

However, these are always on the computer, and not on the USB key. The main problem for making an app portable is that many things, such as settings, data files, and other important information the app needs to run are normally stored in a few default directories, mostly in the user account of the person currently running a program. This could be a debugging program for systems administrators, or simple writing apps such as Zettlr. Frequently, people use apps in a portable configuration in order to store them on USB keys which they can plug into different computers. What is a Portable App? ¶Ī portable app is basically a Windows application that is completely independent of the computer it runs on. Though this guide should work cross-platform, it is very uncommon for a Mac or Linux user to use a portable app.


Note that "portable app" only makes sense in the context of Windows. Even though most people will simply install and use Zettlr as a program like any other one, some of you might want to set it up to be used as a portable app.
