laurent22/joplin · error · Error

The active profile cannot be deleted. Switch to a different

Error message

The active profile cannot be deleted. Switch to a different profile and try again.

What it means

Thrown by `deleteProfile` in the mobile profile switcher when the profile being deleted (`options.toDelete.id`) equals the currently active profile id (`options.profileConfig.currentProfileId`). Deleting the active profile would leave the app with no current profile, so the operation is blocked before any filesystem or database work begins.

Source

Thrown at packages/app-mobile/components/ProfileSwitcher/utils/deleteProfile.ts:21

import { deleteProfileById, getCurrentProfile, isSubProfile } from '@joplin/lib/services/profileConfig';
import Setting from '@joplin/lib/models/Setting';
import shim, { MessageBoxType } from '@joplin/lib/shim';
import Logger from '@joplin/utils/Logger';
import resolvePathWithinDir from '@joplin/lib/utils/resolvePathWithinDir';
import DatabaseDriver from '@joplin/lib/database-driver';
import { _ } from '@joplin/lib/locale';

const logger = Logger.create('deleteProfile');

interface DeleteProfileOptions {
	toDelete: Profile;
	profileConfig: ProfileConfig;
	databaseDriver: DatabaseDriver;
}

const deleteProfile = async (options: DeleteProfileOptions) => {
	logger.info('Deleting profile config', options.toDelete.id);
	if (options.toDelete.id === options.profileConfig.currentProfileId) throw new Error(_('The active profile cannot be deleted. Switch to a different profile and try again.'));
	const subProfile = isSubProfile(options.toDelete);

	// Deleting the default profile must be handled differently. We can't delete the whole directory because it contains other profiles and global settings
	if (subProfile) {
		const newConfig = deleteProfileById(options.profileConfig, options.toDelete.id);
		// Save the profile config early. If the later deletion steps fail, this prevents the user from
		// opening a partially-deleted profile. The default profile does not get deleted from the list,
		// but the data will be cleared
		await saveProfileConfig(newConfig);
	}

	// Retrieve and validate both the database name and resources directory
	// **before** doing any deletion.
	const databaseName = getTargetDatabaseName(options);
	const resourcesDir = getTargetResourceDirectory(options);
	const pluginDataDir = getTargetPluginDataDirectory(options);

	logger.info('Deleting database', databaseName);

View on GitHub (pinned to 2654b33620)

Solutions

1. Switch to a different profile first (`switchProfile`), then delete the inactive one.
2. In the UI, disable the delete control for the row whose id equals `currentProfileId`.
3. Pre-check before invoking: `if (toDelete.id === profileConfig.currentProfileId) { /* warn user */ return; }`.
4. Reload `profileConfig` immediately before the delete call to avoid a stale snapshot.

Example fix

// before
deleteProfile({ toDelete, profileConfig, databaseDriver });

// after
if (toDelete.id === profileConfig.currentProfileId) {
  await showDialog(_('Switch to a different profile before deleting this one.'));
  return;
}
await deleteProfile({ toDelete, profileConfig, databaseDriver });

const isActive = (toDelete, profileConfig) =>
  toDelete.id === profileConfig.currentProfileId;

if (isActive(toDelete, profileConfig)) {
  await showDialog(_('Switch to a different profile before deleting this one.'));
  return;
}
await deleteProfile({ toDelete, profileConfig, databaseDriver });

null

try {
  await deleteProfile({ toDelete, profileConfig, databaseDriver });
} catch (error) {
  if (/active profile cannot be deleted/i.test(error.message)) {
    await showSwitchProfilePrompt();
    return;
  }
  throw error;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling `deleteProfile({ toDelete, profileConfig, databaseDriver })` where `toDelete.id === profileConfig.currentProfileId`. Reached from the profile switcher UI when the user taps delete on the profile the app is currently running under.

Common situations: Single-profile installs where the user tries to delete the only/active profile; UI bug that does not disable the delete button for the active row; stale `profileConfig` snapshot read before a profile switch completed.

Related errors

• This profile is already active
• No note with id ${id}
• No supported provider found!
• Item not found: ${itemId}
• Unsupported item type for links: ${item.type_}

AI-assisted analysis of laurent22/joplin@2654b33620 (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5389e8686eca4f04. Report an issue: GitHub.