Android: Secure Notes plugin shows "tag already exists" error after Windows sync

[FengLiao-FL]

Hello, I have encountered an issue and would like to ask for your assistance:

Environment

• Windows desktop version: 3.6.13
• Android mobile version: 3.4.6
• Secure Notes plugin version: v2.2.6

Issue description
This problem occurs on the mobile (Android) side after installing the plugin, while the Windows desktop side already has the plugin installed and data synced.

Steps to reproduce (on Android)

1. Go to Settings > Plugins > Installed list.
2. Locate Secure Notes – it shows an error state.
3. The error message displays:

   (getTagID) error: tag "secure-notes" already exists. Please choose a different name.

Additional observations

• Reinstalling the Android plugin does not resolve the issue.
• If the plugin is removed from the Windows side, the error disappears on Android. Reinstalling the plugin on Windows brings the error back.
• The tag "secure-notes" cannot be viewed or edited in the tag list – this might be due to plugin‑specific settings.
• Despite the error, encryption/decryption functionality works correctly on both Windows and Android, and synced encrypted note data is handled properly.

Questions

1. What is the root cause of this error?
2. Are there any potential side effects if we ignore this error?
3. Is there a plan to fix this in a future release (if it is caused by an internal plugin conflict)?

Thanks.

[cipherswami]

That was an old method kept for compatibility reasons until Joplin 3.6 is available. Now that Joplin 3.6 is released I'll remove all the obsolete code.

Wait for few days for the next Secure Notes Plugin Updated.

Temporary fix

On your mobile search for the tag secure-notes and delete it then install the plugin.

[FengLiao-FL]

@cipherswami Understood. Thank you for your contribution to Joplin.

[cipherswami]

I can only guess. That you have huge number of tags and due to pagination it only checked few and tried to create that tag again.

This was the reason we abandoned that method.

[FengLiao-FL]

@cipherswami Yes, I use tags to categorize my notes, so I have a lot of tags. Looking forward to the update of the new version.