You can check the value of the `post_status` query variable and make sure that it's set to `trash`: function wpse239286_trash_column( $columns ) { // Bail if we're not looking at trash. $status = get_query_var( 'post_status' ); if ( 'trash' !== $status ) { return $columns; } return array_merge( $columns, array( 'trash_column' => __( 'Trash Column', 'text-domain' ) ) ); } add_filter( 'manage_posts_columns' , 'wpse239286_trash_column' ); add_filter( 'manage_pages_columns' , 'wpse239286_trash_column' );