How to uninstall PyCharm on Mac

Your projects, .idea folders and virtual environments live wherever you put them and are never part of an uninstall. What PyCharm keeps for itself is a set of version-named folders inside the JetBrains folders under ~/Library, which every JetBrains IDE on the Mac shares. Those folders hold your settings, plugins, caches and Local History, the IDE's own record of recent edits. Export what you want first, then remove only the PyCharm<version> folders and never the shared parents. These steps cover the official download from jetbrains.com and the Homebrew cask pycharm; if you installed PyCharm through JetBrains Toolbox, use the Toolbox route below.

Save settings and recent history first

Choose File › Manage IDE Settings › Export Settings to write your settings to a ZIP file, or sign in to Backup and Sync to keep them in your JetBrains Account (sharing IDE settings). Local History is stored in PyCharm's system folder under ~/Library/Caches/JetBrains/PyCharm<version>, so removing that folder also removes it (Local History). Commit or copy any change you only have in Local History before you continue.

Quit PyCharm and remove the app

Quit PyCharm from its app menu, check Activity Monitor for pycharm, then move PyCharm from Applications to the Trash. Uninstalling does not cancel a JetBrains subscription or remove your JetBrains Account.

If you installed PyCharm with JetBrains Toolbox, remove it from Toolbox instead: open Toolbox, click the settings icon next to PyCharm and choose Uninstall (PyCharm uninstall docs).

In the recorded test a PyCharm entry appeared under System Settings › General › Login Items & Extensions after removal, pointing at the deleted app. It starts nothing; turn it off there if you like.

Where PyCharm keeps its data

JetBrains documents these folders in Directories used by the IDE. <version> is the release year and number, for example PyCharm2026.2; each major version has its own set.

Location What it holds What to do
~/Library/Application Support/JetBrains/PyCharm<version> Settings and installed plugins (plugins) Export settings first; remove when you no longer need them
~/Library/Caches/JetBrains/PyCharm<version> Caches, indexes and Local History Rebuilds on next launch, but Local History is lost
~/Library/Logs/JetBrains/PyCharm<version> Logs Safe to remove
~/Library/Preferences/com.jetbrains.pycharm.plist App preferences Safe to remove
~/Library/Saved Application State/com.jetbrains.pycharm.savedState Saved window state Safe to remove
~/Library/Application Support/JetBrains, ~/Library/Caches/JetBrains, ~/Library/Logs/JetBrains Shared parents holding every JetBrains IDE's folders Never remove these folders themselves

The JetBrains uninstall page lists only the settings and cache folders for manual removal; the rest come from the Homebrew cask and Mole's test. To clear folders left by older PyCharm versions, run Help › Delete Leftover IDE Directories… in PyCharm before you uninstall it; see JetBrains Caches on Mac (IntelliJ, WebStorm, PyCharm).

Check the result

Run these read-only commands in Terminal:

pgrep -il pycharm
ls -d ~/Library/Application\ Support/JetBrains/PyCharm*
ls -d ~/Library/Caches/JetBrains/PyCharm*
ls ~/Library/Application\ Support/JetBrains
  • No output from pgrep means PyCharm has quit.
  • The two ls -d lines list every version-named PyCharm folder still on the Mac, which is expected if you kept them; "No such file or directory" means none are left.
  • The last line shows the shared folder. It still exists while any other JetBrains IDE or Toolbox is installed, and its other entries must stay.

If you installed it with Homebrew

The pycharm cask quits PyCharm on uninstall. Its zap list covers the current version's folders, Application Support/JetBrains/PyCharm<version>, Caches/JetBrains/PyCharm<version> and Logs/JetBrains/PyCharm<version>, plus older-style Application Support/PyCharm<version> and Preferences/PyCharm<version> folders, com.jetbrains.pycharm.plist, the jetbrains.pc.*, jetbrains.py.* and jetbrains.pycharm.* preference files and the saved window state. brew uninstall --cask --zap pycharm moves them all to the Trash whatever you selected in Mole, including your settings, plugins and Local History. It never touches the shared JetBrains parents. To keep your settings, remove only the app:

brew uninstall --cask pycharm

Mole adds --zap only when everything in the zap list sits in your own ~/Library, is a row you left selected, and is not claimed by another installed app. The version-named PyCharm<version> folders are listed but not selected, so with the default selection Mole removes PyCharm without --zap and moves only the rows you selected.

What Mole lists

When you remove it with Mole:

  • Mole shows a data-heavy notice for JetBrains apps, asking you to review their data before removing them.
  • The version-named PyCharm<version> folders under Application Support/JetBrains, Caches/JetBrains and Logs/JetBrains are listed but not selected.
  • com.jetbrains.pycharm.plist and the saved window state are selected by default.
  • The shared JetBrains parent folders are never offered for removal, and folders belonging to other JetBrains IDEs are not listed under PyCharm.

What this test covered

PyCharm Professional 2026.2.2 was installed from the official download and uninstalled on September 19, 2026, with a Mole Preview build. Mole's existing rule for version-named JetBrains folders matched PyCharm2026.2, no new leftover type was found, and the shared JetBrains parents stayed. A Login Items entry for PyCharm, pointing at the removed app, appeared after the uninstall. Settings export, Local History, a Toolbox-managed install and the Homebrew cask were not part of this test.