How to Automatically Empty the Trash on Mac (and Why It’s Ok)
Like most people, if you own a basic MacBook with 128GB of storage, freeing up space on your Mac is probably a regular feature on your calendar. And if you’re pretty good at deleting junk files from your Mac just to leave them in the Trash folder, that folder will inevitably take up two-digit gigabytes on your computer. Fortunately, you can simply automate this process, and you should probably do it.
Your Mac’s Trash can automatically empty
The Spam folder in Gmail is emptied every 30 days, just like the Trash folder on the Mac. This feature is not entirely obvious, and it is disabled by default – after all, people tend to fear accidentally losing access to important files – but think about how many times you actually needed to restore something from the Recycle Bin. It’s rare enough for most of us that security measures aren’t needed and our storage is a bigger issue. (Many people have a habit of manually emptying their Trash folder anyway without genuinely looking at what’s being deleted, so if you are that kind of person, you might just save that extra step.)
Before enabling this feature, be aware that it is difficult to recover files deleted from the Trash folder. If you frequently delete important files and lose them, you shouldn’t automatically delete files from the Trash folder on your Mac. You should also consider using a backup service like Backblaze or Apple’s own Time Machine. Otherwise, make your life a little easier.
How to automatically delete files from the Trash on Mac
To use Time Machine, you can connect your external hard drive to your Mac and go to System Preferences> Time Machine to start setting up. Ideally, you should set up automatic Time Machine backups on a daily basis to avoid data loss.
If you are confident that you are not at risk of losing important files, turn on automatic deletion of files in the Trash folder on your Mac. To do this, open Finder and use the Command + keyboard shortcut to open Preferences. Alternatively, you can go to the menu bar at the top of the screen and select Finder> Preferences .
In Finder preferences, select the Advanced tab and select the Remove items from trash after 30 days check box. Your Mac will automatically delete files from the Trash folder if they are more than a month old. And if you want to get the most out of the Finder on Mac, check out these helpful tips for setting it up .