move notes to new imac

This answer is for Mac to Mac transfers only and iPad, iPhone, etc. may need to look elsewhere for how to move existing Notes from Mac to Mac. This process assumes you are not using iCloud or other cloud storage resources. This worked for me and was much more straight forward than any other instructions I tried:

1. This requires an external drive or other storage to hold folders and files for the existing and new databases of Notes.
2. The files and folders are all contained in the: ~/Library/User/user name/Group Containers/group.com.apple.notes folder on each Mac.
3. Start with the existing Notes app and check it for notes you wish to keep. Any that are vital should be exported to a safe location for future recovery if needed.
4. Close Notes app and click the desktop to bring up the Finder menu at the top of the screen.
5. Hold the Option key down while you click Go in the menu and then click Library.
6. Navigate to /Group Containers and copy the folder /group.com.apple.notes to your external storage device mentioned in 1.
7. Go to new Notes app on your target Mac and attach the external storage device from 6. and check that your copied folder is there.
8. Open Notes app and repeat steps 3. through 6. and copy the folder from the NEW Notes app to your storage device for recovery if anything goes wrong.
9. With Notes app closed copy the database folder for the OLD Notes app on your storage device to the Group Containers folder. You are still in the macOS where your NEW Notes app is and Notes app is still closed.
10. When the copying is complete, this may take a few moments if your Old folder is large, close all the open windows on your Mac and open Notes app. Your Old notes and their folder should appear in the NEW Notes app on your Mac.

If you encounter problems, shut down all apps and restart your Mac. If the transfer still did not work repeat the steps above and pay special attention to the sequence, source and target. This whole post took twice as long to write as the process of transferring my notes from one Mac to another Mac. Keep any copied folders long enough to ensure that all your notes were transferred successfully and when sure, you can delete them from the external storage media where you placed them.

Maybe I'm missing something but Migration Assistant seems to be too coarse a process for my purposes. I was concerned that MA would transfer more data and files than I wanted and lacked the ability for me to pinpoint individual files, folders, and settings. The MA process also appears to be very time consuming. Here's what I was after:

• On a dual boot external SSD with Big Sur and Monterey loaded I wanted a clean copy of Monterey with the least carryover from a previous install I had created to test my 2015 iMac's responsiveness to the new macOS.
• I had targeted Contacts, Bookmarks, Images, Documents, Calendar, and Notes for transfer from the Big Sur install and the internal HDD Monterey load.
• I did not want any of the settings installed on my virgin copy of Monterey.
• Migration Assistant invoked from the Setup of my clean install Monterey offered no ability to pick and choose what was transferred as far as I could tell.
• Migration Assistant invoked from the clean install Monterey after the Setup similarly was unclear on what control the user has over what is transferred.

This is not an unusual situation according to what I have read in researching how to's in the case of clean installs of macOS. The performance on Macs at or near the point of non-support is known to be sketchy with serious lags and beach balling. My testing shows that the mechanical HDD's in Macs are a choke point for performance and a bootable SSD is sufficient to extend the usability of older Macs. Often users wishing to improve Macs in this condition want to minimize what gets moved from the old HDD to the SSD. In my case there were 2 Macs involved but the same applies when one Mac is upgraded with an SSD and the latest compatible macOS.

The Notes app presents its own set of problems in content transfer and my solution was the result of several attempts to get around the one note at a time export/import routine. If you have an upgrade to the process of selectively migrating data and files from one Mac/HD to another please share it as I am always open to better methods.

Thanks