Is there a way to exclude Trash folder from Finder and Spotlight Searches

Tech Support
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1

I’m in the process of re-organizing my files and folders, which includes lots of searches for files that may not be where I want them. I’m also deleting a lot off files, mostly pdfs, as I work.

I’ve noticed that deleted files still come up in my search results in Finder and Spotlight, which I don’t want as I consider deleted files as “Filed” and no longer needing my attention.

I did a few google searches on this subject , checked Spotlight settings, and even tried and failed to add Trash aka “.Trash” to the excluded folders in Spotlight privacy settings.

Is there a way to tell Spotlight and, by proxy, Finder, to not search in the Trash folder?

2

Couldn’t you simply empty the trash?

3

No. I"m deleting a lot right now as I’m going through thousands of files. I’ve already found a few documents that I deleted by accident and had to retrieve from trash.

If I empty trash and need to recover something, I’ll have to open Time Machine. I’d rather not create more work for myself!

it looks like I can specify “-trash” in my search syntax to ignore results from Trash. That is how I’m going to go!