How to uninstall Obsidian on Windows

An Obsidian vault is the folder where your notes live, wherever you chose to put it; removing the app does not touch it, and a later install can open it again. Obsidian's own data folder holds its global settings, not your notes, so back that up too if you want the same setup after reinstalling. This guide covers Obsidian installed per-user from the Obsidian.Obsidian winget package.

Quit Obsidian first

Save any open notes and close every Obsidian window. Check Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) for any Obsidian.exe still listed before you uninstall.

Remove the app with its own uninstaller

Go to Settings › Apps › Installed apps, find Obsidian, and choose Uninstall, or run:

winget uninstall --id Obsidian.Obsidian

Back up your vault first

Locate your vault folder from within Obsidian before you quit, and copy the whole folder, including the hidden .obsidian subfolder with its settings, hotkeys and plugins. Uninstalling the app never touches a vault on its own, but back it up regardless before you make any changes.

Where the data lives

Location	What it holds	What to do
Each vault's `.obsidian` folder	Settings, hotkeys, themes and community plugins for that vault	Keep it with the vault
`%APPDATA%\Obsidian`	Global settings and caches, not your notes	Back this up if you want the same setup after reinstalling; safe to remove for a clean start
`%LOCALAPPDATA%\obsidian-updater`	Downloaded update installers	Safe to remove

Check the result

Run these read-only commands after the uninstall finishes:

Get-Process Obsidian -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
winget list --id Obsidian.Obsidian
Test-Path "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\obsidian"
Test-Path "$env:APPDATA\Obsidian"

No output from Get-Process only means this query observed no matching process; a suppressed error leaves the running state unknown.
A completed winget list query with no match means the package record is gone; a matching row means the uninstall did not finish.
The first Test-Path returning False means the program folder is gone; True means files remain there.
Test-Path "$env:APPDATA\Obsidian" returning True means your global settings and caches are still there, which is expected unless you removed them yourself. Your vault, wherever you put it, is separate and is never touched by this.

If you installed it with winget

winget uninstall runs the same uninstaller Settings › Apps uses and removes the same program files; it does not touch %APPDATA%\Obsidian or any vault on its own.

What Mole lists

For Obsidian installed per-user from winget:

The program folder, the Start Menu shortcut, an obsidian:// link registration and a row grouping Windows' own records of when you opened the program are selected by default.
%APPDATA%\Obsidian is listed but not selected, since it holds your global settings; the caches inside it are listed on their own and selected by default.
%LOCALAPPDATA%\obsidian-updater, which holds only downloaded update installers, is selected by default.
Vaults are never listed, since they live in folders you chose yourself.

What this test covered

Tested with Obsidian 1.13.7 installed through winget, per-user scope. No vault was created during the test, so vault backup and reopening after a reinstall were not verified end to end.