How to Delete All Google Drive Trash Files at Once

Empty Trash Folder - How to Delete All Google Drive Trash Files at Once 3

Your deleted files from Google Drive are not gone yet. It still sitting inside the Trash folder unless you delete them permanently.

But deleting thousand of trash files one by one is very labor-intensive. Sadly, Google Drive does not offer any bulk delete feature.

Luckily, we have a script to run bulk Trash deletion in just one click. That way, you can empty Google Drive’s Trash folder effortlessly.

CAUTION: The following guide will remove all files inside the Trash folder and there’s no way to recover it.

How to empty Trash folder in Google Drive

Time Needed : 2 minutes

We are going to use a script made by Google developer itself to permanently deletes all user's trashed files. This method can work on Google Drive desktop and mobile via a browser. But for the purpose of illustration, I'm using screenshots from the PC.

  1. Go to Files: emptyTrash page and click Execute.

    Google Drive Trash Script - How to Delete All Google Drive Trash Files at Once 5

  2. Select the account corresponds to the Google Drive's Trash folder you want to delete.

    Authorization - How to Delete All Google Drive Trash Files at Once 7

  3. Click Allow to grant permission.

    Accept Permission - How to Delete All Google Drive Trash Files at Once 9

  4. Wait until the deletion process finished. It may take some time depending on the number of files it stores. After that, you will see the 204 code suggesting the script successfully executed.

    Successfully Deleted - How to Delete All Google Drive Trash Files at Once 11

  5. Go to the Google Drive Trash folder. You would see a message like this — all files have deleted forever.

    Empty Trash Folder - How to Delete All Google Drive Trash Files at Once 13

Tools
  • PC or mobile device
  • Google Drive account
Materials
  • Internet connection
  • Command script
  • Google Drive Trash folder

The script will automatically stop if there is no file remain. If you want to run the script again, you can use the same guide I explained above. Additionally, it only deletes files inside the Trash folder. It has nothing to do with files outside the folder.

You can also find the largest files in Google Drive and delete them later to free up some space.

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2 thoughts on “How to Delete All Google Drive Trash Files at Once”

  1. This guide is great, thank you!

    There’s some way to use Google Drive API V3 to delete all orphan files?

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