How to uninstall Youdao Note (有道云笔记) on Mac

Youdao Note, 有道云笔记, syncs ordinary notes to your Youdao account, so they stay on the server when you remove the Mac client. Two kinds of note do not. Local notes (本地笔记) are saved only on the client where you created them and cannot be synced, according to Youdao's help centre, and a note showing a red exclamation mark has not been saved. Copy local notes into synced notes or out of the app, and fix any red marks before you uninstall. This guide covers the Electron client downloaded from note.youdao.com and the Homebrew cask youdaonote. Youdao Dictionary (有道词典) is a separate app.

Quit and remove the app

  1. Quit the client from its menu, 有道云笔记 › 退出有道云笔记, or with Command + Q. Status showed it as one row with ten processes and about 400 MB; its helpers close with it.
  2. Move 有道云笔记 from Applications to the Trash.

The recorded tests saw no login item or background item from it.

Where the client keeps its data

The client's bundle ID is ynote-desktop, not the usual reverse-domain form, so its folders do not carry a com. name. Press Shift + Command + G in Finder and open each location, skipping any that is missing. Youdao does not document these paths; they come from the recorded tests.

Location What it holds What to do
~/Library/Application Support/ynote-desktop The client's local data, 3 MB after one launch without signing in, with cache subfolders such as Cache and GPUCache Remove it after local notes are safe
~/Library/Logs/ynote-desktop Logs Safe to remove
~/Library/Preferences/ynote-desktop.plist Preferences Remove it with the app

Check the result

Run these read-only commands after the app is in the Trash:

pgrep -lf 有道云笔记.app
ls -d "$HOME/Library/Application Support/ynote-desktop" ~/Library/Logs/ynote-desktop ~/Library/Preferences/ynote-desktop.plist
  • No output from pgrep means the client is not running. A listed process means the app or one of its helpers is still open.
  • ls -d prints each item that still exists. Application Support/ynote-desktop surviving is expected if you left it unticked in Mole. "No such file or directory" means that item is gone.

If you installed it with Homebrew

When you remove a Homebrew install, Mole runs Homebrew's uninstall and adds --zap only when every path in the cask's zap list sits inside ~/Library, none of them is a row you left unticked, and no other installed app claims it. Otherwise it leaves --zap out and still removes the rows you ticked.

The youdaonote cask's zap list does not reach the tested client's data. It names ~/Library/Containers/com.youdao.note.YoudaoNoteMac, a sandbox container the tested client never created, and ~/Library/Saved Application State/com.youdao.YoudaoDict.savedState, which carries the identifier of Youdao Dictionary. After brew uninstall --cask --zap youdaonote, ~/Library/Application Support/ynote-desktop and the other items in the table are still there, so remove them in Finder or through Mole. To remove only the app:

brew uninstall --cask youdaonote

Local notes · Red exclamation mark on a note · Homebrew's youdaonote cask

What Mole lists

For the client downloaded from note.youdao.com:

  • The cache folders inside ~/Library/Application Support/ynote-desktop (Cache, Code Cache, GPUCache, DawnCache, Crashpad and blob_storage) are selected by default.
  • ~/Library/Application Support/ynote-desktop itself, ~/Library/Logs/ynote-desktop and ~/Library/Preferences/ynote-desktop.plist are listed but not selected. Mole claims them by exact name because the bundle ID is not in reverse-domain form, and it keeps rows claimed that way for you to confirm.
  • Youdao Dictionary's folders are not listed.

What this test covered

On September 26, 2026, 有道云笔记 8.2.81 was copied from the official download into Applications, without Homebrew, launched once without signing in, and uninstalled with a development build of Mole, with every listed item ticked for the test. Status showed one row, 有道云笔记, with ten processes and about 400 MB. The app and all nine listed rows went to the Trash, and none of the files it had written were left. No startup item appeared before or after. Two earlier tests used the same version from the official package: on September 20, 2026 with Mole 1.15 Preview build 280, and on September 21, 2026 with Preview build 282. Both times Mole listed only the app, and the 2.9 MB Application Support/ynote-desktop, the logs folder and the preferences file stayed on disk, because Mole did not list them then. No test signed in or created notes, and the Homebrew cask was not tested.