Trash – Wade Tregaskis

Workaround for a macOS bin that refuses to empty

August 31, 2026 by

Screenshot of a macOS error dialog, from the Finder, that says ""Bin" can't be opened right now because it's being used by another task, such as moving or copying an item or emptying the Bin. Try again when the current task is complete.".

Sometimes when I tell macOS to empty the bin (“trash” if you’re United Statesian) it refuses with a baffling error message: I have no idea what causes this. One solution is to restart the affected Mac – but that’s obviously very disruptive. Another solution is to open the bin in the Finder (which works just… Read more