How to uninstall Joplin on Mac

Joplin does not keep your notes in ~/Library. Joplin's profile documentation puts them in ~/.config/joplin-desktop: database.sqlite holds every note, notebook and tag, resources holds the attachments, and plugins and settings.json hold your plugins and preferences. Removing the app leaves that folder alone, and a sync target such as Joplin Cloud, Dropbox or a WebDAV server keeps its own copy. This guide covers Joplin from its official download and from the Homebrew cask joplin.

Back up your notes first

  • In Joplin, choose File › Export all and pick JEX. A Joplin forum answer from its developer confirms that exporting from the menu exports everything, and Joplin's import and export page describes JEX as lossless, with tags and timestamps kept. It does not carry note history.
  • For a full copy that includes plugins and settings, quit Joplin and copy the whole ~/.config/joplin-desktop folder somewhere else.
  • If you sync, run one more sync and let it finish before you quit. Your notes then also live on the sync target.
  • If you set up more than one profile, the extra profiles sit in profile- folders inside that directory, so a copy of the whole folder takes them too.

Quit Joplin and remove the app

  1. Quit Joplin from the Joplin menu. Closing the window is not enough. In the recorded test it ran nine processes, which Mole's Status page folded into one Joplin row.
  2. Search Activity Monitor for Joplin and check that its processes have exited.
  3. Move Joplin from Finder's Applications folder to the Trash.

The test did not show a login item or background item for Joplin.

Where Joplin keeps its data

Location What it holds What to do
~/.config/joplin-desktop Your notes database, attachments, plugins and settings Keep it until your export or sync is confirmed; it is your notes, not a cache
~/Library/Application Support/Joplin The app's Electron local storage and caches Remove after quitting, once you are done with the app
~/Library/Preferences/net.cozic.joplin-desktop.plist App preferences Remove with the app

Check the result

pgrep -il joplin
ls ~/.config/joplin-desktop
ls -d "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Joplin"
  • No output from pgrep means Joplin is not running.
  • ls ~/.config/joplin-desktop listing database.sqlite and resources means your notes are still on this Mac, which is what you want if you plan to reinstall. "No such file or directory" means the folder is gone; make sure your export or sync target has everything before you empty the Trash.
  • ls -d printing the Application Support path means that folder is still there; "No such file or directory" means it is gone.

If you installed it with Homebrew

The joplin cask's zap list is ~/Library/Application Support/Joplin, the preferences files net.cozic.joplin-desktop.plist and net.cozic.joplin-desktop.helper.plist, and the saved window state. brew uninstall --cask --zap joplin moves those to the Trash. It does not list ~/.config/joplin-desktop, so your notes are not part of it. To remove only the app:

brew uninstall --cask joplin

Mole adds --zap only when every path on the zap list sits inside ~/Library, none of them touches a row you left unchecked, and no other installed app claims them. ~/Library/Application Support/Joplin is listed but not selected by default, so Mole leaves --zap out unless you tick that row. A brew command you type yourself never consults Mole's checkboxes.

What Mole lists

For Joplin from the official download:

  • ~/.config/joplin-desktop is listed but not selected. It holds your notes, so Mole never ticks it for you.
  • ~/Library/Application Support/Joplin is listed but not selected. The cache folders inside it (Cache, Code Cache, GPUCache, DawnGraphiteCache, DawnWebGPUCache, blob_storage) are separate rows selected by default.
  • The preferences file, the recent-documents list and the temporary caches filed under net.cozic.joplin-desktop are selected by default.
  • Notes on your sync target are not on this Mac and are not listed.

What this test covered

On September 26, 2026, Joplin 3.7.18 was installed from its official disk image, opened once without setting up sync, and uninstalled with a development build of Mole with every row ticked. Status showed one Joplin row with nine processes using about 936 MB. Thirteen items went to the Trash, including ~/.config/joplin-desktop (about 9 MB, a fresh profile with no notes of the tester's) and ~/Library/Application Support/Joplin, and nothing from the list was left on disk. Earlier, on September 20, 2026, the same version was removed and the full-disk rescan found ~/.config/joplin-desktop, which was added to Mole's list as an unselected row; on September 21 the retest used Mole 1.15 Preview build 282, which did not list it yet, so the folder stayed on disk even with every row ticked. Sync, real notes, plugins and a Homebrew install were not tested.