Feb 13, 2019 I was having a different problem than initially described in this post, but step 4 solved my problem. Since updating to 10.14.6 from either.5 or.4 (can’t remember which), I’ve been having this issue where, if I download an updated version of an application and drop it into the applications folder, overwriting the old version, that new application gets put into “App Translocation. Oct 13, 2019 I vaguely recall someone in the early OS X days that made an app with the trash-can icons, which moved things dropped onto it to the trash. I thought it was a cute hack, but never actually tried it. It may have been written in AppleScript, which I'm pretty sure has the ability to either move things to the Trash itself, or can tell Finder to.
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Mar 14, 2019 Removing it is as simple as deleting the app. You’ll probably find the app in the Applications folder in your home folder. Launch Finder and click “Applications” to find it. Simply Ctrl-click (or right-click) the Mac Auto Fixer application and move it to trash. Reboot your Mac afterward to verify that the app is removed. Mar 01, 2011 I can't actually get the files into the trash because they are said to be 'in use by another function' though I can't seem to identify what is using these files. No applications running, I've relaunched the finder, restarted the computer, however the files are in constant use, so therefore cannot be moved to the trash to be emptied.
Normally, deleting a file on macOS is a simple affair. You drag it to the Trash or right-click and Move to Trash. Of course, sometimes things can go awry. For example, you may run into an error message that this “The operation can’t be completed because the item (name) is in use.” You can run into this error when sending a file to the Trash, or when attempting to Empty the Trash.
In the latter case, macOS does allow users to delete everything in the Trash beside that file. But that still leaves you with the annoying item sitting in the bin.
If you’ve been hit with that error message, here are a couple of things you can try to get rid of that pesky and stubborn file.
Related:
Contents
- 1 How to delete a file on macOS that’s “in use”
- 2 Locked files & insufficient privileges
How to delete a file on macOS that’s “in use”
Before you do anything else, you should try a couple of things. These are, by far, the easiest fixes for the problem.
- Quit the apps that you think may be using the troublesome file. If you don’t know which app might be using it, you may want to quit all apps.
- If that doesn’t work, you’ll want to simply restart your Mac. After it’s booted back up, try deleting the file.
- Restarting a Mac should work, but if it doesn’t, there’s likely a startup or login item that is using the file. From here, you’ll want to restart your Mac in Safe Mode and try deleting it. Safe Mode will stop any startup items from running.
In addition, here are a couple more in-depth methods for identifying and dealing with stubborn files from the Trash (or those that won’t move to the trash).
Using the Terminal to locate the “in-use” app and the corresponding file
If you’re comfortable using the macOS Terminal, there is a command you can try that will identify which app is using the specific file.
- Double-click on the Trash and make sure that a Finder window pops up.
- Open the macOS Terminal, either by using Spotlight search or by going to Applications —> Terminal.
- In the next step, you’ll want to type a simple command into the terminal — but don’t hit return just yet!
- Type this command, followed by a space: lsof
- Then, drag the annoying file from the Trash directly onto the Terminal window.
- Once some text pops up, hit Return.
- You should now see a list of the apps that processes that are actively using the file (and keeping it from being deleted).
From here, you can simply pinpoint and close the app that’s currently using the file.
If the file is being used by a background process, open Activity Monitor. Find the process in the list and click the X icon to terminate it.
Delete Immediately feature on MacBook
![Can Can](/uploads/1/2/6/4/126441156/953726606.jpg)
In OS X El Capitan and later, Apple has also Delete Immediately. It’s a scorched-earth solution and there’s no going back, but it could come in handy for those extremely stubborn files in your Trash.
Delete Immediately is only accessible within the Trash app. So open it and select the files you’d like to delete. Control-click those files and select Delete Immediately. Confirm and those files should be gone.
Nothing worked. What now?
There may be those rare occasions in which the above steps simply don’t work. If that’s the case for you, there may be an underlying issue on your disk.
In these worst-case scenarios, Apple itself recommends booting up your Mac in macOS Recovery mode and using Disk Utility to repair the troublesome drive.
If you suspect there’s a deeper problem with your Mac causing file-trash stubbornness, we recommend taking it to your local Genius Bar or an Apple Authorized Service Provider.
Locked files & insufficient privileges
In addition to files being used by apps or processes, there are a couple of other things that could prevent you from deleting a file. Here’s a quick overview.
- If the file is locked, then you’re going to run into trouble deleting it. You can unlock the file by right-clicking it and selecting Get Info. Open the General tab and deselect the Locked checkbox.
- Sometimes, you may not have sufficient privileges to delete a file. In most cases, this is a good thing. You can always get an Administrator to delete the file, or give yourself Read & Write permissions in Sharing & Permissions.
We hope that you were able to use the tips in this article to locate the offending file and were able to tackle it. Please let us know if you have any questions using the comments below.
Mike is a freelance journalist from San Diego, California.
While he primarily covers Apple and consumer technology, he has past experience writing about public safety, local government, and education for a variety of publications.
He’s worn quite a few hats in the journalism field, including writer, editor, and news designer.
