Can't move anything to trash!

Hi
Don't know if anyone has come across this before but I can't send anything to the trash. If I try to delete anything I get the message "Are you sure you want to delete ... This item will be deleted immediately. You can’t undo this action."
So I either have to leave it there or permanently delete it. The system has stopped me being able to put anything in the trash can.
It's the same with different apps, not just one. And I haven't changed anything recently. No idea why this has started. Help!
John

Most likely it's a permissions screw-up or something similar on your trash folder. Fortunately, there's an easy fix... if you're using an admin account, just go to the Terminal (in /Applications/Utilities/) and paste in the following command:
sudo rm -rf ~/.Trash
*_Do not_* try to re-type that, as one single minor typo can really hose you badly. For example, I recently talked to someone who placed a space after the '~' and therefore ended up destroying their entire user folder.
When you paste that in and hit return, you'll be asked for your account password. Type it (nothing shows up on screen when you do) and hit return again. Then log out and log back in. Everything should be back to normal.
If you're not using an admin account, let us know... there will be a more complex sequence of steps required in that case.

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I can't put anything into trash no permission

I turned on my old mini for the first time in over a year and can't move anything into the trash. First finder asks for a password which I give then trash won't let me. Says "cannot complete because you don't have permission to access some of the items". I went to trash>file>get info and nothing was in the read/write pull down so I pulled down my name which is an administrator, clicked it and got "could not complete an unexpected error occurred. Error message 136". Can anyone explain what the heck is going on?
I also can't figure out how to get my new password into keychain login and save it
thanks

Hi, it sounds like you may have many problems, & it may take awile to work through them, but the new Forum SW doesn't make it easy.
Could be many things, we should start with this...
"Try Disk Utility
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu at top of the screen. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
*Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.*
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Select your Mac OS X volume.
5. Click Repair Disk, (not Repair Permissions). Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Then try a Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot when it completes.
(Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive.)
If perchance you can't find your install Disc, at least try it from the Safe Boot part onward.
On that error... Error message 136, could it have been -36?
Well, in pure Apple File System talk... -36 ioErr I/O error (bummers)
Not very helpful, but generally means a Drive quit being Readable or Writable since starting the operation, which is not a good sign... do you have a current Backup?

I can't put anything in Trash, error code -36

Everytime I try to move anything into Trash this message appears:
The Finder can’t complete the operation because some data in “xyz” can’t be read or written.
(Error code -36)
I cannot move anything to trash or delete anything, doesn't matter if its a word document, .jpg image or a pdf preview nothing will go. I tried to look up error code -36 but it said something about a Windows server and to check the Console screen for a certain message but theres no record of the error on there.
Please help!

Problems such as yours are sometimes caused by files that should belong to you but are locked or have a wrong owner. This procedure will check for such files. It makes no changes and therefore will not, in itself, solve your problem.
Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ If you’re running Mac OS X 10.7 or later, open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the page that opens.
Drag or copy — do not type — all of the next line into the Terminal window, then press return:
find . $TMPDIR.. -flags +sappnd,schg,uappnd,uchg -o ! -user $UID
The command may take a noticeable amount of time to run. Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign (“$”) to appear.
Post any lines of output that appear below what you entered — the text, please, not a screenshot.
If any personal information appears in the output, edit before posting, but don’t remove the context.

Suddenly I can't move files to trash, whe I try to drag them to it there is a cirle with a diagonal line across. HELP!

Suddenly I can't move files to trash, whe I try to drag them to it there is a cirle with a diagonal line across. HELP!

Back up all data. Don't continue unless you're sure you can restore from a backup, even if you're unable to log in.
This procedure will unlock all your user files (not system files) and reset their ownership and access-control lists to the default. If you've set special values for those attributes on any of your files, they will be reverted. In that case, either stop here, or be prepared to recreate the settings if necessary. Do so only after verifying that those settings didn't cause the problem. If none of this is meaningful to you, you don't need to worry about it.
Step 1
If you have more than one user account, and the one in question is not an administrator account, then temporarily promote it to administrator status in the Users & Groups preference pane. To do that, unlock the preference pane using the credentials of an administrator, check the box marked Allow user to administer this computer, then reboot. You can demote the problem account back to standard status when this step has been completed.
Triple-click the following line on this page to select it. Copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C):
{ sudo chflags -R nouchg,nouappnd ~ $TMPDIR.. ; sudo chown -R $UID:staff ~ $_ ; sudo chmod -R u+rwX ~ $_ ; chmod -R -N ~ $_ ; } 2> /dev/null
Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Paste into the Terminal window (command-V). You'll be prompted for your login password. Nothing will be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning to be careful. If you don’t have a login password, you’ll need to set one before you can run the command. If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator.
The command will take a noticeable amount of time to run. Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign (“$”) to appear, then quit Terminal.
Step 2 (optional)
Take this step only if you have trouble with Step 1 or if it doesn't solve the problem.
Boot into Recovery. When the OS X Utilities screen appears, select
Utilities ▹ Terminal
from the menu bar. A Terminal window will open.
In the Terminal window, type this:
res
Press the tab key. The partial command you typed will automatically be completed to this:
resetpassword
Press return. A Reset Password window will open. You’re not going to reset a password.
Select your boot volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name) if not already selected.
Select your username from the menu labeled Select the user account if not already selected.
Under Reset Home Directory Permissions and ACLs, click the Reset button.
Select
 ▹ Restart
from the menu bar.

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Can't keep anything in trash--finder wants to delete immediately.

See this:
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/trash.html#Anchor-Files-46919

I can't move emails to trash...I read comments

I can't move emails to trash...instructions on support say go to "advanced"--my ipad doesn't have any advanced on it?

