[evyoung]

A 90-year-old neighbor in the retirement home where we both live decided he wanted to delete a document he had created on an iMac available for residents to use.

He pulled down the File menu and was stumped when he saw no Delete command.

I later showed him how to delete files using the Finder, but a question came to my mind: Why isn't there a Delete command or Move to Trash on the File menu? In iPhoto I can delete a graphic, and the apps on my iPad delete files. I can open, create, duplicate, move, and rename from Pages, but I delete or move to trash. Why?

Ev

[cgc]

Good question but I have no idea. Linux and WIndows both have this and we probably should too in OSX.

[Spheric Harlot]

There is in the Finder, which is where you manage documents.

This is the kind of stuff that Apple has always deliberately avoided (like being able to rename/trash documents in the open/save dialogs) to eliminate a whole bunch of "WTF just happened?" and "I don't remember doing that" moments for users.

[andi*pandi]

My finder has File>Move to Trash. You can also control click and move to trash from the popup menu.

[cgc]

Originally Posted by andi*pandi 

My finder has File>Move to Trash. You can also control click and move to trash from the popup menu.

I specifically looked there but got the short pop-up on right-click...must've actually right-clicked in the Finder, missing an icon. Derka derka. Good catch...now we can sleep easy tonight.

[Spheric Harlot]

I'm pretty sure the original poster is asking about such a function WITHIN AN APPLICATION (as he mentions having shown the neighbor how to manage files using the Finder).

[chris v]

In order for the menu item to be active, you'd have to have a document open for it to act on, and then the question remains are you deleting the open document from the hard drive, active memory or both? If you deleted it from the hard drive while it was open, what would happen to the version in active memory when you closed it? If you deleted both, would it just vanish without a trace? Close the active version & move the stored version to the trash? Would divergent developers hew to user guidelines, or would various apps all behave differently?

Sounds like a recipe for disaster. Deleting files should be a task confined to the file management application, and it is.

[evyoung]

To clarify, I am talking about deleting a text file from within an application.

I disagree with chris v's comment that "Deleting files should be a task confined to the file management application, and it is." I can go to iPhoto and delete an unwanted photo by dragging it to the trash from within iPhoto. While I am viewing a slideshow within GraphicConverter, I can click on the trashcan icon to delete an unwanted photo that I am looking at. My question is why there is not a similar mechanism to delete a text file from my hard drive that I am looking at from within an application such as Pages or TextEdit.

[andi*pandi]

Do pages or textedit have built-in file browsers like iphoto? You'll also find that the iphoto trash is not the same as the finder trash. It's not really deleted until you select empty trash within iphoto, at which point it gets moved to the regular trash.

[DarkStarRed]

Ok this is strange since setting up my new iMac (thin) 10.8.2, I have delete
on apps iPhoto, Safari, Mail, Preview, Contact etc you can even do right-click if setup to bring drop down menu which includes Delete!

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally Posted by evyoung 

To clarify, I am talking about deleting a text file from within an application.

I disagree with chris v's comment that "Deleting files should be a task confined to the file management application, and it is." I can go to iPhoto and delete an unwanted photo by dragging it to the trash from within iPhoto.

iPhoto's *purpose* is to be a file management/archival tool.