How to uninstall IntelliJ IDEA CE on Mac

IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition keeps its settings, keymaps, live templates and installed plugins in a versioned folder under ~/Library/Application Support/JetBrains, not in a preferences file. Export your settings first if you want them back after a reinstall. Starting with 2025.3 in December 2025, JetBrains replaced the separate Community and Ultimate editions with one IntelliJ IDEA, and updating Community Edition 2025.2 converts it into that unified app. IntelliJ IDEA Unification This guide covers removing an existing Community Edition install downloaded from JetBrains, the channel this test used, and the Homebrew cask intellij-idea-ce.

Quit IntelliJ IDEA CE and remove the app

1. Choose File › Manage IDE Settings › Export Settings to save your keymaps, live templates, run configurations and other settings to a zip file. File › Manage IDE Settings › Import Settings brings them into a later install. Sharing your IDE settings
2. Quit IntelliJ IDEA CE from its menu or with Command + Q.
3. If you installed it through JetBrains Toolbox, open Toolbox, click the settings icon next to IntelliJ IDEA CE and choose Uninstall. Otherwise drag IntelliJ IDEA CE from Applications to the Trash, or run brew uninstall --cask intellij-idea-ce if you installed it with Homebrew. JetBrains notes that removing the IDE keeps its settings and cache folders, so they are still there for the next step. Uninstalling IntelliJ IDEA

Where IntelliJ IDEA CE keeps its files

After checking the settings export and quitting, press Shift + Command + G in Finder to open ~/Library/Application Support/JetBrains, ~/Library/Caches/JetBrains and ~/Library/Logs/JetBrains separately. Select only the unwanted IdeaIC<version> folders for the Community Edition you are removing and move them to the Trash. Inspect the exact preferences and saved-state paths in the table the same way; keep other IDEs, retained versions and each JetBrains parent folder.

Community Edition's folders start with IdeaIC. JetBrains' uninstall page uses IntelliJIdea<version>, which is the Ultimate edition's name, so look for IdeaIC when you remove Community Edition. Leave the JetBrains parent folders alone: other JetBrains IDEs, including IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate and PyCharm, keep their own folders next to it. For what is safe to clear from a JetBrains IDE without losing settings, see JetBrains Caches on Mac.

Check the result

pgrep -il idea
ls -d "$HOME/Library/Application Support/JetBrains/"IdeaIC*
ls -d "$HOME/Library/Caches/JetBrains/"IdeaIC*

• No output from pgrep means no IntelliJ IDEA process is running. A listed process may belong to another IntelliJ IDEA install, so check its name before quitting it.
• ls -d prints each folder that still exists. A surviving Application Support folder still holds your settings and plugins, which is expected if you left its row unticked. If no folder matches, zsh reports "no matches found" and bash reports "No such file or directory"; these errors apply only to the pattern on that command line. In zsh, an unmatched pattern stops that line before ls runs; check each line separately.

If you installed it with Homebrew

The intellij-idea-ce cask is deprecated; Homebrew points to the unified intellij-idea cask instead. Its zap list reaches ~/Library/Application Support/JetBrains/IdeaIC2025.2, the matching Caches and Logs folders, the preferences file and saved window state. Running brew uninstall --cask --zap intellij-idea-ce yourself moves all of them to the Trash, settings and plugins included, whatever you ticked in Mole. Homebrew IntelliJ IDEA CE cask

When Mole removes a Homebrew install, it checks the zap list first. The three IdeaIC rows start unchecked with Remove data and settings with apps off; turning it on can preselect eligible app-owned data. If any existing row remains unchecked, Mole leaves --zap out: Homebrew removes the app and its receipt, and only the rows you ticked go to the Trash.

What Mole lists

For IntelliJ IDEA CE installed from JetBrains or the Homebrew cask:

• The com.jetbrains.intellij.ce preferences file and saved window state are selected by default.
• ~/Library/Application Support/JetBrains/IdeaIC<version>, ~/Library/Caches/JetBrains/IdeaIC<version> and ~/Library/Logs/JetBrains/IdeaIC<version> are review rows. They start unchecked with Remove data and settings with apps off; turning it on can preselect eligible app-owned data. After checking your settings export, review each row. If selected, Mole moves them to the Trash along with the app.
• Mole never lists the JetBrains parent folders, and it does not list another installed JetBrains IDE's own folders.

What this test covered

IntelliJ IDEA CE was copied from its official download into Applications and uninstalled on September 19, 2026, with Mole Preview 277, alongside other apps in the same batch; there was no Homebrew receipt. Before removal, Mole's update check offered 2026.2.3 from the JetBrains website channel for the installed 2025.2.5. The folders on disk were named IdeaIC2025.2; that build did not list them and they stayed. Custom keymaps, plugins, the Export Settings feature, Toolbox and a Homebrew install were not tested.