This has been discussed seemingly at length in various other threads, but it seems that right now the only offered solution for users being frustrated by the pop-up update dialog is just to disable auto-updates.
I don't really like this solution because I want to receive regular updates at the frequency they are delivered, but I don't want an intrusive pop-up appearing on my desktop every time, and I don't want to have to download and run the msi installer every single time an update is available.
Is it possible to compartmentalize the update functionality in the actual app itself? Perhaps give the user some sort of banner notification or indicator in a corner that an update is ready, and handle the patching process directly in the app?
I think there are a lot of users like me who would rather just disable updates entirely than to deal with the update dialog, which causes us to miss out on new features and fixes.
If there's an open issue for this I'd be happy to work on a PR!
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I would like this! I'll check about having an issue created tomorrow.
Note that because we already use electron-builder, it might make sense to also use their auto-updater (as compared to the built-in Electron auto updater).
I talked with @laurent22. It seems that
- we used to use
electron-builder's auto-update service, but disabled it due to bugs (see commit and commit),
- Joplin might migrate away from
electron-builder to electron-forge at some point in the future.
As such, it seems that Electron's autoUpdater is probably a better choice.
If there's an open issue for this I'd be happy to work on a PR!
I've created an issue for this Support auto-update · Issue #8958 · laurent22/joplin · GitHub.
One of my users contacted me this morning to ask if I could look for an alternative to Joplin. Almost every time she opens Joplin on her Mac desktop, she is advised that there is an Update and asked if she wants to download and install it. If she decides to do that, she has to:
- go to her browser to download the file
- when the download is complete, she has to open something called applications
- then drag the downloaded file across to applications
- and replace the old application.
If she declines updating, after a week she is informed by Joplin that she MUST update in order to get the latest synchronized files.
I have informed her how to turn off the automatic check for updates. I'm not sure this will help with the problem involving synchronization that occurs once a week though.
I do not use a Mac, so have not experienced this myself, but I do have an issue with updates in that:
- I open Joplin
- I'm informed there's a new update
- I choose to update (download and open the update file)
- The update begins
- Halfway through the update, I am told that Joplin is still open and that I must close it in order for the updater to continue.
- I "close" Joplin in the normal way, but that's not good enough
- Updater still complains
- I have to go to the Task Manager and manually close all the running Joplin processes.
All of this (what my user and I are experiencing) is really annoying! Is there some way to make the updating process completely transparent to the user after a user chooses to install an update?
We would be very grateful for some improvement here!
TIA
Marian
Hi! Right now this feature is in the process of development as part of Google Summer of Code program. You can check its progress by looking at the category "GSoC Projects" subcategory "Seamless Updates"
You should see improvements soon! I look forward to your feedback 
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