Lost Notes Updates

Hello lcaballerom,

We understand that you are having an issue with your recent notes being missing after updating your Gmail password for the Notes app. We'd love to help. Since they were no longer being synced to Gmail and have been deleted, then they may be in the 'recently deleted' folder if they were being saved locally to the Mac. Have you checked for them here?

Also, if you were using iCloud, then they might have synced there. You can check our iCloud website to see here: iCloud

You can find more about deleted notes here: Delete a note on Mac

Have a great day!

As you wrote - I have tried many things including manually deleting the com.apple.Notes folder in the local files Containers folder , this folder is never to be deleted .

How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac.

If an issue stops happening when you log out of your macOS user account and log in with another, the issue could be related to the files or settings in your user account.

When you set up your Mac, you create a macOS user account with your name and password. The account includes a home folder named with your user name. That folder contains your files and settings, including:

• The files in the Documents, Downloads, Movies, Music, Pictures, Public, and Sites folders
• The settings you configure in System Preferences, Safari, Mail, and other apps
• The history, caches, and other website data you create by browsing the web with Safari or other web browsers
• Your email, contacts, and calendar data
• The media you use with iTunes, Photos, and other apps

You can find out whether unexpected behavior is related to items in your user account by trying to reproduce the issue in another user account. (If the issue happens during startup and before you see your desktop, it's probably not related to your user account or settings.)

Use another account for testing

If another user account is already set up on your Mac, you can simply log out of your account (Apple menu > Log Out) and log in with the other account. But the best way to test is with a newly created account:

1. Choose Apple menu () > System Preferences, then click Users & Groups.
2. Click  lock , then enter an administrator name and password.
3. Click the Add button (+) below the list of users.
4. Complete the fields shown for a Standard or Administrator account, then click Create Account (or OK).

If you plan to test with any of the documents in your own account, make those documents available to the new account. Drag them to the Shared folder of the Users folder on your hard drive (~/Users/Shared). You can then move them to other folders after you log in as the new user.

Then log out of your account and log in with the new account:

1. Choose Apple menu > Log out.
2. At the login window, log in with the name and password of the new account. If you're also asked to sign in with an iCloud account or Apple ID, skip that step.

Now try to reproduce the issue in the new account. If you need to set up an email account or other account in order to test, you can do so.

If the issue doesn't happen in the other account

If the issue doesn't happen in the new user account, the issue is related to the settings or files in your own account.

If you need help with a specific alert or issue, search the Apple Support website for the text of the alert. If the issue happens in only one app in your account, it might be related to one of that app's settings. Check the app's documentation or support website for help.

You can remove the new user account when you're done testing. Follow the steps for creating a new account, but click the Remove button (–) instead of the Add button (+). Before removing the account, make sure that you don't need any of the files or settings you created or copied in that account.

Apologies , I have to post second half of this lengthy answer .

For mac os catalina 10.15.6 when two factor authentication is used for apple id account .

( a ) In mac system preferences open users and groups , unlock the lock using admin password click on plus sign in new account choose as admin structure , fill up the credentials for new name and new password , quit system preferences , the pad lock will automatically get locked .

( b ) Take cursor on top menu bar and click on apple logo and log out the primary admin account , then on the pop up screen appeared on the desktop click on log out .

( c ) Sign in with new admin name and its password .

( d ) A screen appears for data and privacy click on right arrow of continue .

( e ) Sign in with your apple id and click on continue , enter the apple id and password and click on continue a small circle rotates setting up account .

( f ) Enter the password you previously used to unlock the mac book , your password is encrypted and cannot be read by apple , enter old admin account password and click on continue a small circle rotates .

( g ) Check the box of share crash and usage data with app developers and click on continue .

( h ) A screen appears for screen time , click on continue .

( i ) The box of siri is enabled by default , click on continue .

( j ) The box of ( 1 ) store files from documents and desktops in icloud drive ( 2 ) Store photos and videos in icloud photos are checked by default , click on continue and choose your look select any dark mark / light mode it will show setting up mac , three right check mark will appear .

( k ) On the top right corner notification will appear google account added ( it depends which mail services is use yahoo , hotmail ….) click on turn on a pop screen appears enter the password for gmail account click on open safari a window for accounts related with gmail will open , the web gmail address is already saved as highlighted , click on next and enter gmail password and click on next the gmail account is configured in interenet accounts , quit system preferences and close gmail window in the background .

( l ) Open system preferences click on accessibility again click on pointer control trackpad options click the box of enable dragging using three finger drag and click on ok , click on display check the box of increase contrast the reduce transparency box will be dimmed .

( m ) Click on mail application the mails will start syncing take cursor on view and click on mail box list , click on photos application it show what’s new in photo click on get started the photos will start syncing , click on calendar it will show what’s new in calendar click on continue and showing you can configure features in preferences , click on view show calendar list , click on notes it will show welcome to notes and click on continue open its preferences you can drag the pointer to extreme right for changing text size , same way for reminders click on continue .

You have to search for gmail help https://support.google.com/mail/?hl=en#topic=7065107

No ,

Your notes box should be always checked in system preferences > the location is slightly changed in Mac OS catalina the concept is still same as click on system preferences > Apple ID icon > iCloud > notes .

Users create a gmail address and its password and use as an Apple ID to sign in system preferences , this way gmail account is synced with iCloud .

If you lost the previous App Store update use combo update for the version , password has no connection with syncing of notes , the Apple ID password can be changed multiple times .

Is there any way to access an archive of the notes - always use time machine .

upgraded iCloud notes .

If you see an Upgrade button next to iCloud in the sidebar of the Notes app, you haven’t upgraded your notes yet. This means that until you upgrade, you can’t apply paragraph styles or checklists, browse the attachments in your notes, see and restore recently deleted notes, lock your notes or add people to notes.

If you upgrade your notes, you can view and edit them on other devices with OS X 10.11 or later, iOS 9 or later, or iPadOS that are signed in to iCloud using the same Apple ID. You can’t access upgraded notes on devices with earlier versions of OS X or iOS. Also, any notes you create or edit on those devices won’t appear on devices with upgraded notes.

When you upgrade, most of the formatting in your notes stays the same. However, any notes with HTML formatting (notes you created by copying and pasting from a website) may look significantly different.