r/osx • u/Thoughtful_Turtle • 3d ago

Temporarily deleted trash

Hi, I've had this problem for a couple of days. There are three folders in my trash that I can't delete. I mean, I can delete them, but they come back within a couple of minutes. They all have an iCloud icon next to them. I also for some reason can't put the folders back, there's only a "Download Now" button.

I've read some stuff about Google Drive sync but I don't know what it means. I don't have the Google Drive application on my laptop, only on Chrome. Is there any fix to this? I want to delete my trash permanently. Thanks!

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u/TigerKR 2d ago

Save and close all open documents. Quit all open apps.

Run a Time Machine Backup ("Backup Now"). Wait for that to complete.

With the Finder as the frontmost application (it should say "Finder" next to the apple logo at the top of your screen:

• Click on "Go" -> "Utilities"

• Open the "Terminal.app"

Copy and paste (do not type - typos are bad) this command into the terminal window:

rm -fr ~/.Trash/* && rm -fr ~/Library/Caches/*

Then press the return key on your keyboard.

Wait for the commands to complete. It may take a few minutes.

Then immediately restart your computer.

I hope that this helps.