Trash Won't Empty on Mac? The Fixes Ranked by How Many Guides Agree (2026)
Which Trash fixes do the sources agree on?
Macworld, iBoysoft and Setapp all list quitting the app, restarting, Safe Mode, unlocking, permissions, Disk Utility First Aid and Terminal; we could not open an Apple page with Trash troubleshooting.
| Fix | Macworld (2018) | iBoysoft (Oct 2026) | Setapp (Sep 2026) | Apple Community (2024) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quit the app using the file | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Restart the Mac | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Safe Mode | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Unlock in Get Info | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Permissions to Read and Write | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Disk Utility First Aid | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Terminal sudo rm -R | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Option-key force empty | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Option, Command, Delete to bypass Trash | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Relaunch Finder, check iCloud and Spotlight | No | No | No | Yes |
Fixes that appear in only one source: Macworld's lsof command to find the process holding a file; iBoysoft's advice to uninstall recently installed apps; Setapp's advice to free disk space; and the Apple Community thread's suggestions to check the iCloud transfer, check Spotlight indexing and relaunch Finder. Macworld's article is from 2018, so its menu names may be out of date.
What should you try first?
Start with the harmless fixes: quit the app holding the file, restart the Mac, then try Safe Mode, because each takes minutes and none risks deleting anything outside the Trash.
Quit the app you think is using the file. If unsure, press Command, Option, Esc, choose apps to Force Quit, then empty the Trash again.
Restart the Mac and try again.
Safe Mode on an Intel Mac: restart holding Shift and release at the login window. On Apple silicon, iBoysoft and Setapp say shut down, hold the power button until startup options appear, select your startup disk, hold Shift and click Continue in Safe Mode.
In Safe Mode, empty the Trash, then restart normally.
How do you fix locked files and permission errors?
In Trash, select the item, press Command-I, clear Locked under General, and if that fails open Sharing and Permissions, unlock with your admin password and set your account to Read and Write.
Three guides give this order. Macworld advises against changing privileges on system files, so do not apply it to anything outside your own folders. These steps change one item at a time and do not delete anything else.
What if the Trash still will not empty?
Hold Option while choosing Empty Trash, run First Aid on the disk in Disk Utility, and for external drives remember that ejecting before emptying leaves the files on the drive.
iBoysoft and Setapp say to hold Option and choose Empty from the Trash window or the Dock icon. For Disk Utility, Setapp says to choose View, Show All Devices and run First Aid on each volume, then each container, then the disk. The Apple Community answer suggests confirming any iCloud transfer has finished, checking that Spotlight is not indexing, and relaunching Finder through Command, Option, Esc. It also names a third-party app, What's Keeping Me, which we have not vetted.
To see which process holds a file, Macworld says to open Terminal, type lsof and a space, drag the file from the Trash into the window and press Return.
Is the Terminal command safe?
The sudo rm -R method deletes permanently and skips Trash safety checks; iBoysoft and Setapp warn about it, Macworld lists it without a warning, so use it last, after a backup, with the path checked.
The guides describe typing sudo rm -R followed by a space, not pressing Return, dragging the items from the Trash into the Terminal window, then pressing Return and entering your admin password. iBoysoft cautions that files other than the Trash items may be removed if you press Return too early. Before pressing Return, check that every pasted path begins with your Trash folder; that check is our advice, not from the guides. One search result suggested disabling System Integrity Protection; we did not open it and do not recommend that.
Which fix should you pick?
Match the fix to the message: in use points to quitting apps or Finder, locked to Get Info, and permission errors to Sharing and Permissions, while repeated failures point to Disk Utility First Aid.
In use: quit the app, restart, Safe Mode.
Locked: Get Info, clear Locked.
Permission error: Get Info, Sharing and Permissions, Read and Write.
Stuck on an iCloud item: wait for the transfer, then relaunch Finder.
Nothing works: Disk Utility First Aid, then Terminal as a last resort.
FAQs
Why does the Mac say the item is in use?
Macworld says an app still has the file open; quit that app or all open apps, or restart, then empty the Trash again.
Will Option-click Empty Trash delete more than the Trash?
iBoysoft and Setapp describe it as a force empty of Trash items only; it still deletes them permanently.
Do deleted Trash files go anywhere?
No. Macworld notes the empty prompt says the action cannot be undone, and Setapp says both force-delete methods delete items permanently.
Why will an item on an external drive not empty?
Macworld says ejecting an external drive before emptying its Trash leaves the files on the drive, and some network volumes have no Trash.
Related guides
Mac storage full: the complete guide: after the Trash empties, find the next biggest space user.
Time Machine local snapshots on Mac: space that stays used after deleting files.
How we checked this guide
We opened the pages below on November 14, 2026 through an automated page fetch and compared their fixes. We did not test the fixes on a Mac. Limits: Macworld's article is from 2018, Setapp and iBoysoft promote their own tools, two Apple Support URLs we tried did not contain Trash steps, and one university page redirected and was not read.
References
Macworld, How to empty trash on a Mac, August 15, 2018. Accessed November 14, 2026.
iBoysoft, Mac Trash won't empty, updated October 20, 2026. Accessed November 14, 2026.
Setapp, Why Mac Trash won't empty, updated September 14, 2026. Accessed November 14, 2026.
Apple Community, Can't delete files in the trash as it says they are in use, November 30, 2024. Accessed November 14, 2026.
