Where is Trash Bin on Mac
Last Updated on November 1, 2023 by Jason Ben
Originally the Trash bin is on the right of the dock where you won’t miss it. It looks like this:
It is an icon look like a garbage can. You will find it. It might vary between versions of macOS, so open your eyes and stare on the screen.
To view trash on mac, you need to open Trash on Finder, you can click Go on the top menu bar and then Go to Folder. On the Go to Folder window, enter ~/.Trash and press Return. That is it.
What if you just can’t find the Trash Bin icon? Well substantially the Trash Bin can not be removed from the dock. But if it indeed vanishes from the dock, you can restore it easily. Below are some methods that may help you restore your Trash Bin; you can try them out one by one until you fix it back.

Step 1. Open Terminal.
Step 2. Enter rm ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist, and press Enter.
Step 3. Log out of your account and log in afterward.
Method 3. Add Trash Bin folder to Desktop
By this means, we will lead you to create a shortcut link on the desktop.
Step 1. Open Terminal.
Step 2. Type in ln -s ~/.Trash ~/Desktop/Trash, and press Enter.
Step 3. There is a new folder named Trash on your desktop, you can open Trash Bin by opening it, and you can also delete files by dragging them into the folder.
Note: The folder emerges as a normal folder since it was just assigned with a normal icon layout. You can open the Get Info box and drag a new Trash icon onto the current folder icon.
Method 4. Add Trash Bin Folder to the Finder Sidebar List
Step 1. Set finder window view to column view - the third one with 3 columns.
Step 2. Click Go on the top menu bar and then Go to Folder. On the Go to Folder prompt, enter ~/.Trash and press Return. Finder windows of the Trash path will appear with the Trash folder selected.
Step 3. Go to File -> Add to Sidebar menu item or simple press Command + T. you will have the Trash folder listed in the Finder Sidebar menu list. To designate a new icon to the Trash folder, you can open the folder Get Info box and drag an icon to the current Trash icon.
How to Empty Trash Bin on macOS
When moving a file to trash, you are not deleting the file on your Mac, you just mark the file as trash on your macOS, which means you can still restore the file from the trash, just like you get things back for a real trash can. To truly delete files on Trash, you should empty your trash, click and hold, or right-click on the trashcan icon and click on Empty Trash. Then all the files in the Trash will be removed from your mac.
How to Restore files from Trash on Mac
If the files are still in the Trash folder you just need to drag the file out of the bin directly. If the file is deleted permanently you will need to utilize Time Machine to recover files that were deleted.
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How to Recover deleted items in Mac Trash Bin
If you delete an item in the Trash folder, you can’t undo the deletion. Applying a third-party recovery tool will be the only choice. What I want to introduce to you is Mac Data Recovery.
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FAQs
- Right-click on the recycle bin icon
- Then select "Show more" options from the menu. Click the "Pin to taskbar" in the following menu.