Yesterday I airdropped one of my notes to my husband. He received it. Now that note disappeared from his notes and today all but 10 of my notes are missing. No recently deleted notes. Followed all steps from support and cannot find them anywhere.
iPhone 13 Pro Max, iOS 16
Where were the Notes? See the pic below. You will get your answer
The various options that you are referring ("the second text menue") to will exist only if your Notes are on iCloud or the "On My Phone" Folder.
The 2 pics below are self-explanatory.
If you're missing notes on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch
Notes are always synced through Google, iCloud, AOL, Exchange, Outlook, Yahoo or any Other email Account
Any data on your device that isn't synced regularly will be stored in your iCloud Backup. With Backup turned on, iCloud takes periodic snapshots of this data to make sure it's easy to restore any time you get a new device. Between syncing and backing up, all of your data is kept safe in the cloud.
What does iCloud back up? - Apple Support (IN)
My notes have disappeared and I cannot find recently deleted notes
