# Some items cannot be decrypted

**URL:** <https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/some-items-cannot-be-decrypted/49616>\
**Category:** Support\
**Created:** [15 April 2026 15:30 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/some-items-cannot-be-decrypted/49616 "2026-04-15T15:30:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 16\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![allan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ccd318/32.png) [@allan](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/allan)\
**Post date:** [15 April 2026 15:30 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/some-items-cannot-be-decrypted/49616/1 "2026-04-15T15:30:43Z")

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### Operating system

Windows

### Joplin version

3.5.13

### Desktop version info

Joplin 3.5.13 (prod, win32)

Device: win32, Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-14600  
Client ID: 3145ffa5fbef472693ad5fb37509e2a4  
Sync Version: 3  
Profile Version: 49  
Keychain Supported: Yes  
Alternative instance ID: -

Revision: 0c1511f

Backup: 1.5.1  
Freehand Drawing: 4.2.0

### Sync target

Joplin Cloud

### What issue do you have?

Joplin is installed on 2 desktops, 2 laptops and an Android phone.

All of a sudden I'm getting the "Some Items Cannot Be Decrypted" banner on all Windows devices (Android device seems okay). I've clicked on "retry" multiple times and re-encrypted and resynced - no joy. Screenshot and log file uploaded.

### Screenshots

 ![Joplin.png](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/uploads/cozic/original/3X/2/8/2868f7931bdecbe3a979f6458460c0224f5b7133.png)

### Log file

[syncReport-1776265912715.csv](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/uploads/short-url/yiwwJnMgY4dVjHmVqv31MmfFLQ9.csv) (18.8 KB)[log.txt](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/uploads/short-url/uRmzyGoLQzdeFK7Kvt502jAwgXn.txt) (38.1 KB)[log.txt](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/uploads/short-url/qG5d7JA2mqoBbLQ3EKOYrESGCp1.txt) (46.5 KB)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mrjo118](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/mrjo118/32/23404_2.png) [@mrjo118](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/mrjo118)\
**Post date:** [15 April 2026 15:46 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/some-items-cannot-be-decrypted/49616/2 "2026-04-15T15:46:44Z")

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I think this is likely caused by an issue with the encryption on Android, see my comment here [https://github.com/laurent22/joplin/issues/14975#issuecomment-4246731347](https://github.com/laurent22/joplin/issues/14975#issuecomment-4246731347)

I suspect based on the types and frequencies of the items which could not be decrypted, that most of those items are from the default welcome notebook (especially if you deleted it) when you did initial device setup on Android.

The good news is we have a known fix for the encryption issue, so I expect this will be fixed in Joplin 3.6 when it is released. Regardless, you will still need to clean up these items on the server though (by deleting the item with the matching id), in order to remove the sync errors. Be sure to make a jex backup on a known good client (seems like this is the Android one, as this has no errors) before deleting anything though.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![allan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ccd318/32.png) [@allan](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/allan)\
**Post date:** [15 April 2026 19:35 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/some-items-cannot-be-decrypted/49616/3 "2026-04-15T19:35:39Z")

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Thank you. Are you saying I have to open every message, click on the information icon, and look for matching id's? Surely there must be a faster way, no?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mrjo118](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/mrjo118/32/23404_2.png) [@mrjo118](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/mrjo118)\
**Post date:** [15 April 2026 19:47 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/some-items-cannot-be-decrypted/49616/4 "2026-04-15T19:47:33Z")

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What information icon do you mean? All of the ids are in the screenshot which you posted

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![allan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ccd318/32.png) [@allan](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/allan)\
**Post date:** [15 April 2026 19:51 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/some-items-cannot-be-decrypted/49616/5 "2026-04-15T19:51:01Z")

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But how do I find the associated note to delete it?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mrjo118](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/mrjo118/32/23404_2.png) [@mrjo118](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/mrjo118)\
**Post date:** [15 April 2026 19:53 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/some-items-cannot-be-decrypted/49616/6 "2026-04-15T19:53:27Z")

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Oh you're using Joplin Cloud. I'm not sure you can remove those items yourself, as they need to be removed from the server. I think you will need @laurent to assist

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![allan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ccd318/32.png) [@allan](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/allan)\
**Post date:** [15 April 2026 19:56 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/some-items-cannot-be-decrypted/49616/7 "2026-04-15T19:56:25Z")

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So my next step is....?

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<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:** [16 April 2026 13:46 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/some-items-cannot-be-decrypted/49616/8 "2026-04-16T13:46:58Z")

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Maybe the easiest would be to create a new profile as described below, and sync. This would fetch all the items again from the server and that should not include any corrupted item.

