My Mac Apps » Trash Buddy Plus

Summary and Features

Trash Buddy Plus greatly improves how you manage your Mac's Trash, offering a high-degree of customization and convenience. Make it your productivity sidekick today!

Key Features

Manipulate the Trash with Keyboard Shortcuts

Empty the Trash or inspect it instantly from any app using customizable, global keyboard shortcuts

Customizable Desktop Trash Icons

Add a movable Trash icon on your Desktop (or on an attached display); choose from 8 styles in 5 different sizes or even create your own!

See Trash-item Counts

Display the number of items in the Trash without opening it, for better Mac cleaning control

Auto‑Empty The Trash

Schedule emptying intervals from 30 minutes to daily—no manual cleanup needed

Broad Mac Compatibility

Works seamlessly on macOS Ventura to Tahoe, with full support for both Intel and Apple Silicon

Uses Minimal System Resources

Lightweight and efficient; designed to enhance your Mac without slowing it down


MD5 Hash: 164201db152b8f339d5ce404101c9f71

NOTE: Trash Buddy Plus is Donation-ware: fully functional, but shows a nag screen each time you run it. If you find it useful, you're invited to Buy me a Coffee. In return, I'll send you a personal license key that removes the nag screen.

Reviews

Screenshots

Trash Buddy Plus'

Multiple Trash styles

Trash Buddy Plus supports a variety of different Trash styles

Trash Buddy Plus

Empty Trash with a custom shortcut

Use custom Trash can styles and inspect or empty the Trash using custom keyboard shortcuts

Trash Buddy Plus

Flexible layout

Freely position the Desktop Trash can on virtually any screen

Trash Buddy Plus Demo Video

Frequently Asked Questions

Trash Buddy Plus operates independently of the Dock’s Trash can to improve functionality. It’s designed as a replacement for macOS’ Trash, particularly when the "Show Trash on Desktop" option is enabled.

If you want Trash Buddy Plus to recognize files in the Trash, you can use the Inspect Trash option. Additionally, the Empty the Trash feature works seamlessly, no matter where the items were added—via the Dock’s Trash or the Desktop Trash icon.

NOTE: I even tried using an observer to sync the two Trashes. This worked though it would redraw the Desktop Trash each time a file was deleted, which caused a significant performance lag of many files are in the Trash. At some point, I'll try again with a different approach.

No, this feature is not currently supported. If you attempt to eject a drive this way, Trash Buddy Plus will detect it and show an error message. Think of the Desktop Trash icon as a convenient "portal" to your Mac's Trash, especially when working on large, high-resolution monitors.

Trash Buddy Plus counts folders as single items, regardless of their contents. This particuar design choice enhances performance and prevents delays when processing dozens or hundreds of nested folders.

Follow these steps:

  1. Quit Trash Buddy Plus if it’s running.
  2. Prepare two PNG images for the custom Trash icon:
    • custom_trash1.png for the empty Trash state.
    • custom_trash2.png for the full Trash state.
    Ensure both images are 256x256 pixels with transparent backgrounds.
  3. Place these files in your Mac’s Preferences folder.
  4. Relaunch Trash Buddy Plus.
  5. Open Trash Buddy Plus Preferences and select Custom Trash from the Desktop Trash Style menu.

If the images are not properly formatted, Trash Buddy Plus will default to macOS’ built-in Trash icon.

The Desktop Trash icon is a custom window that must be redrawn to reflect changes in the Trash’s status (full or empty). This redraw process can cause a brief flicker.