How to uninstall Anaconda on Mac completely

Export your environments first

Removing Anaconda deletes every environment inside its folder, with all the packages installed in them. If you will need an environment again, save its description to a file. You can recreate it from that file later.

1. Open Terminal and run conda info --envs to see your environments and where they are.
2. For each one you want to keep, run conda env export --name <ENV_NAME> > <ENV_NAME>.yaml. The file is saved in the folder Terminal is in — your home folder, unless you changed it.
3. If you saved notebooks or scripts inside the Anaconda folder, copy them somewhere else.

Environments outside the Anaconda folder are not removed with it. Anaconda suggests removing them before you uninstall, with conda remove --prefix <PATH_TO_ENV_DIRECTORY> --all.

Uninstall Anaconda with its script

Anaconda Distribution 2025.06 and newer comes with an uninstall script, and Anaconda’s documentation describes it as the way to uninstall.

1. In Terminal, run conda deactivate, so (base) disappears from the prompt.
2. Run conda info --base to see where Anaconda is installed.
3. Run the uninstall.sh script in that folder, for example ~/anaconda3/uninstall.sh. For an installation in /opt/anaconda3 (made with the .pkg installer), run sudo -E /opt/anaconda3/uninstall.sh.
4. Close and reopen Terminal: (base) should no longer appear in the prompt.

To remove caches, settings and ~/.conda too, add options: ~/anaconda3/uninstall.sh --remove-caches --remove-config-files user --remove-user-data. Anaconda doesn’t recommend these options if you have more than one conda installation on the Mac.

Older versions: remove Anaconda by hand

If there is no uninstall.sh in the Anaconda folder, your version is older than 2025.06. These are Anaconda’s steps for it:

1. In Terminal, run conda activate, then conda init --reverse --all. This removes conda’s lines from all your shell profiles. Do it before deleting the folder: the command needs conda.
2. Delete the Anaconda folder — the path conda info --base showed you, such as ~/anaconda3. In Finder, drag it to the Trash. In Terminal, rm -rf ~/anaconda3 deletes it at once and can’t be undone.
3. Optionally, delete conda’s settings and data: ~/.condarc, ~/.conda and ~/.continuum. Keep ~/.condarc if you changed conda’s settings and plan to reinstall.
4. Close and reopen Terminal.

Anaconda notes that uninstalling may leave shortcuts behind. If Anaconda-Navigator is still in Finder › Applications, move it to the Trash.

What Anaconda leaves behind

All of these are in your home folder. Most are hidden because their names start with a dot:

• ~/anaconda3 or ~/opt/anaconda3 — Anaconda itself: Python, conda, the base environment and your environments in its envs folder.
• ~/.conda — conda’s data for your user. It can hold environments too.
• ~/.condarc — conda’s settings, such as channels.
• ~/.continuum — data of older Anaconda versions.
• ~/.anaconda — data of Anaconda Navigator and other Anaconda tools.
• ~/.jupyter — Jupyter settings. Keep it if you use Jupyter with another Python.
• ~/.bash_profile-anaconda3.bak — a copy of your shell profile that the installer saved before adding conda’s lines.

Your environments, and anything you saved there yourself, are inside ~/anaconda3 (or ~/opt/anaconda3) and ~/.conda. Export the environments you need before deleting these folders.

Remove the leftovers by hand

1. In Finder, choose Go › Go to Folder (Shift-Command-G), type a path from the list above and press Return.
2. Move the folder or file to the Trash.
3. Repeat for the other paths. Hidden folders like ~/.conda open with Go to Folder too.
4. Restart your Mac, then empty the Trash.

If a new Terminal window still shows (base) or an error about conda, conda’s lines are still in your shell profile. Open ~/.zshrc (or ~/.bash_profile) in a text editor and delete the block between # >>> conda initialize >>> and # <<< conda initialize <<<.

Anaconda isn’t the only app that leaves files behind: see how to uninstall apps on Mac completely.