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Open files in the trash can Desktop
If you moved some files to trash and you are still not sure if it is ok to delete them (especially if they have explicit names like "untitled-x.txt", "toto.tif", etc.), it is possible to open them without moving them out of the trash. Remember that double-clicking a file in the trash won't open it.

However, by control-clicking on the file and selecting the "Open with" contextual menu item, the file will open in the selected app. Now you can review your file before deleting it without having to move it to the desktop first.

NOTE: Only works on pre-10.3 systems...
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Open files in the trash can | 8 comments | Create New Account
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Open files in the trash can
Authored by: nxor on Mar 27, '03 11:05:47AM

cd ~/.Trash
open -a finder .



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Open files in the trash can
Authored by: urcindalo on Mar 27, '03 12:55:17PM

I can't find the difference with "open ."
Your second command just opens a Finder window showing the Trash content, but doesn't open the file(s) inside it, which this hint is about.

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urcindalo
Almería, SPAIN
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Dual G4/450, 2 Gb RAM, 20 Gb HD, DVD-RAM
ATI Radeon 32 Mb
Adaptec 2930U SCSI card
External USB/SCSI ORB drive



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This doesn't work.
Authored by: Cantus on Mar 27, '03 07:28:46PM

It's the same as opening the Trash by clicking in the Dock. Window looks different but same rules apply.



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Open files in the trash can
Authored by: copychief on Mar 27, '03 11:11:13AM

I see this "feature" as a bit of a bug. Consider this scenario: I have files on my work server that I need to work on at home. So I copy the files onto my laptop. When I get back to work, I obviously want to update the files on the server. I copy the files back onto the server, and then the files on my laptop into the trash. If I don't empty the trash -- and then if I select the file in Word's recently used documents -- Word opens the file that is in the trash. I think it should give me an error that the file can't be opened because it's in the trash... just to prevent any (more) problems.



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Open files in the trash can
Authored by: Jadey on Mar 27, '03 02:59:16PM

Opening your own document in Word, I don't see that as much of a bug.. unless you mean someone else is accessing your account and they're looking into your trash. Or do you mean that Word is able to access the trash of your user in a different user's account? That would be a bug in Word....



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Open files in the trash can
Authored by: copychief on Mar 28, '03 11:40:22AM

Yes, I think having Word open "my own" files is a bug if those files are in the trash. I would expect there to be a dialog that would say (for example): "Word cannot open this file, because it is in the trash. Drag it out of the trash to use it." Without this warning, it is very easy to make changes to the file in the trash, and then empty the trash, effectively deleting the most recent copy of a file.



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Open files in the trash can
Authored by: carsten on Mar 27, '03 03:23:17PM

Dragging files from the Trash to an application in the dock works too.

I also see this "feature" as a bug.



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Open files in the trash can
Authored by: vaag on Mar 27, '03 06:24:26PM

With Ittec this is a piece of cake: put an alias of the trash in the Ittec Items Folder and any trashed file is simply opened by clicking on it in the Finder (control key free-) contextual menu or Ittec's menubar menu.



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