How to delete files form trash individually

[My left foot]

How to delete an item in trash

Very simple. Open trash, highlight what you want deleted and press
Command and Delete.

 

[IvanLasston]

Cmd-Delete from the trash actually restores the file to its original location.

I use terminal - plus terminal can get rid of files that empty trash has trouble with.

 

[vank66]

If you use Yahoo for your mail, there is a way, just use "move" option ,move it back to inbox and then delete it.

 

[wertyuio]

Very simple. Open trash, highlight what you want deleted and press
Command and Delete.

'My left foot'.... you gave the best answer, Man....

Just saved the day....

 

[toMACsh]

Very simple. Open trash, highlight what you want deleted and press
Command and Delete.

I know this is old, but.... What version of the OS does that? I'm using Leopard, and that does nothing.

 

[ljk]

Trash could use some improvements in Mac

Maybe someone has a concrete answer for you, but I'm curious about something. Not trying to nitpick...

Is there a reason there are things in your trash that you don't want deleted? If you are looking to keep them, maybe restore them to their location and delete them later?

Not trying to nitpick your style or how you do things. Whatever works for you...

I would have to agree.
The Trash is not someplace to store things or a place to keep things "in limbo" while you decide what to do with them. The only time you should put something in Trash is if you want to delete it and are ready to empty the Trash right afterwards.

Trash is trash. If you don't want to throw something out, archive it somewhere and dispose of it later.

Alternatively, you could always write an app that sort of decays or eats your trash over time. I don't get why you'd want to do that, but you can. You could also write what amounts to a trash picker so you could zap individual files that are in the trash.

If every item that was moved to the trash was something that people were sure that they wanted deleted, why have a trash in the first place?

The trash is there at least partly to act as a 'safeguard storage' in case, for example, someone changes their mind.

Many people use the trash for things that, at the time of deletion, they think they probably don't want (perhaps to the degree that the file(s) may seem to act as unnecessary clutter in their usual non-trash location(s) at the time) but which they aren't entirely certain that they will never need again. Sometimes, due to time restrictions, habits or methods, or something else, people use the trash as a temporary 'to confirm soon/later or when necessary' bin.

I never end up re-using probably >97% or so of the files that I move to the trash, but occasionally there has been an instance of re-usage.

Then again, I didn't realize until recently that trash data could get overridden when disk space is tight, and if that's true, I suppose that is a reason to be more wary of trash usage in that particular situation.

As for the original question, what I usually do to delete only particular file(s) in Mac OS is to move everything else in the trash to a temporary non-trash location, and then delete the relevant particular file(s).

 

[toMACsh]

Many people use the trash for things that, at the time of deletion, they think they probably don't want (perhaps to the degree that the file(s) may seem to act as unnecessary clutter in their usual non-trash location(s) at the time) but which they aren't entirely certain that they will never need again. Sometimes, due to time restrictions, habits or methods, or something else, people use the trash as a temporary 'to confirm soon/later or when necessary' bin.

That's why some people have suggested (probably in posts or portions of posts above that you did not quote) to create a "Trash?" folder to use in that way. Then only things you decide are no longer needed go into the actual Trash. That's a way of adapting what you want to do to the way Apple has chosen to set it up.

 

[ShanMacFallow]

Here's How [May Require Password]

There are numerous reasons someone might want to delete a single/specific item from the Trash without deleting all.

[Shared computer / don't want to delete someone else's documents, to make room in Trash if disc space is an issue, to delete items of a personal nature...]

Here's one way to do it:

Create a folder on your desktop (or a location you can find).
Drag everything from the trash you *don't* want to delete into that folder.
**NOTE: You may be prompted to enter computer's password to do this.**
Empty Trash to delete item(s) you *do* want removed.
Drag everything else from folder you created back to Trash (also Trash new folder).
**NOTE: You may be prompted to enter computer's password to do this (again).**


It is problematic if you don't have computer's password, apologies.

I'm not an expert on data recovery. If there is an *actual expert* who can speak to how easy/difficult it is to recover items deleted from trash (and who feels like taking the time to respond), I would be interested.


Best,
S

 

[Slydude]

There are numerous reasons someone might want to delete a single/specific item from the Trash without deleting all.

[Shared computer / don't want to delete someone else's documents, to make room in Trash if disc space is an issue, to delete items of a personal nature...]

I don't think this is true. Unless I am very much mistaken deleting files from the trash only affects the files for that user. One user does not under normal circumstances have the appropriate permissions to delete another users files.

The only situation I can think of where this would hold true would mean that at least two things are true:

1. The files are stored somewhere other than in a users "home" directory
2. The user deleting the files must have write access.

 

[toMACsh]

I don't think this is true. Unless I am very much mistaken deleting files from the trash only affects the files for that user. One user does not under normal circumstances have the appropriate permissions to delete another users files.

The only situation I can think of where this would hold true would mean that at least two things are true:

1. The files are stored somewhere other than in a users "home" directory
2. The user deleting the files must have write access.

You're assuming that the second user has his/her own account. The scenario painted above is silent on that issue. We've had a family Mac for years and never had separate accounts. I'm not even sure that was available in OS7, 8, or 9.

 

[ShanMacFallow]

@Slydude
@toMACsh

I should have specified single account ("family Mac") scenario.


Best,
S

 

[Slydude]

@toMACsh You are tight. That had not occurred to me. I've been running with two accounts for so long I forget that not everyone works that way. I think the multi - user account setup was introduced with OS 9 but I never used it.

In the OP's scenario that is a perfectly valid reason to be selective about what gets deleted from the trash.

 

[toMACsh]

@toMACsh You are tight.

Others have called me generous.