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silversalmon

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 20, 2007
27
0
I'm trying to locate the location of .trash folder in the hard drive directory. I'm hoping to be able to find a trash folder in the directory so that I can direct downloads from e-mails, Safari, and Firefox to go into the trash automatically after viewing the files, instead of ending up on the desktop. Is there any way that can be done?
 
Ok, I followed the directory path you suggested, went into the your username directory and could not find a folder called .trash. There were other folders there, such as Desktop, Music, Sites, etc. but no sign of .trash. I've used Spotlight and Finder and keep getting the folder called .trash, but no information about where exactly it is located. I would like to simply direct all e-mail attachment, video, etc. downloads to the trash folder so that I can just empty the trash when done viewing rather than having the files end up on the desktop. Is this possible to do? Thanks!
 
Thanks - I'm new to the imac and am not familiar with Terminal or Go to Folder. Will these work when you are trying to set up Safari and Firefox to designate where the downloads should go? From what I have experienced so far, you are using the basic HD directory in Preferences for Safari and Firefox, and I suspect that I won't be able to find or designate the .trash folder as a download location. Any ideas? Thanks again.
 
Whether it is possible to direct files into the trash i have no idea, but once they are in the Trash you cannot open them, so what would be the use?
 
Perhaps you are right - I was thinking that when you download an attached document, video etc from e-mail or view a video from a website that it would open regardless of the folder where the download is directed. I do have a Internet Downloads file I created where the files now download just fine, instead of to the desktop. However, when the file download location was the desktop, the files would open automatically after they were done downloading. With the current setup, the files download but then I have to click Open in the Firefox download window or click on the file icon in the Safari download window to get the files to open. Is there some way of getting the files to open automatically? Thanks!
 
Is the 'open safe files after downloading' option in Safari preferences checked? That can be one problem, however, only certain files open automatically, while others (such as pdf's) do not. Those that don't, i just open them from the download list.
 
I can't check the setting now because I'm at work but I'll take a look this evening. I'm pretty sure I recall seeing that option checked though. Seems kind of strange that the files would open automatically when the download location was the desktop but won't now that the directory location is different. Thanks for the suggestion.
 
Alternatively you can navigate to the trash folder.

it is in your user directory, it is just hidden. So from your user directory,
cd .Trash

Then do rm -r *
followd by rm *

if you are new to terminal, a directory is a folder and the star is a wildcard which selects everything that matches (in this case everything matches cause it is blank). The -r is required to remove recursive (directories).

This way, you don't have to log in and out!
 
Help me

HELP
I typed in the commands you listed at the terminal prompt without navigating to the trash folder (my mistake) , and now I can't see any files on my system using the finder,fix this ????? Example: new files I save from the browser to various folders no longer show up, I don't care about old lost files as I have most things backed up but now being unable to save anything new is a problem.
Alternatively you can navigate to the trash folder.

it is in your user directory, it is just hidden. So from your user directory,
cd .Trash

Then do rm -r *
followd by rm *

if you are new to terminal, a directory is a folder and the star is a wildcard which selects everything that matches (in this case everything matches cause it is blank). The -r is required to remove recursive (directories).

This way, you don't have to log in and out!
 
Last edited:
HELP
I typed in the commands you listed at the terminal prompt without navigating to the trash folder (my mistake) , and now I can't see any files on my system using the finder,fix this ????? Example: new files I save from the browser to various folders no longer show up, I don't care about old lost files as I have most things backed up but now being unable to save anything new is a problem.

If you started Terminal and ran that rm command you have just deleted everything in your users folder. If you have a TM backup, at this point the best thing to do is use it to do a complete restore.
 
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