How to delete / restore photos in “Photos” app on Mac

I will introduce how to delete and restore photos in the Photos app on your Mac.

I will also show you how to “permanently delete” deleted photos so that they cannot be restored.

① How to delete photos in the “Photos” app

▶ In the Photos app, select the photos you want to delete.

The selected photos will change the color of the border of the photos.

There are the following types of selection methods.

Method	Operation
Select only one	Click on the selection with the mouse or trackpad
Select multiple consecutive	Below are the steps: ① Hold down the shift key ② Click and hold the margin near the start point with the mouse or trackpad ③ Drag the mouse or trackpad to the end point ④ Release your finger from the keyboard and mouse or trackpad
Select multiple non-consecutive	Below are the steps: ① Hold down the command ⌘ key ② Click on the selection with the mouse or trackpad ③ Release your finger from the keyboard and mouse or trackpad
Select all	Press the command ⌘ + A keys
Clear the selection	Click on an empty margin

▶ After selecting what you want to delete, right-click on any of the selected photos to display the menu.

From the right-click menu that appears, select “Delete x photos (x is a number)”.

▶ As shown in the figure, when the message “Delete from all your devices?” is displayed, click the “Delete” button.

Even if you delete them, you can recover them within about 30 days, but I will explain how to do it later.

On the other hand, if you hold down the option ⌥ key and click the “Delete” button at this time, they will be permanently deleted and you will not be able to recover them.

② How to recover deleted photos

Photos deleted from the “Photos” app on your Mac can then be recovered under certain conditions.

• Within approximately 30 days from the date of deletion
• You didn’t “Permanently Delete” when deleting
• Use the “Photos” app on Mac / iPhone / iPad with the same iCloud account

▶ In the “Photos” app, click “Recently Deleted” from the list on the left side of the screen.

▶ When “Recently Deleted” is displayed, select the photos you want to recover.

The selected photos will have blue checkmarks in the lower right corner.

There are the following types of selection methods.

Method	Operation
Select only one	Click on the selection with the mouse or trackpad
Select multiple consecutive	Below are the steps: ① Hold down the shift key ② Click and hold the margin near the start point with the mouse or trackpad ③ Drag the mouse or trackpad to the end point ④ Release your finger from the keyboard and mouse or trackpad
Select multiple non-consecutive	Click on the selections with the mouse or trackpad
Select all	Press the command ⌘ + A keys
Clear the selection	Click on an empty margin

▶ After selecting what you want to recover, right-click on any of the selected photos to bring up a menu.

Select “Recover” from the displayed right-click menu.

③ How to delete photos permanently

Deleted photos can be recovered within about 30 days.

However, if you delete them completely by the following method, you will not be able to recover them even within about 30 days.

▶ In the “Photos” app, click “Recently Deleted” from the list on the left side of the screen.

▶ When “Recently Deleted” is displayed, select the photos you want to delete permanently.

The selected photos will have blue checkmarks in the lower right corner.

There are the following types of selection methods.

Method	Operation
Select only one	Click on the selection with the mouse or trackpad
Select multiple consecutive	Below are the steps: ① Hold down the shift key ② Click and hold the margin near the start point with the mouse or trackpad ③ Drag the mouse or trackpad to the end point ④ Release your finger from the keyboard and mouse or trackpad
Select multiple non-consecutive	Click on the selections with the mouse or trackpad
Select all	Press the command ⌘ + A keys
Clear the selection	Click on an empty margin

▶ After selecting what you want to detele permanently, right-click on any of the selected photos to bring up a menu.

Select “Delete x Photos (x is a number)” from the displayed right-click menu.

Reference information

This is an explanation of how to delete / restore / delete permanently photos from the Photos app on the official Apple website.