Can I Change the Database Location on Windows?

I noticed, that the portable version starts significantly slower than the “installed” one. Therefore, I would like to switch my portable version to a desktop one. This can be simply achieved by moving the “JoplinProfile” folder content to C:\Users\username\.config\joplin-desktop.

BUT… because of data backup reasons I’d like to move the “joplin-deskopt” folder (content) to another (local) drive (where currently the portable version resides).

Is this possible? I couldn’t find a “path to” or “move to” option for the data files which would offer that.

Install offers the option to install Joplin anywhere (likly the same place as the portable version!) but desktop version sadly ignores a Profile Folder copied into the install folder.

Any hints welcome.

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I don’t personally know the specifics on it, but if you search for the unofficially supported —profile flag here in the forums, you should find your answer.

I would advise against changing the profile directory currently. There are plans for development on that and would likely be in a future update

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Meanwhile I know, that there would be the option of a “symlink” in Windows 10, too. (→ mklink with administrator rights).

Unofficially supported techniques have one very discouraging aspect: they are unsupported. A tool designed for daily support and use should always use supported and maintained techniques for long term use without trouble.

If there is something in in the development queue possibly solving that, I will stay tuned and wait on that.

Thank you both for reply.

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If you can't change the data directory the whole application becomes almost useless. I need to be able to move the files into Google drive, OneDrive (two of them), iCloud, depending which project the notes belong to. I also use notes folders in development projects for development documentation which gets checked in with the code - so I want to be able to open those and use that set of notes like one project document.

It looks like Joplin is a bad fit for your use case. Sorry to hear that, I hope your able to find an application that is better suited to your needs.

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What do you mean with "the files […] depending which project" ?

If it is for documentation reasons, you may export the respective notebook in the format of the best choice (I would choose md).

(Windows version:) Click right on notebook → Export → Markdown

Well, I mean I want to have the files flat in a folder, work on them there and be able to put them under version control (with GIT, but should work with any version control). That would require the files to be individual files, not in a database, and locations must be adaptable.

Not all my notes are like that, but a large part of my notes is software technical documentation of some sorts. But almost always notes are part of a project (expect for the notes on potential projects...) and you want to separate that.

Or in the case of my wife, she's a therapist and a translator and we have a company together. So there should be three separate "folders" or locations, one for therapies, one for translation and one for the company. But maybe also for each client/patient (because the notes should be kept separately). For my wife's case having the notes as files is not that important, but having multiple locations is.

That's not possible currently and unlikely to ever be done.

Well, but it should be easy to have multiple databases (I think it is unofficially supported already, so why not make it an official option) and then automatic exports to a folder on every save (maybe asking if export should be executed, if that takes noticably time). Possibility to sync back would be nice, of course, but probably much more complicated.

As I wrote: Export as Markdown after editing them with Joplin. The export target can be easily included into version control. If you „roll back“ you can do this with a little additional step: Delete the notebook and use FileImport… to update your Joplin notes to the respective development state.

Usually, I would expect that notes are not reverted to a state of a previous development (except maybe product description, manual), you will typically take down the reasons why you did that to have a complete history besides the 1:1 history in git.

Multiple databases are – my personal opinion – not a good solution. How do you syn partial the notes of a project? Which status is the right one if you have different databases in different git projects? …

I use Joplin a "note-taking center" for all projects. If necessary I copy (as described) notes into the project area. Joplin itself is backed up regularly. But all projects reside in "the one and only" Joplin that starts with the system.