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Notes disappeared

S

StormPath

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 2, 2019
12
3
The folder in my Notes app containing my notes stored on my MacBook has disappeared after the latest update to Big Sur (11.3). Now I'm going to be faced with searching through various folders in ~Library.

Is there a reason Apple hates Notes so much that it keeps trying to get rid of of it and make it as difficult as possible to export notes and locate them in various hidden folders?
 
have you checked notes preferences; is the correct account set as default? ie were your notes on your mac, or in icloud have you tried restoring from time machine? have you rebooted?

i doubt that apple 'hates notes', and that this is some nefarious scheme; most people who moved to the new OS did not lose their notes.

hopefully, the smart people on this forum can help. and try what i've suggested (plus, if your notes are shared in icloud, check that that's checked in icloud system preferences)...
 
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fisherking said:
have you checked notes preferences; is the correct account set as default? ie were your notes on your mac, or in icloud have you tried restoring from time machine? have you rebooted?

i doubt that apple 'hates notes', and that this is some nefarious scheme; most people who moved to the new OS did not lose their notes.

hopefully, the smart people on this forum can help. and try what i've suggested (plus, if your notes are shared in icloud, check that that's checked in icloud system preferences)...
Click to expand...

Thank you for replying. The correct account is set by default. The notes were in a separate folder in the Notes app which has now disappeared and the only folder I can see is the iCloud which I typically use to save news links from my iPhone to read later. In the meantime all my text notes in the Notes folder saved on my laptop have disappeared along with the folder itself.

I could probably recover some from TimeMachine but there will probably be some notes containing addresses etc from a few weeks ago during the period since my last save on TimeMachine which I won't be able to recover.
 
...which is why you always want to do a backup just before updating your OS; just a good idea for the future. but am wondering why that folder disappeared in the first place. anyway, hope you get back most of it 👍
 
StormPath said:
Thank you for replying. The correct account is set by default. The notes were in a separate folder in the Notes app which has now disappeared and the only folder I can see is the iCloud which I typically use to save news links from my iPhone to read later. In the meantime all my text notes in the Notes folder saved on my laptop have disappeared along with the folder itself.

I could probably recover some from TimeMachine but there will probably be some notes containing addresses etc from a few weeks ago during the period since my last save on TimeMachine which I won't be able to recover.
Click to expand...
1) Try signing out / in on iCloud. If the doesn't work and it may take a few minutes...

2) Try adding a new folder and a test file to Notes and see fi the syncing between devices triggers corrective action.
 
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Notes can be stored in a variety of cloud-based accounts (iCloud, Gmail, Yahoo, etc.). They can also be saved "On My Mac" (local storage only).

If you now see only iCloud in the Notes sidebar, it could be due to disabling (or having a login issue) with one or more of your cloud-based accounts, or having disabled On My Mac in Notes > Preferences.

On My Mac notes could be retrieved from a Time Machine backup, but recovering cloud-based accounts depend on a proper sign-in to the server.
 
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ApfelKuchen said:
Notes can be stored in a variety of cloud-based accounts (iCloud, Gmail, Yahoo, etc.). They can also be saved "On My Mac" (local storage only).

If you now see only iCloud in the Notes sidebar, it could be due to disabling (or having a login issue) with one or more of your cloud-based accounts, or having disabled On My Mac in Notes > Preferences.

On My Mac notes could be retrieved from a Time Machine backup, but recovering cloud-based accounts depend on a proper sign-in to the server.
Click to expand...

The logging in and out didn't change anything but you were right regarding the Notes > Preferences which the last update annoyingly automatically disabled.

Fortunately, I've managed to locate the old notes which for some reason seemed to have been stored in ~Library/Group Containers/group.com.apple.notes/NoteStore.sqlite but....unfortunately I have no idea how to open the old Notes file as when I open the NoteStore.sqlite file it's just saved in a new note. I've managed to locate an App called 'Notes Exporter' which does a fantastic job of changing the notes in the iCloud account into text files but doesn't have an option allowing me to do the same with the NoteStore.sqlite file.

Thank you for helping.
 
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ApfelKuchen said:
Notes can be stored in a variety of cloud-based accounts (iCloud, Gmail, Yahoo, etc.). They can also be saved "On My Mac" (local storage only).

If you now see only iCloud in the Notes sidebar, it could be due to disabling (or having a login issue) with one or more of your cloud-based accounts, or having disabled On My Mac in Notes > Preferences.

On My Mac notes could be retrieved from a Time Machine backup, but recovering cloud-based accounts depend on a proper sign-in to the server.
Click to expand...
How can I retrieve Notes in Time Machine from 2018 without deleting all current Notes?
 
RBel said:
How can I retrieve Notes in Time Machine from 2018 without deleting all current Notes?
Click to expand...
Unfortunately you can't.

It's very disappointing that there is no app whether created by Apple or by anyone else that allows me to read notes without losing all the current notes or even when I find the sqlite file being able to read it in the same way as the Notes app.

I'm going to break the habit of using Notes because when things go wrong, it's been made virtually impossible to correct the error.
 
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cut and paste everything from each note into a document. restore previous notes. then, put back the content from the docs, one note at a time.

a big undertaking? seems worth it, if, in fact, you think it's worth it.
 
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Notes is rather limiting in the way that you cannot combine multiple computers notes into one big notebook without copy/paste and losing the associated data. It's easy enough to get your notes out of the user library, but anything more than that is a no-go.

Unless they broke it in a recent update you can switch out the notes files in your library in order to regain access to them via the Notes app. I was able to port the notes from my iMac to Mac mini without any issue by just copying the files over and deleting the ones that the Mini had created. All data was there. You have to copy the whole group.com container.
 
