Normally, deleting a file on macOS is a simple affair. You drag it to the Trash or right-click and Move to Trash. Of course, sometimes things can go awry. For example, you may run into an error message that this “The operation can’t be completed because the item (name) is in use.” You can run into this error when sending a file to the Trash, or when attempting to Empty the Trash.
It’s a good idea to clean up your Mac from time to time by getting rid of files you no longer need. In Mac OS X Snow Leopard, the familiar Macintosh Trashcan, to the right of the Dock, is where you put files pending permanent removal. In fact, it’s now a spiffy-looking wire can instead of the old clunker that the Mac faithful remember. There are a lot of advanced commands for other use cases, like deleting files of a certain type (like temp or backup files), finding and deleting files with the desired filename pattern, etc. Tags #Macos #Terminal.
In the latter case, macOS does allow users to delete everything in the Trash beside that file. But that still leaves you with the annoying item sitting in the bin.
If you’ve been hit with that error message, here are a couple of things you can try to get rid of that pesky and stubborn file.
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How to delete a file on macOS that’s “in use”
Before you do anything else, you should try a couple of things. These are, by far, the easiest fixes for the problem.
In addition, here are a couple more in-depth methods for identifying and dealing with stubborn files from the Trash (or those that won’t move to the trash).
Using the Terminal to locate the “in-use” app and the corresponding file
If you’re comfortable using the macOS Terminal, there is a command you can try that will identify which app is using the specific file.
From here, you can simply pinpoint and close the app that’s currently using the file.
If the file is being used by a background process, open Activity Monitor. Find the process in the list and click the X icon to terminate it.
Delete Immediately feature on MacBook
In OS X El Capitan and later, Apple has also Delete Immediately. It’s a scorched-earth solution and there’s no going back, but it could come in handy for those extremely stubborn files in your Trash.
Delete Immediately is only accessible within the Trash app. So open it and select the files you’d like to delete. Control-click those files and select Delete Immediately. Confirm and those files should be gone.
Nothing worked. What now?Deleting Files In Macos For Goods
There may be those rare occasions in which the above steps simply don’t work. If that’s the case for you, there may be an underlying issue on your disk.
In these worst-case scenarios, Apple itself recommends booting up your Mac in macOS Recovery mode and using Disk Utility to repair the troublesome drive.
Sep 19, 2017 Apple today released Safari 11.0 for macOS Sierra and OS X El Capitan. The update adds new media-related features, plus improvements to privacy, compatibility, and security. Notably, in Safari. Mar 31, 2020 So, I downloaded the El Capitan installer from the App Store and reinstalled. And, now, Safari works again, but it's still at version 9.10.2 and the App Store still thinks that it updated Safari to 11.1.2. So, at least I now have a working version of Safari, but it would be nice to be able to update it to the latest version. Download Safari 10.1.2 (El Capitan) for Mac from FileHorse. 100% Safe and Secure Fastest web browser for Mac from Apple. El capitan download. The most relevant program for Safari latest version for el capitan free download is Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan. Get a free download for Operating systems software in the specialized download selection. Oct 04, 2017 I recently upgraded from 10.10 Yosemite to 10.11 El Capitan. I'm now on 10.11.6 and have installed all available updates in the app store. However, my Safari version is still 9.1.3. Safari 10 and 11 are compatible with El Capitan - but the app store doesn't push them to me, and I can't find a direct download link after alot of searching around.
If you suspect there’s a deeper problem with your Mac causing file-trash stubbornness, we recommend taking it to your local Genius Bar or an Apple Authorized Service Provider.
Locked files & insufficient privileges
In addition to files being used by apps or processes, there are a couple of other things that could prevent you from deleting a file. Here’s a quick overview.
Macos File Associations
We hope that you were able to use the tips in this article to locate the offending file and were able to tackle it. Please let us know if you have any questions using the comments below.
Mike is a freelance journalist from San Diego, California.
While he primarily covers Apple and consumer technology, he has past experience writing about public safety, local government, and education for a variety of publications.
Deleting Files In Macos For Good Computer
He’s worn quite a few hats in the journalism field, including writer, editor, and news designer.
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