5 Ways to Uninstall Software in Linux Mint (+ Troubleshooting)

If you want to remove an application or program from Linux Mint, there are a few different ways to do it. This wikiHow guide will teach you how to uninstall programs in Linux Mint from the program menu, Software Manager, Flatpak, Synaptic, and the Apt package manager. We'll also help you fix common problems like leftover data and programs that don't seem to uninstall.

Quick Ways to Uninstall Programs in Linux Mint

The fastest way to uninstall a program in Linux Mint is to right-click it in the Applications menu and select Uninstall.
Another easy option is to open Software Manager, select a program, then click Remove.
After removing a program, use "sudo apt purge <PROGRAMNAME>" to purge any leftover config files, and "sudo apt autoremove --purge" to delete all unused dependencies.

Method 1

Method 1 of 6:

Using Applications Menu

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Click the menu. An easy way to uninstall programs in Linux Mint is to do so from the applications menu. This is useful if you just want to quickly uninstall a program you installed from the Software Manager.^{[1]
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- This option will not remove any application data or unused dependencies. If your goal is to completely remove the program and reclaim some disk space, you'll need to run a terminal command afterward.
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Search for the program you want to uninstall. When you open the menu, you'll see a search bar at the top. Typing a program's name into the bar displays programs that match what you've typed.

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Right-click the program and select Uninstall. If prompted, enter your password to confirm. This removes the program from Linux Mint.
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Clear other residual files. After uninstalling a program, there may still be files left over on your system. To make sure everything relating to the program is removed, you can do a purge:^{[2]
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- Open a terminal window.
- Type sudo apt purge <PROGRAMNAME> and press ↵ Enter.
- This command will remove log files and other leftover elements from the deleted program, except for files in your home directory.

Method 2

Method 2 of 6:

Using Software Manager

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To get there, click the menu icon, type software, then click Software Manager in the search results.^{[3]
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Search for the program you want to uninstall. For example, if you want to uninstall Opera, type Opera into the search bar at the top-right corner, then click Opera to open the application's page.
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Click the red Remove button next to the program's name. This uninstalls the selected program from Linux Mint.
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Clear other residual files. After uninstalling a program, there may still be files left over on your system. To make sure everything relating to the program is removed, you can do a purge:
- Open a terminal window.
- Type sudo apt purge <PROGRAMNAME> and press ↵ Enter.
- This command will remove log files and other leftover elements from the deleted program, except for files in your home directory.

Method 3

Method 3 of 6:

Using Flatpak

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Find the app ID of the program you want to uninstall. If you installed a program from a Flatpak, you can also use Flatpak commands to uninstall it. Before you can do so, you'll need to get the program's Flatpak ID.^{[4]
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- To see the Flatpak IDs of all installed programs and runtimes, run the command flatpak list.
- If you want to skip the runtimes, use flatpak list --app instead.
- For example, the Flatpak ID for GIMP is org.gimp.GIMP.
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Uninstall JUST the program. If you just want to remove the program from Linux Mint, run flatpak uninstall <FLATPAK.ID>, replacing <FLATPAK.ID> with the ID of the program. This will remove the program without deleting application data, just in case you want to reinstall it in the future.^{[5]
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Uninstall the program and delete all application data. If you want to get rid of all application data from the program and recover more disk space, run flatpak uninstall --delete-data <FLATPAK.ID> instead, then press Y to confirm.^{[6]
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- This command only clears the data from ~/.var/app/<app-id>. Other leftover files, such as any in your home directory, will not be deleted.
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Uninstall all unused dependencies. If you've already deleted a Flatpak program and also want to get rid of any dependencies that were installed (that are NOT used by other programs), run the command flatpak uninstall --unused.

Method 4

Method 4 of 6:

Using Synaptic Package Manager

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Open the Synaptic Package Manager. If you like to use Synaptic on Linux Mint to install software, you can also use it to uninstall software. To open it, click the menu and select Package Manager.
- When prompted, enter your password to confirm.
- Synaptic is not installed by default on newer versions of Linux Mint.^{[7]
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Click Status. You'll see this button near the bottom of the left panel.
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Select Installed in the left panel. This displays all installed programs.^{[8]
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Right-click the program and select a removal type. You can choose to remove the program alone, or also remove configuration files:^{[9]
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- Select Mark for Removal to remove the program only.
- Alternatively, to remove configuration files left behind, select Mark for Complete Removal.
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Click Apply. This will uninstall the selected program from Linux Mint.

Method 5

Method 5 of 6:

Using Apt in a Terminal

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To do so, press Ctrl+Alt+T, or click Terminal on the application menu.
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Use sudo apt remove <packagename> to uninstall the program. This uninstalls the program from Linux Mint. However, configuration files will not be removed unless you purge them.
- When prompted, enter your password and confirm to uninstall the application.
- If you're not sure what the name of the package is, use apt list --installed to search for a string of text. For example, apt list --installed will show installed packages with "firefox" in the name.
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Remove the application and all app data. If you also want to delete application data, such as configuration files, use sudo apt purge <packagename>. You can use this command in place of sudo apt remove <packagename>, or use it after you have already removed a package to do some extra cleanup.^{[10]
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- Enter your password to confirm when prompted.
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Remove unused dependencies. To recover even more disk space after uninstalling software from Linux Mint, you can delete any dependencies no longer in use. To do this, use the command sudo apt autoremove --purge.^{[11]
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Method 6

Method 6 of 6:

Troubleshooting

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Uninstalling a program didn't reclaim any disk space. It's possible that only the program binary was removed and not configuration files, dependencies, and other data. Here are some quick ways to recover disk space after uninstalling programs in Linux Mint:^{[12]
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- Uninstall and purge unused dependencies: To quickly uninstall any dependencies that aren't being used by any packages on your system, use the command sudo apt autoremove --purge.
- Purge a program's configuration files: If configuration files remain in /etc, use sudo apt purge package_name to remove them.
  - Any configuration files in your home directory must be deleted manually.
- Remove all unused Flatpak runtimes: Flatpak will not uninstall unused dependencies without being told to do so. To remove them, use flatpak uninstall --unused.^{[13]
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- Remove other Flatpak files: Use flatpak uninstall --delete-data <app id> to delete any log files and other data from /var/.
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The program is still installed even after uninstalling. If you're still seeing evidence of a program you already think you've uninstalled, you may have only uninstalled one version of the program. For example, a beta version of an application may still be installed.
- Use apt list --installed , replacing <string> with a string of text from the name of the program you're looking for. For example, to find all packages with "firefox" in the name, use apt list --installed .
- If found, remove any packages you find.
- You can also use Synaptic or Software Manager to look for packages you may have missed–just use the search tool in either program.

Community Q&A

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How do I Install LibreOffice?

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Community Answer

Libreoffice comes pre-installed on most Linux operating systems. To install It, you can search for it in the software manager.

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