Two months ago, I accidentally dropped a locked font file on to my desktop. Dragging it to the trash didn’t work so I searched for a way to delete it. Finally, I’ve found the solution to deleting those pesky locked files.

If you’re seeing the message “The operation could not be completed because the item ‘(item name)’ is locked.” message, then you’re having the same problem.

Unlock the File, Then Delete

The trick is to unlock the file first, then you can drag it to the trash and delete it for good! So the question is;

How do you unlock the file?

Try this first: Select the file you are trying to move, then choose Get Info from the File menu. If the Locked box is checked, deselect it, then try moving the file again.

If that doesn’t work – don’t worry. It didn’t unlock my font file either. You’ll have to use Terminal to unlock the file (it’s easy):

1. Open Terminal (/Applications/Utilities).
2. Type this, followed by a space: sudo chflags -R nouchg
3. Drag the folder you would like to unlock into the Terminal window.
4. Press Return.
5. Enter your password and press Return.
6. Quit Terminal

The file should be unlocked – Drag it to the trash and delete it!

If you’re still having trouble unlocking the file, try this page on support.apple.com

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