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Mac OS X: How can I see who is using the files I'm trying to delete?

Fresh7 days ago
Mar 15, 20262653 views
Confidence Score0%
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Problem

I have a couple of files that I want to delete. So I select them and then do Move to Trash. However, when I do so I get this message: Some of the items you are moving are in use by another application. Moving the items can cause problems with the application using them. Are you sure you want to mov…

Error Output

lsof | grep <part of filename>

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1 Fix

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New Fix – Awaiting Verification

Fix for: Mac OS X: How can I see who is using the files I'm trying to delete?

Low Risk

As Debilski notes, you might consider rerunning your command with . A likely culprit that I've often found is QuickLook: if you preview a file prior to trashing it there might be a relatively short lock on the file. If that's the case, once the lock…

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Environment