Where are you looking for it ? If you go into Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars and select the email account on the right-hand side of that screen, and then tap the Account line (with your email account name and an arrow to the right of it) at the top of the that screen. Then tap Advanced at the bottom of the next screen, then Deleted Mailbox, and under On The Server tap the 'Trash' folder so that it gets a tick against it - then come out of that series of popups by tapping on the relevant buttons at the top of them and then see if you can delete emails.

Can't move files into trash by drag and drop

with the latest update 10.8.5 I can't move files by drag and drop into the trash on my dock anymore. the files sticks to the cursor.
anyone expierencing the same issue?

Hi Joe,
Welcome to the Support Communities!
Does this issue persist after you restart your computer? The following article will provide some additional troubleshooting steps:
You can't empty the Trash or move a file to the Trash
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1526
Cheers,
- Judy

Can't move anything on desktop or finder etc.

Problem: I can't move files from desktop to finder window. Can't rearrange items in finder window. Can move items to trash using keyboard but not trackball. Can't remove icons from dock; and can't change desktop picture. When I try to change desktop picture, the new picture shows up on the little screen; but the desktop picture does not change. I thought it might be something wrong with the trackball, but I can open applications, connect to internet etc.

Hi Sue, if you can navigate in Finder do this:
navigate to yourhome/library/preferences and trash these two files:
com.apple.finder.plist
com.apple.sidebarlists.plist (if this exists in 10.2 - not sure)
(You will have to reset a few finder prefs the way you like them.)
Then log out and back in again. Or restart.
Good luck, let us know.

[SOLVED] Can't move files to trash in my ext-4 partition

Hi,
I know that it must have a silly solution but I cannot make it work. I've searched in the forum but I haven't found exactly the same issue.
My HDD has an ext-4 partition for /, a swap partition and another ext-4 partition called "Archivos" for my files (not home, home is just as a folder in / ).
I can make files and folders in the Archivos partition but when I try to move them to the trash in pcmanfm it says that files can't be moved to trash and if do I want to erase them instead.
At boot time the Archivos partition is mounted in fstab with these options:
UUID=bb8eb4ea-5b9c-4275-bad3-f64bcf581e1d /run/media/vane/Archivos ext4 rw,relatime 0 2
I've tried to add uid=1000 (my user id) after rw,relatime but I get a message at booting that says "uid=1000 option is not recognized" and stops booting.
What can I do in order to get the trash can work in the Archivos ext-4 partition?
Last edited by josealb77 (2015-06-03 11:08:18)

bpont wrote:I found this (old) thread because I was having a similar problem, but with a btrfs partition. I followed Foucault's advice on post #4, but it didn't work initially. Then I went into the options for PCManFM and unchecked the "Erase files on removable media instead of trash can creation" and that did the trick. If the same solution works for you, consider marking this thread as solved.
Maaaaaaannnn (or woman, I don't know ), hahaha! What a silly solution!!! And I got it right first time. I can't believe that this could have a solution as easy as this one. In fact this should not impress me too much since the first sentence I wrote in this thread was "I know that it must have a silly solution but..." hahaha.
Since it's not the computer I use to use I already forgot about this after such a long time. Just tried and worked perfectly.
Thaaaaaaank you bpont!!! [SOLVED]
Last edited by josealb77 (2015-06-03 11:11:34)

Can't Move email to Trash since 10.6.3 update

I can't delete SOME of my emails in mail.app since I upgraded to 10.6.3. When I try to delete the email a copy of it gets moved to trash, and a copy of it stays in my inbox with an error message that says " The message 'xxxxx' could not be moved to mailbox "Trash - Gmail". The operation could not be completed. The file exists. I am using Google Gmail as my email in mail.app. I have rebooted from the 10.6 DVD and repaired disk/permissions. I have also rebuilt my mailboxes with Onyx. Any other suggestions? My inbox is quickly filling up since I can't delete anything...
Thanks -

I clicked on the Trash-Gmail, and inbox folder, selected mailbox --> rebuild. This fixed the issue and I can now delete my messages. I found it at mac fix it.
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-10452910-263.html

Aperture can't move files to trash

My photos are on networked external hard drive, and I have the folder on the drive mounted. However, when I try to delete a photo from this drive within Aperture, I get a message saying "Cannot Move Files to Trash" "You don't have access to the Trash on the master files' volume."
But if I go to that file via finder, I have no trouble deleting it. And getting the info for that volume shows I have read/write privileges.
Any suggestions on how Aperture can gain access to the trash on this volume?
Thanks,
Rod
20" iMac intel & 15" Powerbook & Windows XP Mac OS X (10.4.6)

It doesn't sound like it's an issue with the files themselves, but rather with the trash.
I haven't seen it, but I can see how that could occur. Each volume tends to have its own Trash folder. It's hidden, typically called .Trashes and at the root of the hard drive. I have had Trash-related issues outside of Aperture in the past (likely of my own doing). The issue with problems like these it it's nigh impossible to establish cause and effect… you could do something and not notice the problem for days or even weeks, in a completely un-related way.
I doubt that "Repair Permissions" is responsible for the fix, unless the files were on your boot volume. RP has no effect outside of a boot volume.

I can't move files to trash

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Click once on the hard drive icon - top right - and type command + i (both keys together).
This is the bottom half of what you will see:
1. Click the padlock and authenticate with your password.
2. Your Name should have the Privilege to Read and Write. If it does not click on whatever is there, and change it.
3. Click on the gear wheel and select "Apply to enclosed items".
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http://thexlab.com/faqs/trash.html

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Hi there,
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You will need to find original photo in your library and delete this. It will then delete the photo in library as well as the copy in any album. When sure, you should be able to empty trash...
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OT

Can't move anything to trash!

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