missing trash can icon

**kellrobinson** · 09-22-2012, 10:56 PM

I am trying to delete the widgets that are piling up on my screen but there is no way to do it. Searching has proved fruitless. You're supposed to double tap and hold then move to the trash can, which I can't find anywhere. I have also tried just flicking an icon I want to remove but that doesn't work either. Where is the trash icon? And how can I get it back? Surely someone knows and can tell me. Has anyone reading this encountered this problem or know what to do? Please help.
Edit: I'm talking about the screen you get after pressing the circle with several squares in it at the home screen. Then the apps and widgets come up. The delete feature works on the home screen. But there are dozens of things piled up in the widgets area. There must be some way to corn it up. Sorry if I sound desperate.

**flux capacitor** · 09-22-2012, 11:23 PM

You just hold down an icon then drag it to the he top where it says remove.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

**Curtis A** · 09-22-2012, 11:34 PM

Originally Posted by kellrobinson

Edit: I'm talking about the screen you get after pressing the circle with several squares in it at the home screen. Then the apps and widgets come up. The delete feature works on the home screen. But there are dozens of things piled up in the widgets area. There must be some way to corn it up. Sorry if I sound desperate.

When you press the app icon (circle with the squares) it will bring you to all the apps that you have installed on your tablet and their associated widgets. To remove a widget from this screen, you have to uninstall it's app. Afaik.

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**kellrobinson** · 09-22-2012, 11:45 PM

Okay. I'm trying to figure out why there are thirty widgets on it now. It had something like six or eight originally, and I've added four apps. They are wifi manager, notification toggles, firefox beta and flash. The screen has about thirty widgets now and they keep multiplying.
One of the widgets, "contact," is even on there twice! There must be some way to deal with this.

**Curtis A** · 09-22-2012, 11:54 PM

Originally Posted by kellrobinson

Okay. I'm trying to figure out why there are thirty widgets on it now. It had something like six or eight originally, and I've added four apps. They are wifi manager, notification toggles, firefox beta and flash. The screen has about thirty widgets now and they keep multiplying.
One of the widgets, "contact," is even on there twice! There must be some way to deal with this.

Sometimes you will see multiple widgets because they are different sizes or styles and they will look different on your home screens.

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**ChromeJob** · 09-23-2012, 12:27 AM

Originally Posted by kellrobinson

Okay. I'm trying to figure out why there are thirty widgets on it now. It had something like six or eight originally, and I've added four apps. They are wifi manager, notification toggles, firefox beta and flash. The screen has about thirty widgets now and they keep multiplying.
One of the widgets, "contact," is even on there twice! There must be some way to deal with this.

You never had "six or eight" widgets, out of the box it had more apps and widgets.

As cold as this sounds, you need to read the user guide from the Play store.

// Posted from my Nexus 7 with the Android Central app :-) //

**kellrobinson** · 09-23-2012, 10:53 AM

I downloaded a pdf of the Nexus 7 guidebook so I can read it on my netbook while I experiment on the tablet. It's too long to print.

I had no idea a user manual existed. The device came without documentation. That's something I've never encountered before. I spent hours digging up info about the various Nexus 7's various functions. Only now do I found out that it has a user manual.

About the number of widgets that came with the device, it had a single page five by six of apps, fewer than thirty apps, and the widgets fit on one or two pages of six widgets each. The number of widgets has about tripled.

**ChromeJob** · 09-24-2012, 12:14 AM

Originally Posted by kellrobinson

I downloaded a pdf of the Nexus 7 guidebook so I can read it on my netbook while I experiment on the tablet. It's too long to print.

I had no idea a user manual existed. The device came without documentation. That's something I've never encountered before. I spent hours digging up info about the various Nexus 7's various functions. Only now do I found out that it has a user manual.

About the number of widgets that came with the device, it had a single page five by six of apps, fewer than thirty apps, and the widgets fit on one or two pages of six widgets each. The number of widgets has about tripled.

Yep i did a tutorial on YouTube about that, first night with the N7 I searched online expecting to find online docs (I did eventually, the guide book is essentially that online documentation in book form), and Play Books was the first hit.

Seems clear you've been adding new apps. You do know that many apps bring their own widgets right? FWIW I'm sure that after initial setup, I had more than two pages of widgets....

I'll bet I know what's going on... Launch Play store app, go to settings,... Is "Auto-add Widgets" checked? Deselect if it is.

