# Secondary app instance loses all notes

**URL:** <https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/secondary-app-instance-loses-all-notes/51410>\
**Category:** Support\
**Created:** [5 November 2026 18:02 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/secondary-app-instance-loses-all-notes/51410 "2026-11-05T18:02:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![narF](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/narf/32/9259_2.png) [@narF](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/narF)\
**Post date:** [5 November 2026 18:02 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/secondary-app-instance-loses-all-notes/51410/1 "2026-11-05T18:02:25Z")

</div>

### Operating system

Linux

### Joplin version

3.7.21

### Desktop version info

Joplin 3.7.21 (prod, linux)

Device: linux, Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4770 CPU @ 3.40GHz  
Client ID: ae9b40daa6474ff88d5efd1872618383  
Sync Version: 3  
Profile Version: 54  
Keychain Supported: No  
Alternative instance ID: alt1  
Sync target: (None)  
Editor: Markdown

Backup: 1.5.1  
Freehand Drawing: 4.3.0

### Sync target

Nextcloud

### What issue do you have?

3 times this months, I lost all my notes in my "secondary app instance", on 2 different devices.

My setup:

- I have a Nextcloud server with 2 separate Nextcloud accounts. (One for personal, one for work)
- I use 2 Joplin instances: one for personal, one for work

In the past month, on 3 occasions, when I opened "Secondary app instance", I see an empty Joplin instance (I only see the tutorial "Welcome" notebook). Meanwhile, the notes in "primary app instance" are intact.

My issue happened 3 times, on 2 different computers. Every time it was always the "Secondary app instance" that lost data, even though on one device, that instance was connected to my **personal** Joplin (personal Nextcloud account) and on the other device, the "secondary instance" was connected to my **Work** Nextcloud account.

In other words:

- Computer 1
  - Primary instance: Work
  - Secondary instance: Personal (lost)

- Computer 2
  - Primary instance: Personal
  - Secondary instance: Work (lost)

In all cases, the Nextcloud server is intact. I just have to re-sync, but that takes quite a bit of time and it's annoying.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![laurent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@laurent](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/laurent)\
**Post date:** [6 November 2026 00:44 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/secondary-app-instance-loses-all-notes/51410/2 "2026-11-06T00:44:17Z")

</div>

But was it really lost of just pointing at the wrong profile folder?

If you look under ~/.config/joplin-desktop, you'll see `profile-*` folders. Next time you lose the profile, maybe check to see if there are still folders and data in there

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![narF](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/narf/32/9259_2.png) [@narF](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/narF)\
**Post date:** [6 November 2026 02:34 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/secondary-app-instance-loses-all-notes/51410/3 "2026-11-06T02:34:17Z")

</div>

I only see one profile folder:

```plaintext
$ ls -lA
total 120272
drwxr-xr-x. 1 narf narf 598 30 sep 09:02 cache/
-rw-r--r--. 1 narf narf 16793600 5 nov 21:30 database.sqlite
drwx------. 1 narf narf 610 5 nov 11:45 internal/
-rw-r--r--. 1 narf narf 64 29 jun 2025 ipc_secret_key.txt
drwxr-xr-x. 1 narf narf 0 4 jui 2024 JoplinBackup/
-rw-r--r--. 1 narf narf 1192 29 jun 2024 keymap-desktop.json
-rw-r--r--. 1 narf narf 0 5 nov 21:32 lock
-rw-r--r--. 1 narf narf 105404213 5 nov 09:49 log-1793890196246.txt
-rw-r--r--. 1 narf narf 8573 5 nov 11:45 log-clipper.txt
-rw-r--r--. 1 narf narf 90473 27 mai 23:04 log-cross-app-ipc.txt
-rw-r--r--. 1 narf narf 70280 5 nov 21:00 log-main-process.txt
-rw-r--r--. 1 narf narf 761467 5 nov 21:30 log.txt
drwxr-xr-x. 1 narf narf 406 5 nov 09:47 plugins/
drwxr-xr-x. 1 narf narf 158 5 nov 09:43 profile-8fqy2b6m/
-rw-r--r--. 1 narf narf 164 5 nov 09:58 profiles.json
drwxr-xr-x. 1 narf narf 84192 5 nov 09:38 resources/
-rw-r--r--. 1 narf narf 1689 5 nov 21:27 settings.json
-rw-r--r--. 1 narf narf 0 31 mai 14:15 spell-checker-migration-done
drwxr-xr-x. 1 narf narf 1414 5 nov 19:32 tmp/
-rw-r--r--. 1 narf narf 140 5 nov 09:48 window-state-prod.json

