How do I export Notes in bulk using my iPad?

I’ve spent years taking notes on my iPad and now have to manually convert them to PDFs one by one and store them locally. I tried using shortcuts to automate it, but they didn’t work with attachments. On the other hand apple just let me delete all my 11xx notes with one click of a button.Apple was kind enough to let me recover my notes, but now I'm left with thousands of loose notes and no folder structure.

There must be a better way to make us buy extra iCloud storage than this.

If you can delete years of notes with one click, surely you should be able to export them with one too


[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Posted on Aug 22, 2024 2:39 PM

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Posted on Aug 22, 2024 4:45 PM

Perhaps the process outlined within this external article will help. The described process, using iPadOS multitasking, is remarkably easy - and exports one or more selected Notes to individual files within the native iPadOS Files App:


https://sixcolors.com/member/2021/01/export-your-apple-notes-in-bulk/#:~:text=Tap%20the%20Edit%20button%20to,Then%20release.


Once Notes have been exported (as .rtfd files), you can copy or move them as required to connected (or cloud) storage. You can open the .rtfd files with compatible Apps - such as Apple Pages.

3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Aug 22, 2024 4:45 PM in response to sof116

Perhaps the process outlined within this external article will help. The described process, using iPadOS multitasking, is remarkably easy - and exports one or more selected Notes to individual files within the native iPadOS Files App:


https://sixcolors.com/member/2021/01/export-your-apple-notes-in-bulk/#:~:text=Tap%20the%20Edit%20button%20to,Then%20release.


Once Notes have been exported (as .rtfd files), you can copy or move them as required to connected (or cloud) storage. You can open the .rtfd files with compatible Apps - such as Apple Pages.

Aug 22, 2024 5:23 PM in response to sof116

You can easily select multiple Notes/files... although doing so in manageable batches is preferable to attempting to export/move thousands in one action. Try this method that works with most Apps:


Drag and drop between apps


With drag and drop, you can move text, photos and files from one app to another. For example, you can drag text from Safari into a note, an image from Photos into an email or a calendar event into a text message.

  1. Use Split View or Slide Over to open the two apps you want to move information between.
  2. Touch and hold a photo or file until it appears to lift off the screen slightly. To drag and drop text, select the text first, then touch and hold it. To select multiple photos or files, touch and hold one, drag it slightly, then continue to hold it while you tap additional items with another finger. A badge will indicate the number of selected items.
  3. Drag the photo, file or text to the other app.



Use multitasking on your iPad - Apple Support


Aug 22, 2024 5:02 PM in response to LotusPilot

Thanks for your quick reply. I have tried this method , but it requires selecting the notes one by one. Not very practical if you have thousands of notes. I even made a a shortcut that would open notes app, export each note to pdf then transfer to a local folder but it ends up crashing every time.


Trying to export all your notes from Apple is like asking them for directions—they’ll give you a map, but every road leads back to iCloud!

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How do I export Notes in bulk using my iPad?

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