Uninstall draw.io on Mac

Check where your .drawio files are actually saved before removing draw.io Desktop. They are ordinary files in the folders you chose, including Finder folders synchronized by another app, so there is no single default location to back up. These steps cover the official disk image and the Homebrew cask drawio; the recorded test used the cask.

Your diagrams are not application data

Open File › Recent in draw.io Desktop and locate each important diagram in Finder. Back up those actual files before removing the app. Desktop does not provide the web editor's default cloud-account connections; a file in a Google Drive or OneDrive folder is synchronized by that separate app. Removing draw.io Desktop does not remove the saved diagrams. draw.io Desktop design

Quit and remove the app

Quit draw.io from its app menu, then move draw.io from Applications to the Trash (official download), or let Homebrew remove it (see below).

Where draw.io keeps its data

Check the result

Run these read-only commands in Terminal:

pgrep -ilf draw.io
launchctl list | grep -i jgraph
ls -d ~/Library/Application\ Support/draw.io
pluginkit -m | grep -i drawio

No output from pgrep means draw.io is not running. No output from launchctl list means the current user session has no matching loaded draw.io job. ls -d on the Application Support folder either lists it or reports "No such file or directory". The pluginkit line shows whether the Quick Look preview extension is still registered with the system; it clears itself once draw.io.app and its leftover container are both gone.

If you installed it with Homebrew

Ordinary Homebrew removal also removes its managed drawio command wrapper; it does not require zap.

Mole skips --zap when its list reaches unchecked or shared data, or cannot be fully checked, and still cleans the leftovers you selected.

Running brew uninstall --cask --zap drawio yourself runs the cask's whole zap list on its own. That list is long, but almost every path in it is one Mole's own uninstall list already selects by default: the app's caches, preferences, saved state, HTTPStorages, WebKit data and logs. The Application Support folder is unselected with Remove data and settings with apps off; enabling it can preselect eligible app-owned data, and the zap step removes it too, whatever you have ticked in Mole. Back up your saved diagrams and any app settings you want to keep before choosing zap. The ordinary removal below preserves the zap-listed data. Homebrew draw.io cask

brew uninstall --cask drawio

Files in cloud-synchronized folders

A diagram saved in a Finder folder synchronized by Google Drive, OneDrive or another provider belongs to that folder. Uninstalling draw.io Desktop does not stop that separate provider or remove its account. Cloud-account connections in the draw.io web editor are a separate product workflow.

What Mole lists

For draw.io installed from the official download:

• ~/Library/Application Support/draw.io is listed but unselected while Remove data and settings with apps is off, the default. Enabling it can preselect eligible app-owned data; untick this row to keep app settings. The Preview Extension's container and its Application Scripts folder are selected by default, since the extension ships inside draw.io.app.
• Every other row above, including both updater caches and the ShipIt-related Preferences file, is selected by default.
• The uninstall scan excludes personal folders such as Documents, Desktop and Downloads.

What this test covered

draw.io was installed and removed through the Homebrew cask drawio on September 17, 2026, with a development build of Mole; Mole reported it as already covered by its existing rules, so nothing new was added for this app. Homebrew's zap step moved ~/Library/Application Support/draw.io to the Trash before Mole's own scan ran. The official disk-image install, and diagrams stored in a connected cloud account, were not part of this uninstall test.