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Why Unable To Empty Trash Containing Older Version Of Software?

When updating to the most recent version of some software on my iMac (Evernote, in particular), the older version goes into my Trash as an app bundle and the latest version gets installed in my Applications folder.
When trying to empty the trash, I sometimes get the message that the object in the trash (e.g., the older version of Evernote) is still in use.
Even after closing Evernote, I still get this message, that Evernote is still in use, which is puzzling.
The best remedy that I use now is to restart my iMac; in that case I can empty the trash with no trouble.
But I would still like to understand what is going on here that causes the system to claim that the older version of the program is still in use.
When I went through the same process (updating Evernote on my laptop) there was no trouble in emptying the trash; no need to restart the computer.
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Richard Fuhr

Comments: 2 Responses to “Why Unable To Empty Trash Containing Older Version Of Software?”

    12 years ago

    Are you updating Evernote from the Mac App Store, or a version you bought directly from the developer?
    If the latter, then you may want to contact the developer about the issue. It sounds like their installer is not handling things properly.
    If the former, then it sounds like Evernote's background tasks (for syncing, I presume) are not quitting when the Mac App Store updates the app. Restarting is a good way to handle this issue until the developer or Apple fixes the problem. Or, you may just want to try logging out and then back in instead of doing a complete restart.
    This is probably just Evernote's background syncing process that is causing this. Maybe you have slightly different settings between these two computers which is why you only see it on one.

    Richard Fuhr
    12 years ago

    I am updating Evernote via the app itself and via the Evernote site rather than through the Mac App Store. So, as you suggested, I will contact the developers directly and see what they have to say about this issue.

    From time to time in other circumstances I see this message about not being able to empty the trash, because a file is in use.

    For example, sometimes I have viewed a PDF file in Preview and then put the PDF file in the trash but forgot to close Preview. In that case, I also get an error message, but then, closing Preview enables me to empty the trash.

    In the case of Evernote, it seems that something more subtle is going on; will contact the developers.

Comments Closed.