Where is the Recycle Bin?

Where is the Recycle Bin?

Over time you'll create document files you no longer need. The following activity will lead you through creating a file you can then delete (or get rid of). On Windows PCs you dragged it icons of files and folders you didn't need onto the icon of the Recycle Bin. Here's how to do the equivalent on the Macintosh.

Note that this lesson builds on earlier lessons or knowledge you may have. If you need a refresher I provide links to help with some of these lessons. Clicking on these links will cause another browser window to open. Read through / practice that and then close that window and you'll be back here.

Activity 1: Creating a delete-able file

1) Open a program which you can use to create a file.

Use the SimpleText program (click here if you don't know how to do that).

2) Within that program, create a file and type a few words in a document window. Then save that document to the desktop. (Click here if you're not sure how to save a document to the desktop.

3) Quit that program (under the File menu). Then go to the desktop in order to see the icon of your document. Move on to Activity 2 and / or 3.

Activity 2: Deleting a file, Method 1: Using the Mouse

1) Arrange or close any open windows so that you can see all of the desktop.

2) Using the mouse, move the point of the arrow within the picture part of the document icon you just created.

3) Press and drag the icon of the document directly over the icon of the Trash. Then release the mouse button: the icon of the document will go into the Trash. (This is called a Drag and Drop. Click here for a bit more on drag and drop.) This file is now in the Trash.

4) Moving a file into the trash doesn't actually delete it. Like with Windows, the Trash is a holding area until and unless you take a separate step of emptying the trash. To empty the trash, call down the Special menu in the Finder and click on Empty the Trash... menu item. That will delete all the files in the Trash.

Activity 3: Deleting a File, Method 2: Using the Pop Up Menu

(If you did Activity 2 above, open the Trash and drag that file back onto the desktop and then close the Trash or, if need by, follow the steps in Activity 1 to create a file.)

1) Using the mouse, move the point of the arrow within the picture part of the document icon you just created.

2) Do a Control-click. These actions will being up a menu of different possibilities. (A "Control-click" means you hold down the Control key on your keyboard while clicking the mouse button. This generates the menu in the below screen shot. This is the equivalent of a Right click on a Windows PC.)

3) One of those possibilities on this menu is to Move to Trash. Select that menu item by moving the mouse and then execute that menu item with a click. The system will move that icon into the Trash / Recycle Bin.

Control-Click on a document icon on the desktop:

4) Moving a file into the trash doesn't actually delete it. Like with Windows, the Trash is a holding area until and unless you take a separate step of emptying the trash. To empty the trash, call down the Special menu in the Finder and click on Empty the Trash... menu item. That will delete all the files in the Trash.

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