Uninstall and Data Cleanup

Who this installation is for

This guide explains how to stop the application and remove a Windows portable package, a source/Unix installation, or a Docker deployment, plus which configuration, model, log, result, and server files require separate handling. The current Win-*.bat, Unix-*.sh, and Docker Compose files do not provide one universal “uninstall” button or command; uninstalling mainly means deleting the installation directory, virtual environment, or host-mounted data.

This guide does not replace the installation steps in Windows portable, Linux/macOS installation, or Docker, and it does not treat in-app “Clear translation results” as a complete uninstall.

Uninstall by installation shape:

• Windows portable (new build): it is fully green and self-contained. Uninstalling simply means deleting the whole folder — nothing else is needed (no registry entries, no services). Optional cleanup: AI model caches under C:\Users\<you>\.cache\huggingface and .cache\torch can be deleted directly, and the Git safe.directory entry in .gitconfig can be removed with git config --global --unset-all safe.directory.
• Legacy Conda layout: first uninstall Miniconda. If the installer-created Miniconda3 (inside the program folder or at a drive root) was used, double-click Uninstall-Miniconda3.exe inside it and then delete any leftover Miniconda3 folder. If you installed Miniconda yourself and want to keep it, only remove the project environment with conda env remove -n manga-env -y. Then delete the whole program folder (including PortableGit, code, and scripts).

The detailed data-cleanup boundary per installation shape follows.

Installation steps

General sequence

1. Wait for the current task to finish and close the desktop application; Web users should stop the service, and Docker users should first run docker compose down. Do not delete a directory while a process is still writing logs, results, or database files.
2. Back up any config/, .env, models/, result/, manga_translator_work/, or server data/ that must be kept. Inspect each copy for keys, sessions, prompts, user images, and absolute paths before sharing or migrating it.
3. Delete the installation directory or virtual environment for the selected installation shape in the table below. If the goal is only to free space, clean selected caches/results instead; that is not the same as uninstalling.
4. Before reinstalling, confirm that no old environment path is still selected by the launcher, and check configuration compatibility if you kept settings.

Installation shapes and deletion actions

Installation shape	UI/command action	Locations normally worth preserving	Deletion scope
Windows portable	Close the application, then delete the complete release directory containing Win-Start.bat	config/, models/, result/, resources, and packaging/python/ inside the release directory	The entire release directory; the scripts have no registry or service uninstall step
Legacy Windows Conda layout	Remove the environment used only by this project, then delete the program directory; do not remove shared Conda	External Miniconda, manga-env, or conda_env/ inside the program directory	Only the confirmed project environment and program directory
Linux/macOS source	Stop processes, then delete the checkout; delete .venv/ with it if it is not being kept	.venv/, config/, models/, and result/ inside the checkout	The checkout; an input-adjacent manga_translator_work/ must be handled separately
Docker Compose	Run docker compose down from the Compose directory, then delete selected host data/ only if intended	./data/config, server, models, result, logs, fonts, and dict	Containers/images and host bind mounts are separate; down does not automatically delete ./data/

In-app cleanup and UI wording

The Web admin cleanup feature only handles the directories defined by the server cleanup service; it is not an installer-directory remover. The results-page “Clear translation results” action clears the browser result list and blob URLs, not necessarily files on the host.

The actual wording of the cleanup-related UI strings is listed in the UI Options Reference.

What the installer does

flowchart TD
    Stop["Stop desktop/Web/Docker processes"] --> Shape{"Installation shape"}
    Shape -->|Windows portable| Folder["Back up, then delete release directory"]
    Shape -->|Source or Unix| Venv["Delete checkout and optional .venv"]
    Shape -->|Docker| Down["docker compose down"]
    Down --> Mount{"Delete host ./data/?"}
    Mount -->|No| Keep["Keep bind-mounted data"]
    Mount -->|Yes| Data["Back up, then selectively delete ./data/"]
    Folder --> Optional["Check input-adjacent manga_translator_work/ and user caches"]
    Venv --> Optional
    Keep --> Optional
    Data --> Optional
    Optional --> End["Confirm scope again before deleting results, models, or credentials"]

Runtime paths are defined by manga_translator.runtime_paths: in source runs, the configuration directory is config/ at the project root; in frozen runs, it is config/ beside the executable. Models normally live under the application models/ directory, and desktop logs are written under the application result/ directory. When save_to_source_dir is enabled, output is written to manga_translator_work/result/ beside the input image, so deleting the installation directory does not remove that input-adjacent work directory.

Docker mounts host ./data/{fonts,dict,result,models,logs,server,config} into separate container paths. Removing a container therefore does not remove those host files. Server data also includes administrator configuration, user resources, and history-related data under manga_translator/server/data; back it up and redact it before deciding whether to delete it.

Server automatic cleanup is disabled by default. Its defaults are to check every 24 hours, delete files older than 7 days, and continue deleting oldest files when the relevant directories exceed 10 GiB. It traverses only server data/results, user fonts, and user prompts; it does not clean the application directory, model directory, desktop logs, or input-adjacent work directories.

Environment and compatibility

• Open processes: a running Qt app, Python process, uvicorn service, or Docker container may still write files; Windows may also refuse to remove locked DLLs. Stop processes or containers first.
• Portable Python versus Conda/venv: Win-Start.bat and Win-Install-or-Update.bat prefer packaging/python/python.exe and only then search for manga-env or conda_env. Do not remove Miniconda that another project uses, and do not leave an old PATH pointing at a deleted environment.
• Hardware dependencies: removing the application environment does not uninstall system NVIDIA/AMD drivers; drivers are shared dependencies of other software.
• Docker persistence: docker compose down, removing containers, removing images, and removing bind mounts are different actions. Deleting ./data/server loses Web accounts, sessions, history, and server resources; deleting ./data/models forces model downloads again.
• Caches and credentials: Hugging Face/Torch and similar user-level caches can live outside the application profile. .env and configuration files may contain API credentials. Decide whether to migrate them first, and redact keys, tokens, usernames, absolute paths, and user content before sharing logs.
• Version switching: uninstall is not update. The maintenance flow may clean uv/pip download caches and remove platform-inappropriate launcher files during an update, but it does not delete all user data directories.