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Files in the Trash still take up space on your Mac. So if you can’t empty the Trash, you might quickly find yourself running out of storage on your Mac altogether. It’s a frustrating problem, but we can show you how to fix it today!
There are plenty of reasons why you might not be able to empty the Trash. Sometimes you might have a corrupt file that can’t be removed, other times you might be trying to delete an important system file that is protected by macOS.
Some users ignored the storage warnings on their Mac for so long their hard drive or SSD completely filled up. Counter-intuitively, when this happens it becomes impossible to delete anything.
Fortunately, whatever caused your problems, you can easily fix it with the steps below. Save yourself time by trying to empty the Trash again after each step.
Contents
- 1 Step 1. Close apps that might block you emptying the Trash
- 2 Step 2. Boot your Mac into Safe Mode to stop background processes
- 3 Step 3. Use Disk Utility to repair corruptions on your disk
- 4 Step 4. Delete files immediately without emptying the Trash
- 5 Step 5. Check the files in your Trash aren’t locked
- 6 Step 6. Use Terminal to forcefully empty the Trash
- 7 Step 7. Erase your Mac and restore from a backup
Related:
Step 1. Close apps that might block you emptying the Trash
You can’t empty the Trash on your Mac if one of the files you’re trying to delete is already in use. For example, you can’t delete a Pages document if you’ve still got that document open in the Pages app.
The simple solution is to close every app on your Mac, saving your documents to a safe location as you do so. It’s best to restart your Mac afterward, to make sure no other apps are running in the background.
How do I close every app and restart my Mac?
- Use the following two keyboard shortcuts to switch between and close every app on your Mac, except for Finder:
- Switch between open apps using: command+tab
- Close the active app using: command+Q.
- If you an app refuses to close, press option+command+escape to open the Force Quit window. Select the app and click ‘Force Quit’ to close it.
- After closing every app, go to > Shut Down.
- Deselect the option to ‘Reopen windows when logging back in.’
- Confirm you want to ‘Shut Down’ your Mac and wait at least 30 seconds before restarting it.
Step 2. Boot your Mac into Safe Mode to stop background processes
Occasionally there are background processes or startup items on your Mac that block you from emptying the Trash. It’s easy to run your Mac without these processes starting up by booting into Safe Mode.
Unable To Move App To Trash Mac
Safe Mode also clears a small amount of storage on your Mac by deleting some cached system files. If your Mac is running low on storage, this helps it to function better and may allow you to empty the Trash again.
How do I boot my Mac into Safe Mode?
- From the menu bar on your Mac, go to > Shut Down.
- Confirm you want to ‘Shut Down’ your Mac and wait at least 30 seconds to let it power down.
- Briefly press the power button then immediately press and hold the shift key to boot your Mac into Safe Mode.
- Release the shift key when a login screen appears. It should say ‘Safe Boot’ in the menu bar.
Step 3. Use Disk Utility to repair corruptions on your disk
There might be a problem with the hard drive or SSD in your Mac. This often results in slow performance or corrupted documents. Soemtimes, it’s the reason you can’t empty the Trash.
Fortunately, it’s usually fairly pain-free and easy to fix these error using the First Aid function within Disk Utility. This function scans your hard drive or SSD and repairs whatever errors it can find. Usually the scan is finished in less than ten minutes, but it might take longer if there are lots of errors.
How do I use Disk Utility to run First Aid on my Mac?
- Boot your Mac into Recovery Mode:
- From the menu bar on your Mac, go to > Shut Down.
- Confirm you want to ‘Shut Down’ and wait at least 30 seconds to let it power down.
- Briefly press the power button then immediately press and hold command+R to boot your Mac into Recovery Mode.
- Open Disk Utility from the macOS Utilities window
- Select your hard drive or SSD from the sidebar. If there are multiple drives nested in one another, select the highest level drive.
- Click First Aid from the top of the window.
- Confirm you want to run First Aid and wait for the scan to complete.
- Once the scan is finished, go to > Restart to boot your Mac normally again.
Step 4. Delete files immediately without emptying the Trash
It’s possible to delete files without sending them to the Trash at all. You can use this function to remove files from your Mac even when you can’t empty the Trash.
When you bypass the Trash to delete items, you need to be absolutely certain you’re deleting the right file. It’s impossible to undo this action if you make a mistake.
The latest Brother original Printer Driver for macOS v10.15.x is available from the Downloads section for your model on the Brother support website. The Printer Driver includes the CUPS Printer Driver, BR-Script Driver (PS Driver), PC-FAX Driver and Brother Status Monitor. The availability of the drivers and utilities vary depending on the model number of your machine. For the product-specific information. A device driver is a piece of software designed to help your machine communicate with your mobile device or computer. Brother drivers allow your Brother printer, label maker, or sewing machine to talk directly with your device. This allows the machinery to understand data sent from a device (such as a picture you want to print or a document you want to scan), and perform the necessary actions. Brother printer driver downloads for mac.
How do I delete files immediately without emptying the Trash?
