OSX: The item XYZ.txt~ can’t be moved to the Trash because it can’t be deleted
I'm trying to delete a file under OSX Lion, but can't. I get the following message:
The item XYZ.txt~ can’t be moved to the Trash because it can’t be deleted.
Here's what I've tried:
- select file and press COMMAND + DELETE (I get the message above.)
- renaming the file in finder (There is no option to rename the file.)
-
sudo ls -a
in a terminal (The file does not appear.) -
sudo rm XYZ.txt~
(I get "No such file or directory".)
How do I remove this file?
EDIT
The file went away after restarting. My guess is that it was a glitch in finder.
Solution 1:
Try quitting and reopening Finder.
There is a bug where files that no longer exist are still shown on the desktop (but not if you open a separate window for ~/Desktop/
). It has happened to me with .download
bundles and with temporary files created by ImageMagick. The files have always disappeared after I have quit and reopened Finder.