iOS Notes app: file version history - how do i Undo file content deletion (not deleted file)?

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Level 1

11 points

iOS Notes app: file version history - how do i Undo file content deletion (not deleted file)?

While i rely on Notes app on both platforms, the lack of "Save" functionality, supporting file versioning, as well as "Undo history", to allow unintended action, makes it feel like tiptoeing thru a minefield sometimes. Twice, i've written a bunch of text i value, used the 'Speak' contextual menu tab to hear it read back, and the next action (given "Select All" preceded "Speak",) wipes out the text. the "document" still exists in documents list, with timestamp, tho i've yet to discover a way to restore or find an earlier file version. A related question: if the same account is linked to the data via iCloud under MacOS, is there more facility to get to previous versions, given the file system is easily navigated and tools like Terminal enable grep and other commands that aid in such forensic activities, or do incremental versions of the file, as it changed over time, resident only on the iOS device the file was authored and edited on?

iPhone 6s, iOS 12

Posted on May 23, 2019 8:59 AM

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Answer 1

MrBill3

Level 10

104,518 points

May 23, 2019 10:56 AM in response to vidmaven

Hello,

Are you aware of the feature below?

Just shake the phone several times, and you will get a pop-up asking if you want to undo.

Good luck.

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Answer 2

vidmaven Author

Level 1

11 points

May 23, 2019 12:20 PM in response to MrBill3

research turned that up, with no explanation for time frame or level of Undo's, which one must assume is "one only".

My initial statement had a couple of errors: "to allow unintended actions" was missing the rest of the phrase "…to be walked back."

Likewise, in the last sentence, replace "resident" with "reside"

Notes app functionality has expanded, tho the choices that make it "easy" also make a simple mistake vexing, with no "intuitive" means of recovering from user error. The iOS paradigm of obfuscating the file system, and relying on Mac OS iTunes for administering the device is curious, and often annoying, to the Mac-faithful (in my case, 35 years, and worked for 5 MacOS developers, and 4 MacOS VARs.)

I learned, when searching for an answer, that i can dig into NoteStore.sqlite and possibly grep a string, tho it's unclear whether an account-associated MacOS device would have the history of iOS-originated file's contents, or only the most-recent version.

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iOS Notes app: file version history - how do i Undo file content deletion (not deleted file)?

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