# Crash after latest update

**URL:** <https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/crash-after-latest-update/51089>\
**Category:** Support\
**Created:** [27 September 2026 19:59 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/crash-after-latest-update/51089 "2026-09-27T19:59:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![lh234](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9fc348/32.png) [@lh234](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/lh234)\
**Post date:** [27 September 2026 19:59 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/crash-after-latest-update/51089/1 "2026-09-27T19:59:12Z")

</div>

### Operating system

Windows

### Joplin version

3.7.21

### What issue do you have?

I started using Joplin a week ago. I updated to the latest version today and when opening the app it crashed, displaying the following:

An error occurred: Fatal error:  
Maximum call stack size exceeded  
at findFolderParent

It then lists various files in the AppData.

I am unable to provide Desktop version info because the app won't open at all.

I uninstalled the app and installed the previous version instead but that doesn't work either because it says the profile was created with a later version.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![personalizedrefriger](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/personalizedrefriger/32/13210_2.png) [@personalizedrefriger](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/personalizedrefriger)\
**Post date:** [28 September 2026 14:55 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/crash-after-latest-update/51089/2 "2026-09-28T14:55:15Z")

</div>

Thanks for the issue report! I've opened a [pull request](https://github.com/laurent22/joplin/pull/16692) that may fix this for a future version.

Until that's released, a workaround should be to:

1. Locate `C:\Users\YourUserName\.config\joplin-desktop` (replace `YourUserName` with your Windows username).
  - This is the default location where Joplin desktop stores its profile data.

2. Make a backup of `C:\Users\YourUserName\.config\joplin-desktop`, then open it.
3. Locate the `settings.json` file.
  - If you use multiple profiles, there may be multiple `settings.json` files: One directly within the `joplin-desktop` folder, and others within folders with names similar to `profile-2a6ds2e4`, `profile-5x1fs0e1`.

4. Open `settings.json`. Replace

```auto
"folders.sortOrder.field": "last_note_user_updated_time",

```

with

```auto
"folders.sortOrder.field": "title",

```

5. Restart Joplin.

**Notes** :

- This seems to be related to the logic for "Sort notebooks by" \> "Updated date" when a notebook contains itself (e.g. due to a sync issue).
- The affected logic doesn't seem to have been changed recently, so I would suspect that the issue is a newly-created notebook cycle (e.g. caused by sync, import, or a plugin).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![lh234](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9fc348/32.png) [@lh234](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/lh234)\
**Post date:** [29 September 2026 19:14 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/crash-after-latest-update/51089/3 "2026-09-29T19:14:07Z")

</div>

Thanks, I'll try that out.

I did eventually manage to get a portable install working on a flash drive, which loaded the backed-up .jex file absolutely fine without any crashes.

Just in case it contributed, I imported some notebooks from OneNote the day before the crash, but these loaded fine with the portable install. I hadn't yet set up any syncing.