When you delete a file on your Mac, it doesn’t immediately vanish from your hard drive; it moves into the Trash icon on your dock, acting as a safety net in case you accidentally deleted something important. By default, macOS is configured to automatically permanently erase any file that has been sitting inside the Trash bin for more than 30 days. While this helps keep your hard drive clean and prevents storage from filling up with old junk, some users prefer to use the Trash as a long-term “maybe delete” folder and want manual control over when files are actually destroyed.
How to Stop the 30-Day Auto-Deletion
You can easily turn off this automated cleaning feature, forcing your Mac to keep files in the Trash indefinitely until you explicitly tell it to empty the bin.
- Open the Finder app (the blue and white smiling face icon) from your Mac’s dock.
- In the Mac menu bar at the very top-left of your screen, click on the word Finder.
- Select Settings… (or Preferences… on older versions of macOS) from the drop-down menu.
- A new window will appear. Look at the top row of icons and click on the Advanced tab (represented by a gear icon).
- Look down the list of options for a setting labelled Remove items from the Trash after 30 days.
- Click the checkbox next to it to uncheck it and disable the feature.
- Close the Settings window.
Managing Your Trash Manually
Now that the safety net has no time limit, a file you deleted three years ago will still be sitting in the Trash, taking up physical space on your hard drive.
You must now remember to occasionally right-click the Trash icon in your dock and select Empty Trash to actually free up storage space. Once you click Empty Trash, those files are permanently destroyed and cannot be recovered.