macOS

How to Delete and Restore an Empty Practice Folder on a Mac

Also available for: Windows 11

What you need: A Mac. You will create an empty folder for this practice.

  1. Click Finder (the blue smiling face) in the Dock, the row of app icons along the edge of the screen.
  2. In the menu bar at the top of the screen, click Go, then Downloads.
  3. Click File at the top of the screen, then New Folder. A new empty folder appears with its name highlighted.
  4. Press the Return key to keep the name the Mac supplied. Remember that name, including any number at the end. Leave the new folder empty.
  5. With the new folder still selected, click File, then Move to Trash. If a message says it will be deleted immediately or permanently, click Cancel and stop here.
  6. Wait for the folder to disappear from Downloads.
  7. Click Trash (the wastebasket) at the end of the Dock. The Trash window opens.
  8. Find the folder with the name you remembered and click it once. If you also see that name with a time added at the end, click that one instead; it is the folder you just deleted.
  9. Click File at the top of the screen, then Put Back. The folder leaves the Trash window.
  10. Click Go, then Downloads, and check that the folder has returned.

Expected result: The empty practice folder is back in Downloads.

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Practice these steps

Try this task on a pretend Mac screen in your browser. The steps guide you one at a time, and nothing changes on your own computer.

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