Add the Trash Can Icon to Your Ubuntu Desktop

Ubuntu has an option for adding a Trash Can icon to the desktop, which might be a comfort for those of you migrating from Windows.

Just type gconf-editor into the Alt+F2 run dialog to open the Gnome Configuration Editor.

Now browse down to the following key:

apps \ nautilus \ desktop

 

On the right hand side, you’ll see an entry called trash_icon_visible. Just check the box. You can also change the trash_icon_name if you’d like. 

And there’s the icon.

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This article was originally written on 05/7/07 Tagged with: Ubuntu

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Comments (20)

1. May 7, 2007 11:07 am
   kobewan

   This only works for GNOME however. The way I got it in Kubuntu (and I think it should work with any window manager/DE with slight modification) is to create a new file ~/Desktop/Trash.desktop. The contents of the file are:

   [Desktop Entry]
   Comment=Contains removed files
   EmptyIcon=trashcan_empty
   Encoding=UTF-8
   Icon=trashcan_full
   Name=Trash
   Name[en_US]=Trash
   Type=Link
   URL=trash:/

2. May 7, 2007 11:12 am
   The Geek

   kobewan,

   You are great! Thanks for that.

3. May 9, 2007 4:53 pm
   RedPanda

   I have been looking for this some time, and you just posted it a few days after I discovered the site. Thanks a lot!

4. May 21, 2007 6:36 pm
   ADC

   Thanks! The guide helped!

5. June 20, 2007 7:03 pm
   hena

   You guide ROCKS! Thanks!

6. September 21, 2007 5:27 am
   mean

   thanks man!

7. September 21, 2007 11:35 am
   Sander

   Thanks!

8. November 27, 2007 2:43 pm
   SoulSmasher

   thanks for this great tuorial, ive translated to turkish and wrote there too, also given your link as source, hope that’s ok for u

9. February 8, 2008 10:54 am
   Naser

   Thanks for that tip I can’t believe its not nearly as hard as other Ubuntu processes/procedures

10. February 8, 2008 5:03 pm
    Myk Melez

    It’s not just for comfort (I’m a longtime Linux user), it’s also a usability issue. The icon on the bottom bar is too small to be a good drop target, and it’s usually obscured by the icon of the file I’m dragging, so I’m constantly failing to drop a file onto it. A big Trash icon on my desktop is much easier to drag files into. Thanks for the tip!

11. June 19, 2008 1:52 am
    Mr.Crowley

    thanks for help.

12. June 22, 2008 4:07 am
    Mike's beeps!

    Thank you! It gave me an option to show or hide the Trash icon. And I figured out how to rename it.

13. August 25, 2008 4:16 pm
    Spreech

    thanks, it helps!

14. September 15, 2008 8:05 am
    meekon5

    Thanks Guys, another one of my wishlist achieved (desktop config list that is).

15. February 6, 2009 8:07 am
    Ken

    That was an awesome tip kobewan. Worked like a charm!!!

16. March 5, 2009 3:11 pm
    chris mcmanus

    thanks very much, i have been trying to do this for ages,.. great now i have added a.w.n as default instaed of my bottom panel….and still have my bin where im used to it (bottom right).

17. April 28, 2009 2:11 am
    Ramon

    It seems even I added this trash icon in the desktop in Ubuntu 9.04, I still cannot find anything in this trash folder after I deleted some files…

18. July 2, 2009 8:22 am
    Elom

    This works perfects. thanks

19. October 5, 2009 7:34 am
    Efren Palacios

    Very nice, I’ve been trying to find out where it was

20. October 24, 2009 9:41 am
    Nina

    Thanks alot, Ubuntu rules.