protects deleted files today is encryption. Apple says that on a Mac with Apple silicon, your data is encrypted automatically, and turning on FileVault in System Settings › Privacy & Security adds the need for your login password to decrypt it (Apple, Protect data on your Mac with FileVault). If you're selling or giving away the Mac, erase it rather than deleting files one by one.

Emptied the Trash but didn't get space back?

Storage settings can take a few minutes to catch up. If the space still hasn't come back, Time Machine local snapshots may be holding on to the files you deleted: macOS keeps them for a while and removes them on its own when space is needed. What purgeable space is, and why it doesn't always free up explains how to check.

And if the Trash is regularly the biggest thing on your disk, look at what's going into it: old downloads and caches are common candidates.

How Tend helps

Tend works with the Trash rather than around it. When you clear caches, old downloads or an app with Tend Pro, everything moves to the macOS Trash, and Tend never empties it, so Put Back keeps working until you decide. For files you want gone without a stop in the Trash, Tend Pro's Shredder overwrites and removes them, asks first, and says plainly that on an SSD overwriting can't guarantee every old copy is gone, and that copies in Time Machine backups and local snapshots aren't touched. Seeing your storage is free.

Questions

Does emptying the Trash delete files permanently?

Yes. Apple says items emptied from the Trash are permanently deleted and no longer available. Until you empty it, you can select an item and choose File › Put Back. After emptying, only a backup such as Time Machine can bring a file back.

How do I force empty the Trash on a Mac?

Quit the app that's using the file and eject any open disk images, unlock locked items in Get Info, and connect any external drive the files came from. If that doesn't work, start up in safe mode and empty the Trash there. Avoid sudo rm -rf commands.

Why can't I empty the Trash on my Mac?

Usually because a file is still open in an app, an item is locked, you need an administrator's password, or the files belong to a drive that isn't connected. Less often, the disk has an error that First Aid in Disk Utility can repair.

Can I recover files after emptying the Trash?

Only from a backup, such as Time Machine. Files deleted from iCloud Drive can also be recovered for 30 days from Recently Deleted on iCloud.com. That's why it's worth waiting a day before emptying after a big clean-up.

Where is the Trash folder on a Mac?

Your Trash is a hidden folder called .Trash in your home folder, and each external drive has its own. You don't need to open them directly: click the Trash in the Dock to see everything that's in it.

How to free up space on your Mac and clear storage safely

The built-in way, in the order that's safest.

How to delete downloads on Mac

What's safe to remove from Downloads, and how to keep it tidy.

What is purgeable space on a Mac?

Why deleted files don't always free space right away.

How to clear cache on a Mac

Which caches are safe to clear, and when it's worth it.

More detailed guides:

Sources

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