Uninstall Sublime Text on Mac

Back up the active Sublime Text data folder before removing its data. Settings, key bindings, snippets and package configuration are in ~/Library/Application Support/Sublime Text/Packages/User, while a saved license is in ~/Library/Application Support/Sublime Text/Local/License.sublime_license. Copy them separately if you want to reinstall. A setup using the older Sublime Text 3 directory uses the corresponding paths under ~/Library/Application Support/Sublime Text 3, as explained below. These steps cover the official download and Homebrew cask sublime-text.

Quit Sublime Text and remove the app

Save open files, quit Sublime Text from its app menu, then move Sublime Text from Applications to the Trash. Sublime Text runs no login item or background helper, so nothing needs to be stopped first.

Where Sublime Text keeps its files

Location	What it holds	What to do
`~/Library/Application Support/Sublime Text/Packages/User`	Your settings, key bindings, snippets, macros, and installed package configuration; never overwritten by updates	Back up before removing the app
`~/Library/Application Support/Sublime Text/Local/License.sublime_license`	Your purchased license key, if you registered one	Back up if you plan to reinstall later
`~/Library/Preferences/com.sublimetext.4.plist`	App preferences	Safe to remove
`~/Library/Caches/com.sublimetext.4`	Regenerable cache	Safe to remove
`~/Library/Saved Application State/com.sublimetext.4.savedState`	Saved window state	Safe to remove
`~/Library/Application Support/Sublime Text 3`, `~/Library/Caches/com.sublimetext.3`	Data from an older Sublime Text 3 install, if this Mac ever had one	Review before removing; back up `Packages/User` inside it the same way

Sublime Text 4 uses ~/Library/Application Support/Sublime Text if it exists, otherwise it reuses an existing ~/Library/Application Support/Sublime Text 3 folder. Only when neither exists does it create the newer folder. Back up the folder your setup uses and keep it if another installed Sublime Text version still uses it. Running 3 and 4 side by side.

The `subl` command line tool

Current command line docs add /Applications/Sublime Text.app/Contents/SharedSupport/bin to PATH on macOS. If you added that entry, remove only that app-specific entry from the shell configuration you edited. An older or manual setup may instead have a subl symlink. Run command -v subl to locate the current entry, then inspect that exact path with ls -l and readlink; for an old /usr/local/bin/subl link, the corresponding checks are ls -l /usr/local/bin/subl and readlink /usr/local/bin/subl. Only if it is a symlink targeting the Sublime Text.app you removed, open its parent folder with Finder’s Shift + Command + G and move that one link to Trash. Keep a regular file or an entry owned by another installation. The Homebrew cask manages its own symlink during ordinary uninstall.

Check the result

Run these read-only commands in Terminal:

pgrep -il sublime
ls -d ~/Library/Application\ Support/Sublime\ Text
ls -l /usr/local/bin/subl

No output from pgrep means Sublime Text has quit. The first ls shows whether your settings and license folder is still on disk. The second ls checks only /usr/local/bin/subl; No such file or directory means that entry is absent, not that every subl launcher is gone. A printed entry needs the type and target checks above before removal; permission or read errors leave the result unresolved.

If you installed it with Homebrew

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

The sublime-text cask quits Sublime Text for you during removal. Running brew uninstall --cask --zap sublime-text yourself runs a zap list that covers Application Support, Caches, HTTPStorages, preferences, and saved window state for both com.sublimetext.4 and the older com.sublimetext.3, plus a Sublime Text (Safe Mode) variant, regardless of what you select in Mole, including your Packages/User settings and license file. Back those up first, or skip zap to keep everything but the app:

brew uninstall --cask sublime-text

Homebrew Sublime Text cask

What Mole lists

When you remove it with Mole:

~/Library/Application Support/Sublime Text (which holds Packages/User and your license file) is unselected with Remove data and settings with apps off (the default); turning it on can preselect eligible app-owned data, so back it up and check its row before removal. ~/Library/Preferences/com.sublimetext.4.plist, ~/Library/Caches/com.sublimetext.4, and saved window state are separate rows and are selected by default.
Mole can list a subl symlink in /usr/local/bin for review when it targets this Sublime Text.app; it is not selected by default. Other shell PATH entries and launchers need the checks above.

What this test covered

Sublime Text was installed from Homebrew and removed with a development build of Mole on September 17, 2026, as part of an 8-app cluster. Sublime Text's own row showed its Application Support, Caches, and preferences paths all removed with no new leaf types found. This Mac had no Sublime Text 3 data and no manually created subl symlink, so neither was exercised in this run; the official direct download was not uninstalled in this test.