iCloud & Notes

OK, you have an identifiant with Apple that is good for almost all the services; iTunes Store, App Store, etc. This identifiant is called AppleID.

Indepandently, there's iCloud services. If you want to use iCloud, you need to register to it. By registering, you'll get a full load of services like; Find my iPhone, syncing services, etc. These are a all coming togheter along with an email account which will be @me.com.

If you don't recall having any @me.com address, then you probably never signed up with iCloud and therefore, you should create such account in order to use Notes syncing.

What's confusing is that an AppleID is an email. Actually it's your Gmail address but, if you want, you could use the iCloud email address you'll get once register with iCloud to also make it your AppleID. That's the recommended way to avoid any confusion in between the two. (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4895)

So your issue seems that you never register for an iCloud account. This must be done in order to have syncing services enable which are part of iCloud. Without it, you'll never been able to use Note syncing with an AppleID.

Hi Josty,

Let me repeat my first post in this discussion:

Why I have to create @me.com account to active Notes in iCloud? Everything works...contacts, calendars, reminders but only Notes wants @me.com account.

I thought my question was obvious. I wrote everything works except Notes, so it is obvious that I'm already registered in iCloud service.

Obviousness is often what's overlook by people asking question here. In a problem solving process, it is always helpfull to first make sure about the obvious.

josty wrote:

where can I see that iCloud email?

As long as you don't know your @me.com address, no, it doesn't not appear obvious that you are already registered in iCloud service and that you are logged into that service.

josty wrote:

Why I have to create @me.com account to active Notes in iCloud? Everything works...contacts, calendars, reminders but only Notes wants @me.com account.

To answer your question, no you don't have to create an iCloud account specifially for Notes. An iCloud account is require for any of these services to work. Since some services are working, then as you said, you got an iCloud account which is registered with an @me.com email address that you'll need to find back.

Interesting, now it doesnt want me to create @me.com but merge notes. Except that nothing happens when I click "Merge"

Nothing will happen at first if you click "Merge" since your Notes on your iOS device were most probably not on iCloud at this moment. On iOS Notes and OS X Notes, you need to show the location of your Notes. You will see 2 sections: on this device and on iCloud. Only Notes saved in iCloud section will be synced.

I found no way to move your note from your iOS device section to iCloud. I cut and paste them to iCloud. Doing so, you should see them appearing in your OS X Notes after a short moment as syncing is performed.

English is also not my first language. 😉

How to turn on Notes in iOS and OS X without creating @me.com account?

You can't. All sync features is part of iCloud which you must register. Even if you don't use the Mail feature, creating an iCloud account gives you a @me.com.

Ok, I understand that Notes ask you for your @me.com since it his a login to iCloud services. This is either because it is not properly linked to your iCloud services or a bug. In any case, at this point I would suggest you to turn off iCloud on both devices and reactive it using your @me.com.

First, get your @me.com email from login at www.icloud.com, selecting Mail, click to top-right wheel to access Account preference. There you will see your @me.com address. Note it somewhere.

Guys my question is what if i am using Windows??

How do I sync my notes with Icloud??

funkcanna - you're a genius. Who'd a figured the solution lay under Mail/Contats/Calendars? Clicking on Notes under that heading results in something completely different than the Notes I kept hammering on under iCloud. Thanks a million - I now have Notes synced across all my devices AND didn't have to aquire a me.com email address.

I'm kind of in Josty's situation as well. I use ......@gmail.com as my iTunes store purchase account and per Apple's instructions it is recommended that I use that for my iCloud acct as well. (I guess that makes things simpler).

I'm getting ready to move from Lion to Mountain Lion and am thinking about trying out iCloud. I have an ....@me.com address which I used at one time but stopped using and I know those have expired. Yet when I go to System Preferences/iCloud, it says to use iCloud, first move your MobileMe account and the only choice is to click on the "Move to iCloud" button. I'm thinking that is going to create a ...@me.com email as my iCloud sign on.

That confuses me because Apple says they recommend using the same email sign on for iTune purchases as well as iCloud (although they say you can have separate ones).

