Resolved How to bulk restore (Put Back) many items from Trash

[ajmichmac]

Mojave 10.14.6

In the Trash, how does one "Put Back" many files at once?

Upon selecting a large number of files in Trash, often the Put Back command is missing or dimmed and cannot be selected. What causes this, and can the offending files/folders be identified and removed somehow?

If macOS cannot do it, is there a utility that can? I tried Prosoft Data Rescue 5 (trial) in deep scan mode, but it does not find any files in trash.

I do not have a Time Machine backup from before the files were trashed.

I know they are still there in their original locations, with a special bit or attribute (?) set to mark them for future removal. Is it possible for a utility to set the bit or attribute in BULK (not one at a time)...? Barring that, could a simple key press macro automate the chore? So many freakin' questions, I know. I did search for this issue but it doesn't seem to have an update or solution.

 

[Gregg2]

Often, but not always? Could it be that it is dimmed when you have selected at least one file that was not in the same folder as all the others? (I've experienced similar things using AutoCad commands within a file.)

 

[ajmichmac]

Thanks, and yes that could be the case... but how to tell where a given file was located, if it is not obvious by the file name? Might there be a way to SHOW the originating path of each file in the Trash folder listing, so at least they could be selected in a group based on their origin?

 

[ajmichmac]

Solution: Used 'Automator' utility to create a brief script that "Put Back" the accidentally deleted files, one by one. It worked OK, but slow (5 seconds per file, I had hundreds of files). The script crapped out every 25 files or so, not sure why. But is much easier and faster than manually restoring each file. Message me if you want a copy of the .workflow file [see screen grab] created by Automator (very simple script, tho could use some tweaking IE bypass errors that interrupt the macro).