Finding specific things

Searching the Trash

Updated 2026-07-31 · 3 min read

Deleting a file removes it from search before it removes it from disk.

Where the Trash is

~/.Trash

Plus a hidden .Trashes folder on every other mounted volume, since each disk has its own.

Why search misses it

Spotlight deliberately excludes trashed files. Showing files you have decided to delete would be actively unhelpful in normal use — but it means the moment you change your mind, search stops helping.

Finding something in there

ls -la ~/.Trash
find ~/.Trash -iname "*report*"

For external drives:

find /Volumes/DriveName/.Trashes -iname "*report*" 2>/dev/null

Restoring

Select in the Trash and press ⌘⌫, or right-click → Put Back, which returns it to where it was deleted from. Put Back only works if macOS still has the original location recorded; dragging out puts it wherever you drop it.

After emptying

Once emptied, the file is gone as far as normal tools are concerned. Recovery software may find remnants on a spinning disk, but on an SSD with TRIM enabled the data is usually unrecoverable within seconds.

Time Machine is the realistic recovery route — enter it and browse to the folder as it was before the deletion.

Common questions

Can I search the Trash with Spotlight?

No. Trashed files are excluded from the index. Use find ~/.Trash instead.

What is .Trashes on an external drive?

Each volume has its own trash folder, since files are not moved between disks when deleted.