The recycle bin in Windows is an important feature, as it provides a second chance to recover the files that you deleted. You can delete the files that you aren’t using, but you could restore them from the recycle bin if you deleted a file accidentally, or later find a use for the same.
While you may already know how to clear the recycle bin contents, there’s a chance that you forget to do so regularly. This can lead to unnecessary storage consumption from the files and folders that you no longer require on your computer locally. Here I shall discuss how to empty the recycle bin automatically using two very simple methods.
Also read: How to enable Windows 10 Confirm Delete dialog box.
How To Empty Recycle Bin Automatically?
You can clear recycle bin contents by opening the recycle bin and selecting the ‘Empty recycle bin’ option from the ribbon menu. With windows 10 v1903, the storage sense feature was updated, which now automatically deletes temporary and other files that are not required regularly.
There are two methods to empty the recycle bin automatically that we are discussing today. Let us take a look at both of these in detail.
Method 1: Use Windows 10 Storage Sense
Windows 10 storage sense is a built-in utility that automatically frees up space on your computer by removing the unnecessary files and cache data. There is an option to automatically delete files from the recycle bin after a set interval of time.
Here are the steps that you can follow for the same:
- Open the Settings You can use the keyboard shortcut Win + I.
- Go to the System section.
- From the left pane menu, select Storage.
- In the right column, turn on the toggle under Storage sense.
- Next, click on the following option that you find just under the toggle:
Configure Storage Sense or run it now
- Under Storage Sense, select a time when you want to run the utility on your computer. Make sure to set it to run at least a month.
- Next, under the Temporary Files section, check the box next to the following option:
Delete Temporary files that my apps aren’t using - From the drop-down menu for the recycle bin, select the time period when you want to clear recycle bin contents automatically.
Note: if you want to clear space on your computer immediately, click on the Clean now button at the very bottom of the page.
Method 2: Use The Task Scheduler
You can also use the built-in task scheduler, to clean up temporary files from your recycle bin automatically after a set time period. While this may seem time consuming, this offers more flexibility and allows you to fine-tune when you want to empty the storage.
Follow these steps for the same:
- In a Run dialog, type taskschd.msc and press Enter to launch the Windows Task scheduler.
- From the leftmost pane, select and right-click on Task Scheduler Library.
- Select New Folder from the context menu.
- Name this new folder as Personal Tasks. Here, you can add any other tasks you like as well, keeping them separate from important Windows tasks.
- Again, right-click on the Personal Tasks folder that you just created, and select Create task from the context menu.
This will open the Create Task window. - Under the General tab, name the task as something easy and relevant. You can name it as Empty recycle bin.
- Switch to the Triggers tab, and click on New… button to create a new trigger for the task.
- Select when you want to clean the recycle bin contents. If you want to set it to run every month, select On a schedule from the drop-down menu, and select the radio button next to Monthly under that.
- Select the Start Date and the time, and set it to your preferences.
- Also, set the months on which you wish to run the task.
- Click on OK to set the trigger.
- Switch to the Actions tab, and click on the New button.
- From the Action drop-down menu, make sure that Start a Program is selected.
- Under Program/ script, type cmd.exe.
- Next to Add arguments, enter the following text and click on OK:
/c “echo Y|PowerShell.exe -NoProfile -Command Clear-RecycleBin”
- Fine-tune more settings from under the Conditions and Settings tab. We left it at the default values.
- Finally, click on OK to create this task.
Now, Windows will clean the recycle bin on every trigger time that you set (Monthly in this case).
Wrapping Up
So there you have it. Using the methods above, now you know how to empty the recycle bin automatically. Did you find this useful? Comment below if you did, and to discuss further the same.