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Duplicate notes? Notes not syncing?

Is anyone having problems with duplicate notes in Mountain Lion?


When I first open up Notes.app on MacBook, I am greeted with "This Mac can't connect to iCloud because of a problem with (my iCloud account)."

User uploaded file

I open iCloud Preferences, but everything looks fine.

User uploaded file

And these settings are exactly the same on my iPhone 4S.


It looks like my MacBook thinks I have two iCloud accounts in the Note.app but I should only have one. Unchecking the Notes box in iCloud Preferences, only takes one iCloud account off of notes. So, even with iCloud turned totally off and signed out, my notes application still thinks I am signed in.

User uploaded file

So when I add a noted from the MacBook, the note gets duplicated just seconds afterwards.

Sometimes it even makes three copies.

User uploaded file

None of the notes from my Mac sync to my iPhone and none from iPhone sync to my Mac.

Sometimes, the application on the Mac will crash, interestingly enough exactly at the time when my iPhone and Mac *should* be communicating together.

From Crash Reporter:


Process: Notes [542]

Path: /Applications/Notes.app/Contents/MacOS/Notes

Identifier: com.apple.Notes

Version: 1.0 (81)

Build Info: Notes-81000000000000~3

Code Type: X86-64 (Native)

Parent Process: launchd [151]

User ID: 502



Date/Time: 2012-07-26 16:55:08.354 -0500

OS Version: Mac OS X 10.8 (12A269)

Report Version: 10



Interval Since Last Report: 37865 sec

Crashes Since Last Report: 3

Per-App Interval Since Last Report: 1636 sec

Per-App Crashes Since Last Report: 3

Anonymous UUID:



Crashed Thread: 10 Dispatch queue: NSManagedObjectContext Queue



Exception Type: EXC_CRASH (SIGABRT)

Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000



Application Specific Information:

*** Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSInvalidArgumentException', reason: 'Unable to generate SQL for predicate (folder == $folder) (problem on RHS)'

abort() called

terminate called throwing an exception


Anyone else have these issues? Or just me?


Thanks in advance.

MacBook (13-inch Aluminum Late 2008), Mac OS X (10.7.4), 2.4GHz, 320GB 7,200 RPM, 4GB Memory

Posted on Jul 26, 2012 3:10 PM

Reply
166 replies

Feb 14, 2013 11:22 AM in response to mars315

My problems have been solved. A while back, the duplicate note thing stopped happening. I have no idea what happened. I assumed it was a fix from Apple. However, until yesterday, I was still unable to synch a NEW note created on my iMac to any other device, or to iCloud. Yesterday I spent some quality phone time with an Apple employee and here is what we did: If you open notes and then go to notes on the top bar, go to the "default account." On my computer, Road Runner (my email account) was checked. We checked iCloud instead, and my new notes started synching properly.


HOWEVER, I would like to point out, and the Apple employee had no answer to this, that while a new note created on my Mac would not synch, an update to an existing note would synch from the Mac to my other devices. Why was that working, but the new note was not working? Seems like things I did on my Mac either would have or would not have synched, not one thing synching and one not.


At any rate, I don't really care that much since my problem is sloved, but I AM curious if anyone wants to tell me.

Mar 1, 2013 8:25 AM in response to graybry

I'm a dope, and offer this observation for anyone similarly afflicted. I was getting multiple copies of Notes. In certain circumstances, whenever a Note was edited or altered in any way, I'd get an additional copy of it on my MBP. Make 5 little changes to a Note, and you'd get 5 new copies of it. Ugh.


When I finally had time to look more carefully at my multiple devices and my Cloud, I could see that the only platform I had the problem was on the MBP. Only Notes created or edited on the MBP got "redundantly duplicated", and the only place where the redudancy was visible was on the MBP. Zero duplication issues in the Cloud or on other devices.


I was knee deep into cache-cleansing and mailbox rebuilding when I stopped, and went back to look at Mail, Contacts and Calendars under System Preferences / Internet and Wireless more carefully. Flipping through my multiple accounts, I discovered that in addition to my Cloud having a check in the Notes sync field, one of my additional email accounts had also a check in the Notes sync field. I deleted that extra tick, and tested out Notes, and voila, no more duplicates. No restart needed, no nothing.