// Posted from my Nexus 7 with the Android Central app :-) //

**Iconer** · 01-20-2013, 05:27 AM

I had a similar problem, what I figured out is that the screen you were referring to is a sort of library with all APS and you cannot delete from there. If you tap and hold an app icon, it is moved to the home screen where you can move and delete. I could not find a way to remove apps from that screen (with circle) on the home screen, you can tap and hold icon and move to the top where a `x` will appear which acts like the trash can.
Hope this helps

**flacousa** · 01-20-2013, 04:03 PM

Originally Posted by Iconer

I had a similar problem, what I figured out is that the screen you were referring to is a sort of library with all APS and you cannot delete from there. If you tap and hold an app icon, it is moved to the home screen where you can move and delete. I could not find a way to remove apps from that screen (with circle) on the home screen, you can tap and hold icon and move to the top where a `x` will appear which acts like the trash can.
Hope this helps

To remove apps from library screen (with circle) you have to go into settings, tap on apps, choose and tap on the app you want to delete and choose the uninstall tab and poof it is gone.

Sent from planet earth

**moosc** · 01-20-2013, 04:14 PM

No no no you click the circle it opens with apps that are in it you then drag which ever app to the top of screen where you can delete it. No different then phones. As for widgets auto adding open play store account settings deselect auto add widgets

Originally Posted by flacousa

To remove apps from library screen (with circle) you have to go into settings, tap on apps, choose and tap on the app you want to delete and choose the uninstall tab and poof it is gone.

Sent from planet earth

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Xparent Cyan Tapatalk 2

**B. Diddy** · 01-20-2013, 07:33 PM

Originally Posted by moosc

No no no you click the circle it opens with apps that are in it you then drag which ever app to the top of screen where you can delete it. No different then phones. As for widgets auto adding open play store account settings deselect auto add widgets
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Xparent Cyan Tapatalk 2

I think you're mistaking shortcuts with widgets. The Play Store gives you the option to auto add shortcuts when you install a new app, not widgets.

And there are multiple ways to get rid of widgets from your Widgets list. You always have to uninstall the app to which the widget belongs. The various ways of uninstalling include:

1. Going to the Play Store (assuming you installed it from there), finding the app under your Installed Apps, and tapping Uninstall.
2. Going to the Amazon Appstore (if you installed it from there), finding the app under My Apps/Device, long-pressing it and then tapping Uninstall.
3. Going to Settings/Apps, selecting your app, and tapping Uninstall.
4. Going to the All Apps screen (by tapping the circular icon on the bottom tray), long pressing the app that is associated with the widget in question, and dragging it up to where it says Remove, or the trashcan on some devices.

**moosc** · 01-20-2013, 08:35 PM

Really mine says auto add widgets

Originally Posted by B. Diddy

I think you're mistaking shortcuts with widgets. The Play Store gives you the option to auto add shortcuts when you install a new app, not widgets.

And there are multiple ways to get rid of widgets from your Widgets list. You always have to uninstall the app to which the widget belongs. The various ways of uninstalling include:

1. Going to the Play Store (assuming you installed it from there), finding the app under your Installed Apps, and tapping Uninstall.
2. Going to the Amazon Appstore (if you installed it from there), finding the app under My Apps/Device, long-pressing it and then tapping Uninstall.
3. Going to Settings/Apps, selecting your app, and tapping Uninstall.
4. Going to the All Apps screen (by tapping the circular icon on the bottom tray), long pressing the app that is associated with the widget in question, and dragging it up to where it says Remove, or the trashcan on some devices.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Xparent Cyan Tapatalk 2

**B. Diddy** · 01-20-2013, 08:43 PM

Interesting--my apologies. But you know, I think Google may have actually made a typo, because the Play Store used to have a check box for auto-adding shortcuts. Now, it only says auto-add widget. But I just tested it out by checking the box and installing Sitegeist, and as soon as it installed, a message popped up saying a shortcut had been placed on the homescreen.

Let me see what happens if I install an app that has a known widget, to see if a widget gets placed on the homescreen automatically.

**B. Diddy** · 01-20-2013, 08:49 PM

I just tested it out by installing Spotify as well as a clock widget called Easy Clock Widget. I'm pretty sure Spotify has a widget, but when I installed the app, the only thing that auto-added to the homescreen was the app shortcut, not the widget. And when I installed Easy Clock Widget, nothing auto-added. So I'm pretty sure Google goofed in their terminology, and the option to auto-add widgets actually means auto-add shortcuts. I'll send them some feedback about this.

Edit--just spoke to a Google customer service rep and let her know about this issue. We'll see if they correct the terminology with the next Play Store build.

**mr_nobody** · 01-21-2013, 09:02 AM

Originally Posted by B. Diddy

Interesting--my apologies. But you know, I think Google may have actually made a typo, because the Play Store used to have a check box for auto-adding shortcuts. Now, it only says auto-add widget. But I just tested it out by checking the box and installing Sitegeist, and as soon as it installed, a message popped up saying a shortcut had been placed on the homescreen.

Thank you! Every time I install an app, I end up with a new home screen shortcut to delete. Hopefully, no more!