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fisherking said:
cut and paste everything from each note into a document. restore previous notes. then, put back the content from the docs, one note at a time.

a big undertaking? seems worth it, if, in fact, you think it's worth it.
Click to expand...
I'm considering that. I was also thinking if I did a Time Machine restore on an old macbook that's no longer-cloud connected, I could swipe them back from the past that way.
 
retta283 said:
Notes is rather limiting in the way that you cannot combine multiple computers notes into one big notebook without copy/paste and losing the associated data. It's easy enough to get your notes out of the user library, but anything more than that is a no-go.

Unless they broke it in a recent update you can switch out the notes files in your library in order to regain access to them via the Notes app. I was able to port the notes from my iMac to Mac mini without any issue by just copying the files over and deleting the ones that the Mini had created. All data was there. You have to copy the whole group.com container.
Click to expand...
I've looked for the library in my user directory but no luck.
 
RBel said:
I've looked for the library in my user directory but no luck.
Click to expand...
You need to have hidden folders on to see it. Cmd + Shift + . should work to see it. You may also be able to use the Go menu in Finder to go to /Library, or I think you can still hold the Option key while clicking Go in the menu bar and the Library should appear in the list.
 
retta283 said:
Notes is rather limiting in the way that you cannot combine multiple computers notes into one big notebook without copy/paste and losing the associated data. It's easy enough to get your notes out of the user library, but anything more than that is a no-go.

Unless they broke it in a recent update you can switch out the notes files in your library in order to regain access to them via the Notes app. I was able to port the notes from my iMac to Mac mini without any issue by just copying the files over and deleting the ones that the Mini had created. All data was there. You have to copy the whole group.com container.
Click to expand...
Just tried that. Not only didn't it work, it's deleted my iCloud notes as well.
 
StormPath said:
Just tried that. Not only didn't it work, it's deleted my iCloud notes as well.
Click to expand...
Deleted outright? Not able to access them from another devices? That should not be possible by moving local files. It should not be syncing from an empty database unless there's something seriously corrupted in the low level files. Looks like the Notes file format is more volatile than I thought, can't say I recommend using it for anything you want to keep long-term unless you're creating backups regularly of its contents.
 
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retta283 said:
Deleted outright? Not able to access them from another devices? That should not be possible by moving local files. It should not be syncing from an empty database unless there's something seriously corrupted in the low level files. Looks like the Notes file format is more volatile than I thought, can't say I recommend using it for anything you want to keep long-term unless you're creating backups regularly of its contents.
Click to expand...

I was able to access the iCloud notes from another device. I'm going to stop using Notes. I've located the old sqlite file containing the locally stored notes. For some reason when doing the update it took all those notes and stored them in a backup folder - no idea why anyone at Apple decided to meddle with those Notes and then decided to use a file format sqlite which can't be opened by Notes or when opened by other apps doesn't show the text data!

Lesson learned. Don't use an Apple app which converts files into formats not readily accessible by other apps. Notes can sit there looking pretty.
 
i love notes, and the effortless sync between devices.

you could use something like this, and run it weekly (or whenever): note2txt backs up your note files AS text files; useful as a secondary backup. just a thought...
 
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fisherking said:
i love notes, and the effortless sync between devices.

you could use something like this, and run it weekly (or whenever): note2txt backs up your note files AS text files; useful as a secondary backup. just a thought...
Click to expand...

Thank you. I've stopped using Notes as I can't trust it and instead will be trying out other apps like Notes but which allow me to export the notes to a more generic file format.

I would have been infuriated if I'd lost more important information but luckily I have a recent Time Machine backup so I'm somewhat amused that some Apple software engineer decided to get rid of my notes into a folder called 'Backup' which does indeed back up the notes but won't allow people to read or restore the notes because the Notes app can't be used to open up sqlite files 😀
 
StormPath said:
Thank you. I've stopped using Notes as I can't trust it and instead will be trying out other apps like Notes but which allow me to export the notes to a more generic file format.

I would have been infuriated if I'd lost more important information but luckily I have a recent Time Machine backup so I'm somewhat amused that some Apple software engineer decided to get rid of my notes into a folder called 'Backup' which does indeed back up the notes but won't allow people to read or restore the notes because the Notes app can't be used to open up sqlite files 😀
Click to expand...
you could give notes another chance, and try that app i suggested (which backs up each note to a plain text file). but whatever works 👍
 
I had a similar problem and I hope the solution I found will help others.

All my notes were stored locally. I didn't use iCloud for that purpose at all.

After a security update to OS 12.6, my notes completely disappeared. I didn't notice it until a couple of days later. When I did an internet search, I found many others had experienced the same thing; but most of the solutions proposed seemed focused on those who had iCloud notes in the mix, or had added a lot of notes since the problem and were trying to recover what was lost without losing what was new.

If you are like me, with merely local notes, and you are looking at a blank Notes app, here's what it turned out to be:

Apple, during the update process, "helpfully" checked the Notes option in my iCloud accounts preferences. When I opened System Preferences > Internet Accounts and checked both my Exchange account and my iCloud account, I noted that both had a check in the Notes box.

First I unchecked the Notes in Exchange, then I unchecked the Notes in iCloud. The Notes app was open in the background and at the moment i unchecked the option in iCloud, all my notes reappeared.

In essence, Notes was ignoring my local Notes file in favor of anything stored on iCloud. Since I had no iCloud notes, it showed as utterly empty. Once deselected, the Notes app looked to the local machine for any copies. And there they all were.

I hope this will help point some other lost soul in the right direction.

Cheers!
 
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