Some of you will need the more complicated fixes discussed in this thread, and thanks for everyone that took the time to lay those out. But some of you may need only this simple fix to restore Notes to smooth operating. Happy Trails to all.

Mar 23, 2013 3:52 PM in response to Talkingpengwin

Many many Thanks to Talkingpengwin and John Hammer1


I've done everything they suggested, and I've eliminated my duplicate note problem.


It's much appreciated.



@Talkingpengwin


BTW, you might save some folks some time if you edited your post, changing item 3 (under the duplicate note section) to be the following:


3. Click on the finder click go, hold the option key and click on library, then go to containers. Drag com.apple.notes from containers to the trash


Your notes were to hold down the option key and click on containers. Then drag com.apple.notes. I didn't see containers when I followed your notes and the fix didn't work. I later found similar notes elsewhere but with the above modification and then it DID work. Still later I saw John Hammer1's notes (about this error) in this same thread.


I am very happy to have this problem handled


Pete

Apr 3, 2013 7:02 PM in response to graybry

I had the same issue (it's what brought me here) and found a solution that worked for me. I believe it came from the MacRumors forum.


Turn off Notes synching in System Preferences -->iCloud and quit both Notes and System Preferences.

Go to ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Notes/ and move the entire folder to the Trash.


Turn synching back on and relaunch Notes.



Hope that helps,


--Chuck

Apr 16, 2013 9:09 PM in response to Chuck La Tournous

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4191

Syncing Notes with iTunes and OS X Mountain Lion v10.8

You can sync with the Notes app using IMAP or iCloud. Syncing Notes using iTunes is no longer supported on OS X v10.8 and later.

So the solution is simple:

You can either use IMAP and have all your notes on the internet,
Pay to use iCloud and have all your notes available to Apple

Don't upgrade to 10.8

Downgrade to 10.7


Why did they get rid of this functionality from 10.7 to 10.8?

Apr 16, 2013 11:21 PM in response to Who'sYourBuddy

Who\'sYourBuddy,


I've been wondering the same thing myself. There are serious implications for many users with the system Apple is trying to push down everyone's throat. Many users like me (I am a healthcare provider and must follow federal regulations that dictate I must maintain my data private and confidential) can't use cloud services. This does apply only to healthcare providers but others such as attorney's, those in industrial design (can you image Apple itself allowing its secretive product designs to be circulating all over the Internet for anyone to find) and numerous others can't rely, for one reason or another, on iCloud or any other cloud-based service.


Why didn't they just keep the previous sync mode and added iCloud as an alternative. Instead they killed iTunes sync and literally forced everyone to swallow iCloud. Talk about poor design and customer relations. Lately I must confess I've been wondering what the future for Apple holds after Steve Jobs left. Every time I see decisions such as this I wonder if those running the company have what it takes to continue to make it successful and to foster a mutually beneficial relationship with its extensive and critical user base.


I use my iPhone and iPad almost entirely for business. I can't believe Apple has left me without the single most useful, most basic and most fundamental tool anyone could want to have in a mobile device such as smartphone - a task list. I had this almost 15 years ago with the Palm Pilot. It had a terrific to do or task list that was easy to use and easy to sycn with almost any device independent of the operating system (both Palm and Microsoft provided synchronization software for the Palm). Fast forward to today and I have a phone I can no longer use to keep a simple list of tasks I must complete on any given day. Even my notes created in 10.7 now can't be synchronized with my iPhone anymore so they are literally 'stuck' in my computer. Seems like a huge step backwards by Apple.


I have been an Apple customer and Mac user since the first Mac was introduced. Some 30 years or so of loyalty to this company even during those times when it seemed destined for extinction. This is how the company thanks me for my undying loyalty. I will tell you honestly that if I hadn't just purchased an iPhone 5 I would go right now to a Verizon store and buy a new Samsung Galaxy phone. It is great and apparently, judging from reviews online, has a great task management application that is very simple to use and sync with your computer.


This one is tought to swallow.

Duplicate notes? Notes not syncing?

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