How to uninstall Opera on a Mac

First, find out where Opera keeps your data

Opera's help does not list fixed folder paths for a Mac. Instead it points to Opera itself, which shows the exact paths for your profile and data folders. Do this while Opera is still installed:

1. Open Opera and type opera:about in the address bar, or choose About Opera.
2. Note the paths shown for the profile and the cache. Copy them into a note: they are the folders to remove after the app has gone.

What to keep before the profile goes

The profile folder is where your browsing life is. Opera's help lists what is in it: among the files, Bookmarks, History, Cookies, Login Data (your saved passwords) and Preferences; among the folders, Extensions and their settings, and Sync Data. Ways to keep what matters:

• Passwords. Opera's help says the passwords in Login Data are encrypted and readable only on the Mac that created them, so export them instead: Settings → Privacy & Security → Password Manager, click Settings on the left, then Download file to export your passwords. Opera saves them as a CSV file, which another browser, or Opera on a new install, can import. Keep that file somewhere safe: it is your passwords.
• Sync. Opera syncs your data when you have an Opera account and are signed in to it (Settings, under Synchronization).
• A copy of the files. Opera's own advice before a clean reinstall is to back up these files and folders, which can be copied into a new profile afterwards.

Removing the app

Opera's help does not describe a separate uninstaller for the Mac. Apple's steps for any app without one are:

1. Quit Opera.
2. Open Finder and go to Applications.
3. Drag Opera to the Trash, entering an administrator name and password if asked.
4. Choose Finder → Empty Trash.

That removes the app and nothing else. Everything it wrote while you used it is still in the folders opera:about showed you.

Removing what it leaves behind

1. In Finder, press Shift-Command-G and paste the profile path you noted. Go up one level and drag the folder to the Trash.
2. Do the same for the cache path.
3. Empty the Trash once you are sure nothing in them is still needed.

Opera's FAQ notes that on a Mac, synced passwords are stored in your computer's Keychain, which is separate from the profile folder. If you deleted Opera before checking its paths, the leftover files after uninstalling an app covers each place a Mac app leaves things and how to find them by name or bundle ID.

If you are coming back to Opera

Opera's own fix for a browser that keeps misbehaving is a clean install in four steps: uninstall the app, delete your profile data, download the latest version from Opera's website, and install it. If that is what you are doing, keep the backup from the section above, so you can copy the files you want into the new profile.

Where the app comes in

RefreshYourMac has no Opera category, so the backing up and the export are yours to do, with the steps above. Its Uninstall an App, described in how to uninstall apps on a Mac, removes the app and searches both Library folders by the bundle IDs of the app and its helpers, listing every piece with its size before anything moves. Your own files go to the Trash, so they can come back until you empty it; root-owned ones are removed only after the password prompt. Uninstall an App is in the download edition, not the Mac App Store edition. Unused Applications, also in the download, lists apps you have not opened recently, largest first. In both editions, Application Caches measures what apps keep in ~/Library/Caches and is rated Safe for auto removal. What an uninstaller app does covers the rest.