Open Trash folder in OS X May24 '07

I accidently deleted some files to the Trash in Mac OS X, and to re-claim them, I went to the desktop thinking I was using Windows.

Hmm. No "trash can" icon there.

How about the Finder? Nope. Even though there's a "folder" for Desktop, there is no "folder" for the Trash:

Screenshot of Mac OS X Finder

I suddenly realized there is no direct way to access the Trash, other than via the dock itself.

Screenshot of Mac OS X dock

Screenshot of Mac OS X Finder

"This is inconvenient," I thought.

Spotlight and LaunchBar

Since I typically avoid using the dock (I prefer using Spotlight and LaunchBar), having the Trash exist solely in the dock is cumbersome for me.

As you could guess, my next step was to try Spotlight and LaunchBar, to see if they link directly to the "trash folder."

No luck with Spotlight. The "Top Hit" is "trashcan.gif."

Screenshot of Mac OS X Spotlight

LaunchBar, on the other hand, has success. Typing in "trash," or any variation thereof, produces an AppleScript for "opening the trash."

This works great. But where is this script stored, and how did it get on my system?

LaunchBar shows the directory path to where the script is stored:

/Applications/LaunchBar.app/Contents/Resources/BuiltInScripts

So it appears this script came bundled with LaunchBar, not with Mac OS X itself.

Sure enough, as I open the script in Script Editor, here is the code:

-- Copyright (c) 2006 Objective Development
-- http://www.obdev.at/

tell application "Finder"
    open trash
    activate
end tell

Simple but effective.

Categories: AppleScript , LaunchBar , Mac OS X , Operating System , Spotlight , Tips

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Wow, how simple... And I was searching for this quite a time I'm using it for Quicksilver. ... Read more.

Thx, I thought it would be that simply but not sure of syntax till I read your site here. Now using this script to open the Trash folder with xGes ... Read more.

Brilliant explanation, clear, and well documented with screen shots. You answered more than one question that I've had for some time. Thank you. ... Read more.

Oops! The formatting/bullet-list got garbled (admin, please delete my previous/duplicate posts). If you want to access quickly Trash from a ... Read more.

All you have to do is go to the user's folder in the finder and then go to Open Folder in the "Go" menu and type .trash. That opens the trash folde ... Read more.

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