Why is icloud not syncing all my notes on all devices properly?

Why is everyone blaming Apple for what they cause themselves?

You sure had your "pre-iCloud" notes stored locally on your devices - where else? With the systems still distinguishing between local and cloud, how in the world can you expect them to sync across all your devices?

Copy and paste them from local storage space into the iCloud section of Notes, and you'll see that you had overlooked something, not Apple. Your apologies will be gladly accepted.

It's then left to you if you want to delete the locally stored notes, so you won't see them twice on one device.

...this great complicated,bug-prone iCloud...

Oh, and I'm sure you have proof for this statement.

It is simple and does EXACTLY that - for stuff that is in the cloud or that you put there. It can only do what you tell it to do. What you exclude, it won't do, and what you don't add to the cloud, it won't sync.

It is not a limitation, it's a feature: you're not forced into syncing everything but you can select what goes everywhere and what stays local. If not now, I'm sure you'll appreciate this one day, I'm sure.

You can move data over into the cloud. Or leave it. If you want it there, you'll HAVE to do it, logically. If instead Apple decided to do so on behalf of the users, you can imagine the screaming here and elsewhere.

Computers are meant to do what you want them to do, nothing less. And nothing more.

With more functions in iCloud, e.g. "Documents & data", what do you expect, what do you want: Apple to upload any and all your docs and data to the cloud? Think about it... 😉

Okay,

just so that I understand...

All my old notes need to be copied and then pasted into new notes so that they can sync? There is no Share menu item or other utility to "migrate" old notes to iCloud?

I still agree with other folks that this was a failure on Apple's part. Not only does it not mirror the functionality of Contacts and Reminders, etc. but you end up having to create a separate iCloud email address, that apparently has no password, or at least I was never prompted for one and the only thing this email address is for is an outdated transport system that isn't used by the other iCloud data streams.

I can't see a failure on Apple's part: they are giving you Notes for each and every of your email accounts. In each account you can activate Notes or not. Can you ask for more flexibility? The rest depends on what you make out of it.

I'm not sure what you mean by

you end up having to create a separate iCloud email address, that apparently has no password, or at least I was never prompted for one and the only thing this email address is for is an outdated transport system that isn't used by the other iCloud data streams.

Most people have more email addresses, though not necessarily on iCloud, but everyone on iCloud has at least one @me.com and/or @mac.com address, which lets you sync your Notes across all OS X and iOS devices.

So, it looks as if - at least for now - you want only a single Notes "pad" that's in sync and accessible on all your Apple gear. No prob.

1. Make sure all your notes were copied or moved into Notes under your iCloud account.

2. On all your Apple gear, deactivate Notes for all (email) accounts except iCloud, and activate it for your iCloud account:

2.1. In OS X:

- The simplest way is to launch Notes, then -> Notes -> Accounts in the menu bar.

- Click on each non-iCloud account and uncheck Notes.

- Click on your iCloud account and make sure Notes is checked.

2.2. In iOS:

- Go to Settings -> Mail, Contacts, Calendars.

- Tap on each non-iCloud accounts and turn Notes off.

- Tap on your iCloud account and make sure Notes are on.

That's it. Now you have only a single notepad everywhere, and since it's in iCloud and active on all your Apple devices, it stays in sync. See, makes sense, no? 😉

I have done this and my notes I type on my Mac laptop OSX Mountain Lion latest version are not transferring to icloud not to iphone 5.

What should I do? I have turned on the notes on the iphone as per your explanation. On my Mac it says ALL NOTES and there is no icloud etc to copy/paste my notes.

HELP!!!!!!!

Cecilia

Thank you. It worked, so you are brilliant!

Okay, I finally got this. But I was having trouble deciphering some of the explanations. Maybe the following will help others who were still stuck like me.

I think that I had everything set right on my I-phone, and I was getting some notes sync'd but couldn't figure out how to get them all working. Was comtemplating copying the text of each old note into a newly named note some how tied to the new icloud account. Nope, not nearly that difficult. Here's how simple it was for me to fix.

I went into Mail on my laptop. Clicked on the "Notes / On My Mac" folder (under Reminders) in the left side bar. Selected all of my notes, then right clicked on them and selected "Move To / Notes / iCloud" in the pop up window.

And ...Wallah! All my notes are now in my "Notes / iCloud" folder (which means they're all associated w/ my iCloud account) and any edits on my i-phone or my laptop (sync) update instantaneously to the other devices.

It's very cool.

Thanks for leading me to the answer.

Thank you so much for your post. You explained it so that this senior citizen could understand. I'm coming from a DOS environment all the way through Windows XP, with minute amounts of Vixsta, and Windows 7. So I'm not entirely a novice when it comes to computers, but this had me stumped!!!