> **[Multiple profile support | Joplin](https://joplinapp.org/help/apps/profiles/)**
>
> To create a new profile, open File \> Switch profile and select Create new profile, enter the profile name and press OK. The app will automatically switch to this new profile, which you can now conf...

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mrjo118](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/mrjo118/32/23404_2.png) [@mrjo118](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/mrjo118)\
**Post date:** [16 April 2026 14:51 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/some-items-cannot-be-decrypted/49616/9 "2026-04-16T14:51:00Z")

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> [@laurent](#):
>
> This would fetch all the items again from the server and that should not include any corrupted item

@laurent The OP says they have the banner on **all Windows devices,** which suggests the server items are corrupted. So I don't think re-syncing a new profile would help, as the corrupted items are clearly being propagated to all devices. I suspect this is due to the items being encrypted with an invalid encryption key (due to the Android encryption bug), so they will only work on the device which had the items before they were encrypted, while all other existing devices and new profiles wont be able to decrypt them.

The only solutions I see would be to manually remove those items from the server (which the user has no control over with Joplin Cloud), perform a local SQL hack so the client will delete them (which I'm sure you would not condone), or do a full reset from jex backup on all clients and server.

The final option is quite extreme considering the issue could be introduced again until [Mobile: Fixes #14975: Fix E2EE password validation: Upgrade react-native-quick-crypto to v1.0.19 by personalizedrefrigerator · Pull Request #15103 · laurent22/joplin · GitHub](https://github.com/laurent22/joplin/pull/15103) is released, and additionally I'm not even sure the Victor plugin would be able to delete revisions for deleted notes, so you would probably have to clear down the user's data for them as well

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![allan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ccd318/32.png) [@allan](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/allan)\
**Post date:** [16 April 2026 15:14 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/some-items-cannot-be-decrypted/49616/10 "2026-04-16T15:14:46Z")

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I appreciate the responses above, and because of the differing opinions, am going to just sit tight for now. I'll keep watch on the thread in case a definitive solution is proposed.

Thanks again.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jpservices](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@jpservices](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/jpservices)\
**Post date:** [19 April 2026 13:57 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/some-items-cannot-be-decrypted/49616/11 "2026-04-19T13:57:20Z")

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Hi:

Same problem here. I have a few resources and revisions that are on all my devices marked as not decryptable: Android, OSX and WIn11. They came after I installed a new android phone a couple of months back. Somehow due to the numerous threads about this annoying message for the past years this seems to become a "feature". Resetting all devices and re syncing is really not an alternative since the first sync is so painful and as some said above: since the issue replicated on all devices this clearly comes from Joplin Cloud.

Do I understand well: 3.6 should fix this or at least provide a means of cleaning up?

Thanks

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mrjo118](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/mrjo118/32/23404_2.png) [@mrjo118](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/mrjo118)\
**Post date:** [19 April 2026 14:04 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/some-items-cannot-be-decrypted/49616/12 "2026-04-19T14:04:39Z")

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> [@jpservices](#):
>
> Do I understand well: 3.6 should fix this or at least provide a means of cleaning up?

Joplin 3.6 will stop this from happening again, but unfortunately it wont clean up existing items which can't be decrypted because of the issue

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jpservices](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@jpservices](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/jpservices)\
**Post date:** [19 April 2026 15:18 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/some-items-cannot-be-decrypted/49616/13 "2026-04-19T15:18:23Z")

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Thanks for clarification. So what is the best plan to get rid of this? In which of those multiple threads is the most effective solution?

Thanks

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mrjo118](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/mrjo118/32/23404_2.png) [@mrjo118](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/mrjo118)\
**Post date:** [20 April 2026 13:37 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/some-items-cannot-be-decrypted/49616/14 "2026-04-20T13:37:50Z")

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@jpservices Do you use Joplin Cloud, or another sync target?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mrjo118](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/mrjo118/32/23404_2.png) [@mrjo118](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/mrjo118)\
**Post date:** [21 April 2026 00:29 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/some-items-cannot-be-decrypted/49616/15 "2026-04-21T00:29:39Z")

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@allan @jpservices I have come up with a method to delete these items which cannot be decrypted, see [How to delete corrupt server items which cannot be decrypted](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/how-to-delete-corrupt-server-items-which-cannot-be-decrypted/49646) for details. It is quite technical, so if you have any questions, feel free to post on that thread

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/uploads/cozic/original/3X/1/c/1c948e33314e232a0927789508474d8624f4270b.png) [@system](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [21 May 2026 00:30 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/some-items-cannot-be-decrypted/49616/16 "2026-05-21T00:30:16Z")

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