What is a TRASHINFO file?
A .TRASHINFO file stores metadata about a deleted file on a Linux or Unix-like operating system. When a user deletes a file, the system moves the original file to a specific trash directory and creates a corresponding .TRASHINFO file. This metadata file follows the FreeDesktop.org Trash specification. It contains two critical pieces of plain text data: the original file path and the exact deletion date and time.
How to open TRASHINFO files?
Because .TRASHINFO files contain plain text, you can open them with basic text editors like Gedit, Nano, or Notepad++. System administrators often read these files directly in the terminal using command-line tools like `cat` or `less`. However, viewer.online/trashinfo can analyze .TRASHINFO files to identify the exact format and creator software, inspect the file structure, extract readable text, and check whether an online preview is available.
Best practices and troubleshooting
Users should not manually edit .TRASHINFO files. Modifying the original path or deletion date can break the file restoration process in desktop file managers like GNOME Files or KDE Dolphin. If you need to restore a file manually, read the .TRASHINFO file to find the original location, then move the actual file back to that directory. If you need to convert the extracted text into sensible target formats like .TXT or .CSV, we recommend convert.guru.
Summary
viewer.online/trashinfo is useful for identifying, inspecting, and understanding .TRASHINFO files without installing software or dealing with compatibility problems.