Anki could not create its data folder (Mac Big Sur)

Anki Desktop
1

When installing Anki 2.1.40 I get the “Anki could not create its data folder.Please see the File Locations section of the manual, and ensure that location is not read-only”.

On an M1 Mac running Big Sur 11.2.1, not using Dropbox or OneDrive or an AntiVirus, and it’s definitely not a Windows permission issue. Deleting and reinstalling doesn’t work either. None of the other suggestions mentioned here work either - most apply only to Windows anyway.

This is a fresh installation of Big Sur and I’m trying to install Anki for the first time. On my old Intel Mac that was upgraded to Big Sur, Anki 2.1.35 runs fine without the slightest hitch.

(I think I’ve been an Anki user since version 1 so I’m delighted but also stumped that this is the first serious issue…)

2

Apple always hardens their general file permissions with each major release – which is actually good. You could go into System Preferences - Security & Privacy - Full Disk access, if this is now what is needed. Usually the “Files and Folders” should have Anki as well. I don’t use 16.x, need to wait for 16.3 before I consider it stable, so I can’t verify this on my Mac.

3

Thanks but that doesn’t work - even with full disk access, Anki fails to start and gives me the same error.

4

It’s working for me on an M1 running 11.1, and I’d be surprised if 11.2 caused this. Do you have an Anki2 data folder? If so, does renaming it help?

https://docs.ankiweb.net/#/files?id=file-locations

5

Yes, that did the trick. Or rather than renaming, deleting the folder, installing Anki again, and synchronizing the account. Thanks!