My Apple Notes deleted? Bug?

[-BigMac-]

Hi Guys.

Freaking out a little bit.

26.2 on iP16PM

I have some old notes saved in my Apple Notes app.

These are around 10 years old, and are important to me.

I just checked to have a look at one of them.

All my notes pre-2018 are gone. ALL of them.

Post-2018 are all there.

I haven't deleted them, or changed AppleIDs, ever.

What's happened? How do i get them back?

 

[FreakinEurekan]

The trick is, were the notes on iCloud or not? And of course we can't know since they're not there now; you might have an "opinion" but best guess is - they were not.

Have you removed any email accounts from the device? If so, check webmail on that account you removed; they may be there.

If you're ABSOLUTELY SURE that they were DEFINITELY on iCloud, this article should help. If it doesn't, they probably weren't 😉

 

[-BigMac-]

The trick is, were the notes on iCloud or not? And of course we can't know since they're not there now; you might have an "opinion" but best guess is - they were not.

Have you removed any email accounts from the device? If so, check webmail on that account you removed; they may be there.

If you're ABSOLUTELY SURE that they were DEFINITELY on iCloud, this article should help. If it doesn't, they probably weren't 😉

My notes have always been synced with iCloud, using the one snd only AppleID I have.

I saw the notes earlier this year. Now when I look for them - nothing prior 2018 :/

 

[NoBoMac]

Using Time Machine? Might be able to recover Notes but not easy process.

A couple of threads around this:

Restoring a deleted note in Tahoe

So I accidentlly deleted a note. Searched online and every suggestion doesn't seem to work. No more "Deleted" option in my Notes toolbar. Tried looking in Time Machine and Notes doesn't even appear in my older versions. Is there a way without buying some third party software?

forums.macrumors.com

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/restoring-an-individual-note-from-the-notes-app-via-tm-backup.2444792/

ADD: no issue for me. I still see a Note from 2016 in my Notes.

 

[adrianlondon]

Do you have any old (say iOS 9) devices?

I booted up an old iPad and it trashed a locked note I was wanting to view. Deleted it - vanished - not recoverable.

So I turned on another old device and quickly put it into airplane mode. I copied the note to another one which, when I re-enabled WiFi, synced across. Phew!

 

[FreakinEurekan]

My notes have always been synced with iCloud, using the one snd only AppleID I have.

I saw the notes earlier this year. Now when I look for them - nothing prior 2018 :/

So... those notes prior to 2018, were apparently not synced to iCloud. You may have THOUGHT they were, but evidence suggests otherwise.

You can have MULTIPLE accounts synced to Notes in iOS, which many people don't realize. If you've removed any accounts from the device this year, that's most likely where they were.

Or it's possible a setting got changed and the account is STILL on your device, just not synced to Notes... less likely, but possible. Settings > Apps > Notes > Notes Accounts, turn Notes on for any accounts listed other than iCloud, see if the notes re-appear. If they don't, remember to turn those accounts back off to prevent issues in the future!

 

[HouseLannister]

Have you checked https://www.icloud.com/

Also, if you don't have a Recently Deleted folder, create a new note and delete it and see if the Recently Deleted folder shows up. If not, engage Apple support.

 

[jz0309]

17PM on 26.2
I have the following folders in Notes:
In the iCloud folder there is a note from 2016
In the "on my iPhone" folder are some notes going back to 2013.

I have no idea why those local notes are not in iCloud nor do I see an option to sync them, I could probably move them, but my point is I still have old notes

 

[-BigMac-]

So... those notes prior to 2018, were apparently not synced to iCloud. You may have THOUGHT they were, but evidence suggests otherwise.

You can have MULTIPLE accounts synced to Notes in iOS, which many people don't realize. If you've removed any accounts from the device this year, that's most likely where they were.

Or it's possible a setting got changed and the account is STILL on your device, just not synced to Notes... less likely, but possible. Settings > Apps > Notes > Notes Accounts, turn Notes on for any accounts listed other than iCloud, see if the notes re-appear. If they don't, remember to turn those accounts back off to prevent issues in the future!

Mmmm I have had every new iPhone on release since 3G - the notes were always synced when I would do a clean install.

They were 100% synced to iCloud😞

Have you checked https://www.icloud.com/

Also, if you don't have a Recently Deleted folder, create a new note and delete it and see if the Recently Deleted folder shows up. If not, engage Apple support.

I just checked icloud.com

Identical notes show up there as on my
Phone. Recently deleted folder is empty.

I’ll contact Apple Support today and update when I get a response😊

17PM on 26.2
I have the following folders in Notes:
In the iCloud folder there is a note from 2016
In the "on my iPhone" folder are some notes going back to 2013.

I have no idea why those local notes are not in iCloud nor do I see an option to sync them, I could probably move them, but my point is I still have old notes

View attachment 2589320

Mmm mine are all synced on iCloud and no On My Phone section is listed😞

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Hi Guys.

Freaking out a little bit.

26.2 on iP16PM

I have some old notes saved in my Apple Notes app.

These are around 10 years old, and are important to me.

I just checked to have a look at one of them.

All my notes pre-2018 are gone. ALL of them.

Post-2018 are all there.

I haven't deleted them, or changed AppleIDs, ever.

What's happened? How do i get them back?

The exact same thing recently happened to me with an important Notes file kept current for years. Poof, it disappeared. No finding it on iCloud. Other similar [but unimportant] Notes files remain undisturbed. I think Apple's apps software division just feels the need to **** us every so often: e.g. MacProject, Aperture, Photos, Notes...

It really, really sucks.

