How to empty the recycle bin automatically in Windows 10

by Ivan Jenic
Ivan Jenic
Ivan Jenic
Troubleshooting Expert
Passionate about all elements related to Windows and combined with his innate curiosity, Ivan has delved deep into understanding this operating system, with a specialization in drivers and... read more
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You probably know that when you delete something in Windows, you don’t actually delete it, but just move it to the Recycle Bin. That’s how it was in initial versions of Windows, that’s how it is in Windows 10, and that’s how it will be.

So, when you put something into the Recycle Bin, it’s still on your hard drive, which means it still takes hard drive space. That’s not a problem, as you can delete it permanently by emptying the Recycle Bin. However, there are a lot of users that forget to empty their Recycle Bins regularly, which can pile up a serious amount of files, and take more space than it should.

If you’re one the users that forget to empty the Recycle Bin, there’s a simple solution for that. You can simply set it to empty itself, automatically. So in this article, we’re going to show you how to make the Recycle Bin empty itself automatically, so you don’t have to worry about it anymore.

How to automatically empty the Recycle Bin in Windows 10

To make this possible, we’ll be using a Windows 10 feature called Event Scheduler. With this tool, you can basically schedule any action in Windows 10, from simpler ones like opening a file, to more complex events like performing command prompt commands. If you want to to find out more about this Windows 10 feature, check out this article.

But back to the Recycle Bin, here’s exactly what you need to do to empty it automatically:

      1. Open Start, do a search for Task Scheduler, and press Enter. Go to Search, type task scheduler, and open Task Scheduler.
      2. Right-click Task Scheduler Library and create a New Folder.
      3. Name the folder however you want, but it’s better to name it something descriptive, for better management.automatic empty recycle bin 1
      4. Right-click the newly created folder and select Create task.
      5. On the General tab, enter a name for the task, such as Empty Windows Recycle Bin. Once again, you can name it however you want, but we assume it’s the most logical name in this case.
      6. On the Triggers tab, click New to create an action that will trigger the task.
      7. Here you can pick a proper trigger action of when you want the task to be performed. You can choose At log on, At startup, ON an event, but we’ll choose On a schedule, to set a specific time of emptying the Recycle Bin.automatic empty recycle bin 2
      8. Now, on the Actions tab, click New.
      9. Under Settings, on Programs/script enter cmd.exe.
      10. Under Settings, on Add arguments, type in the following argument and click OK:
        • /c “echo Y|PowerShell.exe -NoProfile -Command Clear-RecycleBin”automatic empty recycle bin 3
      11. Click OK to complete the task.

That’s about it, after completing the task, the Recycle Bin will be emptying itself at the time you’ve set. In case you have any comments, or questions, just let us know in the comments below.

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