[SOLVED] Just updated to IDEA 2016.3 using JetBrains Toolbox. Can I delete the old IDEA folder?

Answered

It seems that when the user updates his JetBrains IDE via Toolbox the tool doesn't really clean up after itself. My ".IntelliJIdea2016.2" and "C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\JetBrains\Toolbox\apps\IDEA-U\ch-0\162.2228.15" weren't deleted after I launched the new IDEA and told it to import data from 2016.2. Can I simple go there and delete those folders? Will it cause any issue?

 

Thanks.

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8 comments
Official comment

It does. However, Toolbox has a feature called "rollback" – if for some reason you don't like the update (something wrong after update with your project, or there is a regression bug on our side) you can immediately roll the previous version back. That's why Toolbox saves one extra copy. 

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@Konstantin Bulenkov thanks for the fast reply, so if that's the case I have two questions:

  1. Will JetBrains only keep the current version + current version - 1 on disk? I mean, if you guys release IDEA 2016.4, will 2016.2 be automatically deleted and I would end up with 2016.4 + 2016.3?
  2. If I upgrade and don't spot any issues and I'm confident that I don't need the older version, can I simply delete those folders?

 

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1. Yes. It will happen even if you update to say 2016.3.1. So, you will have 2016.3.1 and 2016.3 as a backup version

2. Try to do it. I don't see any problem here. And you're welcome to vote here https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/ALL-657

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@Konstantin Bulenkov Again, many thanks for the clarification. I voted there.

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The problem on Windows 7 is that I do not seem to be able to delete the old \Users\xxx\.IntellijIdeaYYYY.N folders. I have 5 of them now, including the current version (2017.3). I've even tried opening a file explorer as administrator and I *STILL* cannot delete them. The extra junk is getting sizable...

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I just figured out a way to do it on Windows 7:

  1. Delete all of the files deep in the folder (del /f /s /q c:\users\xxx\.IntelliJIdeaYYYY.N)
  2. Delete the .IntelliJIdeaYYY.N folder in the Windows Explorer
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Still Not Clear. If I delete the older versions' folders, Will it create any problem?

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No problems, I delete all versions after every update.

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