```

```plaintext
$ ls -l profile-8fqy2b6m/
total 3180
drwxr-xr-x. 1 narf narf 598 5 nov 09:42 cache/
-rw-r--r--. 1 narf narf 1261568 5 nov 09:43 database.sqlite
drwxr-xr-x. 1 narf narf 0 19 fév 2025 JoplinBackup/
-rw-r--r--. 1 narf narf 944 5 nov 09:42 log-clipper.txt
-rw-r--r--. 1 narf narf 1985316 5 nov 09:43 log.txt
drwxr-xr-x. 1 narf narf 1300 5 nov 09:42 resources/
-rw-r--r--. 1 narf narf 1190 5 nov 09:42 settings.json
drwxr-xr-x. 1 narf narf 1486 5 nov 09:43 tmp/

```

To be clear: I'm talking about "secondary app instance", not profiles. I don't use profiles anymore because I can't open both my work and my personal notes at the same time.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![narF](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/narf/32/9259_2.png) [@narF](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/narF)\
**Post date:** [6 November 2026 03:24 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/secondary-app-instance-loses-all-notes/51410/4 "2026-11-06T03:24:45Z")

</div>

It did it again!!! 😠

I closed both instances of Joplin and quit from the status bar, relaunched, and again, the secondary instance lost all my notes.

I noticed another folder `joplin-desktop-alt1`, which has all its files:

```auto
$ ls -l ~/.config/joplin-desktop-alt1
total 2388
drwxr-xr-x. 1 narf narf 202 15 oct 11:08 cache
-rw-r--r--. 1 narf narf 1925120 15 oct 13:58 database.sqlite
drwx------. 1 narf narf 498 15 oct 13:58 internal
drwxr-xr-x. 1 narf narf 0 15 oct 11:09 JoplinBackup
-rw-r--r--. 1 narf narf 945 15 oct 13:58 log-main-process.txt
-rw-r--r--. 1 narf narf 507871 15 oct 13:58 log.txt
drwxr-xr-x. 1 narf narf 936 15 oct 11:13 resources
-rw-r--r--. 1 narf narf 1000 15 oct 12:32 settings.json
-rw-r--r--. 1 narf narf 0 15 oct 11:08 spell-checker-migration-done
drwxr-xr-x. 1 narf narf 826 15 oct 12:27 tmp
-rw-r--r--. 1 narf narf 140 15 oct 13:58 window-state-prod.json

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![laurent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@laurent](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/laurent)\
**Post date:** [6 November 2026 07:42 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/secondary-app-instance-loses-all-notes/51410/5 "2026-11-06T07:42:29Z")

</div>

Right joplin-desktop-alt1 should have your second instance profile. If you close all instances and open them again, do the notes come back? I'm assuming it's somehow pointing at the wrong location although I haven't heard of such a bug before

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![narF](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/narf/32/9259_2.png) [@narF](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/narF)\
**Post date:** [6 November 2026 22:31 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/secondary-app-instance-loses-all-notes/51410/6 "2026-11-06T22:31:14Z")

</div>

> [@laurent](#):
>
> If you close all instances and open them again, do the notes come back?

No they didn't.

I notice the settings says which folder it's using. Seems to be the correct folder:

 ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/uploads/cozic/original/3X/2/7/270dc867536d04e377e5ad1121c8afe73c321490.png)