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.
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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 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:/
kobewan,
You are great! Thanks for that.
I have been looking for this some time, and you just posted it a few days after I discovered the site. Thanks a lot!
Thanks! The guide helped!
You guide ROCKS! Thanks!
thanks man!
Thanks!
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
Thanks for that tip
I can’t believe its not nearly as hard as other Ubuntu processes/procedures
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!
thanks for help.
Thank you! It gave me an option to show or hide the Trash icon. And I figured out how to rename it.
thanks, it helps!
Thanks Guys, another one of my wishlist achieved (desktop config list that is).
That was an awesome tip kobewan. Worked like a charm!!!
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).
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…
This works perfects. thanks
Very nice, I’ve been trying to find out where it was
Thanks alot, Ubuntu rules.