A Finder window opens showing the contents of your Trash. If you are unsure of the application that has the file 'in use,' the Terminal command lsof can tell you the name of the process or application that Mac OS X considers to be using the file, as follows:.This will usually permit you to then move the file to the Trash or to empty the Trash. Quit the application that is using the file.Use one or more of the following methods if you receive a message indicating that a file can neither be moved to the Trash, nor emptied from the Trash, because it is 'in use' by another application. Empty and recreate the affected account's Trash.Unlock the file using the procedure in “Moving locked files to the Trash.” Then empty the Trash.Use one of the recommended Trash utilities.Try one or more of the following methods to delete locked files in the Trash: Close (Command-W) the Info window for the file.

This means that you cannot unlock the file until its system immutable flag is disabled: see our 'Immutable flags' FAQ. Note: If the checkbox immediately returns to the selected (checked) state, then this indicates that the file's system immutable flag has been enabled.The check mark will disappear, indicating the file is now unlocked. In the General panel of the file's Info window, deselect the Locked checkbox.

Control-clicking the file’s icon in Finder and selecting Get Info from the file’s context menu.

Selecting the file’s icon in Finder and pressing the Command-I keyboard combination.

Open the Info window for the file by either:.

Use the following procedure to unlock a file: Under Mac OS X 10.5 and later, the lock badge only appears if Show icon preview is deselected in the View Options (View > Show View Options) of the Finder® window containing the locked file.

Locked files display a lock badge in the lower-left corner of their icons. Mac OS X 10.2 - 10.4 prevent moving locked files to the Trash Mac OS X 10.5 and later permit locked files to be moved to the Trash. Resolving common Trash problems Moving locked files to the Trash The remaining steps result in recreating the affected account's Trash, with proper ownership and permissions. Steps 1-6 remove all files in the affected account's Trash as well as deleting the hidden and invisible ~/.Trash directory for that account. Release the keys pressed and held in step 2.Select Empty Trash from the context menu for Trash.Press and hold the Option key or the Shift-Option keyboard combination,.Press and hold the mouse button on the Trash icon in the Dock.Perform the following steps in the order specified: This technique uses a hidden feature of Mac OS X to force the Trash to empty. Force the Trash to empty using the Option key Note: Be sure to employ a version of the utility that is compatible with the version of Mac OS X you are using. Using one of these utilities is often the fastest way to Trash recalcitrant files. You may want to download and install the freeware utility Trash It! or the shareware utility Cocktail. Techniques for solving Trash problems Trash utilities for eradicating troublesome files In reality, Trash is displaying a list that is the union of the contents of all of the individual Trash folders associated with your account, on all writable volumes. When you open Trash to view its contents, it appears that all of the objects you have trashed are in a single Trash folder.Trashes at the root (top) level of the volume, which in turn contains an invisible Trash folder for each user. If you have secondary hard drives or other writable volumes connected to your Mac, each contains an invisible Trash folder named.Because each user's Trash is private, viewing the contents of the Trash shows only objects that you have placed into the Trash.The UNIX® directory path for this folder when logged in to your account is ~/.Trash. Each user has their own private, hidden, and invisible Trash folder, located in their Home folder.Mac OS X introduced a new architecture for Trash: Files dragged to the Trash 'will be deleted immediately' alert.Incomplete Internet downloads under Mac OS X 10.2.Insufficient privileges needed to Trash an object.Resolving common Trash problems: solutions for the following common Trash problems:.Force the Trash to empty using the Option key.Trash utilities for eradicating troublesome files.Techniques for solving Trash problems: common approaches to a variety of Trash problems, including:.About the Trash in Mac OS X: a brief overview of the Trash architecture.This FAQ, derived from our book Troubleshooting Mac OS X, covers the following Trash-related topics: A variety of issues can result in making it difficult or impossible to either move files to, or empty, the Trash in Mac® OS X.

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