Further confusion results from reading the above posts about Notes and what handles those. To further clarify, under System Preferences / Mail,Contacts& Calendars, I have my Gmail account listed with Mail/Notes and Calendars checked. I also have my old ....@me.com address listed and that has Mail and Notes unchecked. If I delete the ....@me.com account (and it says all data from iCal,iChat, and Mail will be deleted, - which is ok by me, since I didn't have anything of value there anyway), then when I go back to System Preferences/iCloud, I'm guessing it won't give me a message to move my MobileMe account and will let me go ahead and sign in with the ....@gmail.com address. And since I have under Mail,Contacts & Calendars, in the Gmail section, Mail &Notes and Calendars checked, then Notes should sync ok, I would think.

Would this be correct thinking?

P.S. I don't see any real advantage to having different sign-ins to iCloud and iTunes other than it just gives me one more thing to get confused about.

Thanks,

mark

Sorry SeaBeast, but you are not understanding the issue we are facing. I have the same issue as the OP.

Here's another way to word it:

"you can use iCloud sync services with JUST an AppleID except for Notes and Mail, and that AppleID doesn't need to be a @me.com or @icloud.com address"

I have been using iCloud sync on all my devices for months with a @yahoo.com AppleID. Photo Stream works, I can login into icloud.com using my @yahoo.com AppleID and use Find My iPhone, it all works. But as soon as I try to turn on Notes or Mail it asks to create a NEW @icloud.com email address. And the sad part is that I was a MobileMe subscriber which they converted to a @icloud.com address, but there is no way to merge it with the AppleID I have used for years to make purchases. This is the issue. Apple has screwed up this one by not allowing us to use our existing @icloud.com or @me.com address and merge it with our AppleID used for icloud.

ixxxion wrote:

This is the issue. Apple has screwed up this one by not allowing us to use our existing @icloud.com or @me.com address and merge it with our AppleID used for icloud.

In fact the problem arises because when you migrated from MobileMe you should have signed into System Preferences>iCloud with your @me.com address. This would have enabled you to use that as your email address, and retain your calendars and contacts. Instead you created a new iCloud account: this would not allow you to use the @me.com address because it's already an Apple ID.

You can do one of three things:

1. Sign out in System Preferences>iCloud and sign back in again with your ex-MobileMe address. However this will remove any calendar and contact data you have synced.

2. Leave the current iCloud account alone and sign into System Preferences>Mail, Contacts & Calendars with your ex-MobileMe address.

3. Do step 1 then add the non-MobileMe iCloud account in System Preferences>Mail, Contacts & Calendars.

Sure I don't understand the issue you are facing as you haven't solve your problem yet. But I may understand part of the answer since I don't experience any of the issue described here.

"you can use iCloud sync services with JUST an AppleID except for Notes and Mail, and that AppleID doesn't need to be a @me.com or @icloud.com address"

There is nothing like @icloud.com. iCloud is integrated services which does give an email account using @me.com domain name. I suggest you read "What is iCloud" (http://help.apple.com/icloud/index.html?localePath=English.lproj#mmfc0efea4) to understand that all the iCloud services come togheter. When you sign in to these services, you get an @me.com email address wether you decide to use it or not.

Given said this, you can log to iCloud services either using your iCloud email address or your AppleID in the case it is different. The login you will be deciding to use make no difference for notes or www.icloud.com.

The issue you are facing, I think, is that you got an iCloud account which isn't liked to your AppleID. If that's the case, I do agree that you can't merge the two as they are 2 seperate account. In order to understand this, you should go to www.appleid.apple.com.

SeaBeast wrote:

There is nothing like @icloud.com. iCloud is integrated services which does give an email account using @me.com domain name

Not any more. @icloud.com addresses are being rolled out over an unspecified period: you will get one without having to do anything, and it will be additional to your @me.com address. @me.com addresses (and aliases) can no longer be created.

You will get a notification email when your account is updated. Please see this page:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5441

Thanks for this notice Roger, I wasn't aware.

I guess @icloud.com will be some kind of alias like @mac.com was to @me.com. As for the issue described here, it doesn't change much as it will be still a single account.

I just read your previous answer to ixxxion and I do agree that it seems to be an issue related to having 2 distinct account.