- Double-click the Trash can to view its contents in Finder.
- Select the file or files you want to delete; hold shift to select multiple files.
- Immediately delete those files with either of the methods below:
- Use the keyboard shortcut option+command+delete.
- Hold the option key and go to File > Delete Immediately.
- In the pop-up window, confirm you want to ‘Delete’ the file or files.
Step 5. Check the files in your Trash aren’t locked
Cant Move An App To Trash Can Mac Download
macOS lets you lock files you don’t want to change. When a file is locked, you can’t move it, rename it, or edit it in any other way. You can usually delete it, but a pop-up appears when you do so.
![Mac Mac](/uploads/1/2/6/4/126441156/493680639.png)
That said, it’s possible that a software bug, software update, or software corruption is stopping you from deleting locked files. If there aren’t too many items in your Trash, it’s worth checking each of them to see if they’re locked.
How do I find and unlock locked files in the Trash?
- Double-click the Trash can to view its contents in Finder.
- For each item in the Trash:
- Control-click it and select Get Info.
- Under the ‘General’ section of the Get Info window, uncheck the ‘Locked’ box.
Step 6. Use Terminal to forcefully empty the Trash
![Move Move](/uploads/1/2/6/4/126441156/665252136.png)
Terminal allows you to use commands to perform advanced functions in macOS. Amongst many other things, you can use Terminal to forcefully empty the Trash. This is often effective at bypassing whatever is blocking you.
Normally we don’t recommend Terminal unless you’re an experienced macOS user. However, you shouldn’t experience any problems if you closely follow our instructions below. Make sure you enter the commands exactly as we’ve written them, including every space and punctuation mark, otherwise it may not work.
How do I use Terminal to empty the Trash on my Mac?
- Open Terminal from the Utilities folder in your Applications.
- Copy and paste the following command into Terminal (including the space at the end), but don’t press return yet:
sudo rm -R
- Double-click the Trash can to view its contents in Finder.
- From the menu bar, go to Edit > Select All.
- Drag and drop the contents of your Trash into the Terminal window.
- Back in Terminal, press the return key.
- It should prompt you for a password.
- Type your administrator password then press return again. Nothing appears onscreen as you type your password.
- If that didn’t work, copy and paste the following command into Terminal:
rm -rf ~/Trash/*
- Press the return key, then press Y to confirm you want to empty the Trash.
Step 7. Erase your Mac and restore from a backup
If none of our above suggestions worked and you still can’t empty the Trash on your Mac, it might be time to erase the machine completely. There are a couple of different ways you can choose to do this.
Then you can export iPhone contacts to computer or other portable devices by choosing 'Add' or 'Export to PC/iPhone/Folder'.Note: Moreover, you can also click 'Edit' to delete or add contact information freely. Then choose 'De-duplicate' on the top toolbar, select the match type and click 'Merge'. Choose 'Save' to apply your changes.As a result, if you have no idea how to delete duplicates in iTunes media folder or have other problems, you can use iPhone Transfer to solve the problem quickly and easily. Delete duplicate songs in itunes. Wait few seconds to load all your contacts.
If you have a series of Time Machine backups, you could restore your Mac from a time when it still let you empty the Trash. Otherwise, you could completely erase your hard drive or SSD and manually copy the data you want to recover from a backup.
Whichever method you choose, we strongly recommend you use Time Machine to make a new backup of your Mac first. Without a backup, erasing your Mac will result in losing your photos, videos, and other documents.
How do I erase my Mac and restore data from a backup?
- Boot your Mac into Recovery Mode:
- From the menu bar on your Mac, go to > Shut Down.
- Confirm you want to ‘Shut Down’ and wait at least 30 seconds to let it power down.
- Briefly press the power button then immediately press and hold command+R to restart your Mac in Recovery Mode.
- Option 1: Restore your Mac using Time Machine.
- Click ‘Restore from Time Machine Backup.’
- Follow the onscreen prompts to select the backup you want to restore.
- Option 2: Completely erase your hard drive or SSD.
- Click ‘Disk Utility’ from the macOS Utilities window.
- Select your Mac’s hard disk or SSD in the sidebar.
- Click Erase and choose a name, format, and scheme.
- Confirm you want to ‘Erase’ your disk.
- Back in the Utilities window, click ‘Install macOS.’
- Follow the onscreen prompts and wait for the installation to complete.
- Set up your Mac and manually recover data from a backup.
- Click ‘Disk Utility’ from the macOS Utilities window.
Let us know in the comments if you found this guide helpful. Or let us know if you still can’t empty the Trash on your Mac, hopefully we can work out what’s going wrong together.
Dan is a freelance writer based in South West England.
He spent two years supervising repairs as a Genius Admin for Apple Retail and uses that knowledge to keep our troubleshooting guides up to date.
Cant Move An App To Trash Can Mac Computer
Long before that, Dan turned to Apple products from a musical background. Having owned iPods for years, he bought a MacBook to learn sound recording and production. It was using those skills that he gained a first-class Bachelor of Science in Sound Technology.