First Notes stopped syncing with iCloud, then all my Notes on my Mac disappeared

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First Notes stopped syncing with iCloud, then all my Notes on my Mac disappeared

I've used Notes for years across both iPhone and Mac (I have over 4,000 Notes). Recently I realised that my Notes from my Mac (which is my primary device for note-taking) were not syncing to my iPhone.I checked using iCloud on the web and it gave the same results as on my iPhone - Notes stopped syncing from my Mac about 1 month ago. I then noticed that Notes on my Mac was using 10-15% CPU without doing anything obvious, and quitting-restarting Notes didn't help.

So, I unchecked iCloud sync for my Notes on Mac, then re-started Notes. Now all my Notes have disappeared i.e. Notes on the Mac can't see a local copy of my Notes. I've looked in the Library folder and can see a Notes database folder containing 470MB, which feels about right. But Notes can't seem to access that folder any more - it just shows 1 note on my Mac.

How can I retrieve my lost Notes?

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 13.5

Posted on Oct 9, 2023 4:48 AM

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Answer 1

hc1111

Community Specialist

Oct 10, 2023 7:17 AM in response to KitWL

Hey there KitWL,

It looks like you're viewing notes from the internal storage on your Mac. If you check the notes on your iPhone, do you see them there? If so, that means they're still in iCloud, just not able to sync on the Mac.

In order to use iCloud Notes on the Mac, make sure you have the settings adjusted as shown here:

1. On your Mac, do one of the following:

* macOS 13.3 or later: Choose Apple menu > System Settings, click [your name] at the top of the sidebar, then click iCloud on the right. Below Apps Using iCloud, click Show All, click Notes, then turn on Sync this Mac.

* macOS 13 to 13.2: Choose Apple menu > System Settings, click [your name] at the top of the sidebar, click iCloud on the right, then turn on Notes.

* macOS 12 or earlier: Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Apple ID, click iCloud, then select Notes.

2. To view notes stored in iCloud, open the Notes app. In the Folder list, select All iCloud or a folder in the iCloud section.

Set up iCloud for Notes on all your devices - Apple Support

Feel free to reply with more details if you still do not see the notes.

Take care!

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Answer 2

KitWL Author

Level 1

5 points

Oct 10, 2023 9:09 AM in response to hc1111

Thanks for your reply. The problem is that my Notes used to sync to iCloud from my Mac, then that stopped working. So I have 1 month's worth of notes on my Mac that didn't sync to Cloud. If I just switch on iCloud sharing again, I will lose that month's worth of work.

That's why I was asking how I can get access to the local Notes - because that's where the missing month is stored. Your reply sadly doesn't solve that problem. Does anyone have other ideas?

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Answer 3

BrianK90

Community Specialist

Oct 10, 2023 9:36 AM in response to KitWL

Hey KitWL,

Thanks for letting us know. For your next best step, we recommend that you reach out to Apple Support team for further assistance: Apple Support

We hope everything works out!

Best regards.

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First Notes stopped syncing with iCloud, then all my Notes on my Mac disappeared

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