 

[VineRider]

If you have a Mac, and use Time Machine,you might try this

A Comprehensive Guide for Backing Up Apple Notes on Your Mac

Apple Notes Unleashed Series (Dispatch No. 3)

appledispatch.substack.com

 

[hristob]

I had the same thing happen to me with old notes from around 2018-2019. They WERE synced with iCloud. I pay for 200 GB of iCloud every single month. One day, they disappeared, just like that. I don't use Notes anymore. I use Things.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Well, this is a little scary, I have to say.

 

[Saturn007]

The sudden disappearance is disturbing — and clearly shouldn’t happen.

Yet, given that iCloud synching has the power to delete old notes, how do you all back up your Notes *locally*?

I'm compulsive about doing that with both notes (Notebook app) and todos (ToDo app). iMazing lets me drag and drop apps and their contents to my Mac's desktop. I also fish out the actual databases, too, for safekeeping.

Wish that Apple's apps, and many others, had export functions so that people could manually back up the databases. Even better would be an automatic local export or local backup function you could set in the apps.

For Numbers and Pages, you can copy and backup their documents in the Finder. I do that fairly often to ensure I don't lose important documents.

Hope the OP has success resurrecting the pre-2018 notes.

 

[BigMcGuire]

I have 508 notes on Apple Notes. Haven't had an issue with disappearing notes - and I rely heavily on them and have since I switched to Apple back in 2015ish.

I wish Apple had a way to back these up, I'd feel better - but they've been rock solid for me.

I probably should take the time and make sure my most important notes (that I update regularly) are copied to another medium.

OP - definitely keep us updated.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I have 508 notes on Apple Notes. Haven't had an issue with disappearing notes - and I rely heavily on them and have since I switched to Apple back in 2015ish.

I wish Apple had a way to back these up, I'd feel better - but they've been rock solid for me.

I probably should take the time and make sure my most important notes (that I update regularly) are copied to another medium.

OP - definitely keep us updated.

Just out of curiosity, how do you actually know you haven't lost anything?

Asking for myself honestly.
I don't know if I have or have not.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Just out of curiosity, how do you actually know you haven't lost anything?

Asking for myself honestly.
I don't know if I have or have not.

I have a hobby of every day looking at my iCloud storage usage, Battery cycle count, my Note counts, etc. It's a hobby of mine. So the Note count I pay attention to consistently. I'd notice a decrease - and I know most people don't do this so that's a very fair question.

 

[HouseLannister]

Yet, given that iCloud synching has the power to delete old notes, how do you all back up your Notes *locally*?

Anything worth backing up needs to have:

2 different off-site backups (copy them to Google Keep or Office 365)
1 on-site backup (external hd)
1 hard copy in a fire safe

 

[Allen_Wentz]

I have 508 notes on Apple Notes. Haven't had an issue with disappearing notes - and I rely heavily on them and have since I switched to Apple back in 2015ish.

I wish Apple had a way to back these up, I'd feel better - but they've been rock solid for me.

I probably should take the time and make sure my most important notes (that I update regularly) are copied to another medium.

OP - definitely keep us updated.

Yeah, I too had no issue with disappearing Notes for a decade. Until Poof!

 

[Allen_Wentz]

The sudden disappearance is disturbing — and clearly shouldn’t happen.

Yet, given that iCloud synching has the power to delete old notes, how do you all back up your Notes *locally*?

I'm compulsive about doing that with both notes (Notebook app) and todos (ToDo app). iMazing lets me drag and drop apps and their contents to my Mac's desktop. I also fish out the actual databases, too, for safekeeping.

Wish that Apple's apps, and many others, had export functions so that people could manually back up the databases. Even better would be an automatic local export or local backup function you could set in the apps.

For Numbers and Pages, you can copy and backup their documents in the Finder. I do that fairly often to ensure I don't lose important documents.

Hope the OP has success resurrecting the pre-2018 notes.

Facilitating reasonable Notes backup makes sense. A simple "Save a copy as" function under the Edit menu. Then the backup copy can be stored anywhere; emailed, etc. Like Apple does with the [wholly owned] Claris FMP app.

 

[turbineseaplane]

What we are seeing here is why some folks do still just use normal plaintext files saved in a folder that can be easily synced and backed up everywhere.

Does Apple Notes store everything somewhere locally that's easy to backup and access and recover in alternate Apps (normal format of some kind)?

 

[adrianlondon]

I don't know about iOS, but MacOS can export (individual) notes as PDF or markdown.

There's also an option to open them in Pages (if you have Pages installed, of course).

I can find no way to export them in bulk easily. However, I've just knocked up a shortcut which exports them all (tested on MacOS but it should work on iOS if you get the file directory right).

* If any of your notes are locked, open the app and unlock them before running the shortcut.
* The "name" variable in Subpath is by selecting Repeat Item then clicking it and changing the type to "Name".

 

[adrianlondon]

You can add a "Select Files/Folders" action as the first one, and change where it saves to "Notes" to use that variable.

I've tested it on my laptop and phone and it works perfectly. However, it's plain text and losing the colours and fonts etc. I'll work on that and edit this post if I find a simple way.

Edit: You should remove ".txt" from the Subpath as it adds an extension automatically. If you change "Repeated Item" in the Save command by clicking it and selecting "Rich Text" you get a slightly better output. I tried PDF but that didn't work well for most of my notes.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Exports are nice, but with how often I change my Notes and interact with them, the content being stored locally in a way that would be captured by my TimeMachine and NAS backups would be far better.

 

[jz0309]

here is an older post re how to backup Notes

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/backing-up-apple-notes-what-is-the-best-way.2305423/