Michael Bryan

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

I have iCloud syncing of the new desktop/mobile app - "Notes" turned on in my desktop Imac, my Ipad and my Iphone.

 

 

 

All I want iCloud to do is simply mirror and sync all three of these Notes platforms so that the latest versions of all existing and new notes are identical in number and content on all devices.

 

  Is that not what this great complicated,bug-prone iCloud is SUPPOSED to do ????

 

 

 

I had, over a long time   (pre-iCloud and Mountain Lion),   accumulated 61 separate notes on the Iphone, as this is where I create and refer to most of my notes.

 

Despite my having these 61 Iphone notes, only 17 are appearing on the desktop - and, indeed, it appears iCloud has gone and DELETED  most of the notes I had previously synced up to the desktop from the iPhone using both iCloud and the old Itunes syncing,.... which of course has now no longer available..

 

 

Please, someone, how do I get Icloud to stop being selective and having a mind of its own about what it deletes and syncs and, instead, very simply do what it'as touted to do and mirror all notes in identical fashion on all 3 platforms.  ?????

 

 

- Iam frustrated and on the verge of just shutting it all down and giving up on the Cloud - it is so poorly explained !!! 

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.1), iMac 2.7 GHz core i5

Posted on Sep 26, 2012 9:20 AM

Close

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

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

Page 1 Next
  • by LousyFool,

    LousyFool LousyFool Sep 26, 2012 9:29 AM in response to Michael Bryan
    Level 4 (2,645 points)
    Sep 26, 2012 9:29 AM in response to Michael Bryan

    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.

  • by LousyFool,

    LousyFool LousyFool Sep 26, 2012 9:49 AM in response to Michael Bryan
    Level 4 (2,645 points)
    Sep 26, 2012 9:49 AM in response to Michael Bryan
    ...this great complicated,bug-prone iCloud...

     

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

     


  • by Michael Bryan,

    Michael Bryan Michael Bryan Sep 26, 2012 9:56 AM in response to LousyFool
    Level 1 (66 points)
    Sep 26, 2012 9:56 AM in response to LousyFool

    To quote you:

     

          "how in the world can you expect them to sync across all your devices?"

     

    Isn't the above EXACTLY what Apple touts Icloud to be able to do ?  To be a user friendly function that "pushes" changes made on one platform to all the others so they afre all identical ???

     

    The guidance notes from Apple I read said simply to turn on syncing on all three platforms one wanted to mirror each-other and iCloud would do the rest.

     

    Sorry, guys, but this is NOT well explained - read a lot of other postings elsewhere and you'll see I am far from alone.

     

      This ought to be far simpler !

  • by LousyFool,Solvedanswer

    LousyFool LousyFool Sep 26, 2012 10:01 AM in response to Michael Bryan
    Level 4 (2,645 points)
    Sep 26, 2012 10:01 AM in response to Michael Bryan

    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.

  • by Michael Bryan,

    Michael Bryan Michael Bryan Sep 26, 2012 10:02 AM in response to Michael Bryan
    Level 1 (66 points)
    Sep 26, 2012 10:02 AM in response to Michael Bryan

    To reinforce my point,  here is a guy having an identical issue:

     

    FOLLOWING QUOTED FROM ANOTHER DISCUSSION STRING:

     

      

    "........I have a Mac laptop, iPad2, and iPhone 4. I purchased iCloud to allow all the changes to my notes, calendars, etc to be synced whenever I make changes.  However, this is not happening.  I've added multiple events on my calendars and made changes to several notes, but none of the devices are syncing via iCloud.  What am I doing wrong?  I've turned on everything in the SETTINGS menu.  The only way they sync is if I sync to my computer first and then sync again with the other device......."

    iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G

     

     

           You seem to be telling me one has to create a new account called Icloud and from now on only notes appearing in this new account in the clouds will be synced and mirrored on all my devices.  That means Icloud syncing ignore notes previously written before the dawn of Icloud.    I didnlt realize Icloud has this major limitation. 

  • by LousyFool,

    LousyFool LousyFool Sep 26, 2012 10:12 AM in response to Michael Bryan
    Level 4 (2,645 points)
    Sep 26, 2012 10:12 AM in response to Michael Bryan

    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...

  • by Michael Bryan,

    Michael Bryan Michael Bryan Sep 26, 2012 10:15 AM in response to LousyFool
    Level 1 (66 points)
    Sep 26, 2012 10:15 AM in response to LousyFool

      THANKS.    I think I now grasp a concept I had failed to grasp earlier.    I understood clearly from the literature I would have to choose what documents and data went to the Cloud ......but had understood that for purposes of syncing "Notes,"   once I optioned the Cloud preference to "on" on all devices, there would be three mirror images of the same Notes content created identically on all the platforms.

     

    Now I get it .,

     

     

    THANKS

  • by Michael Bryan,

    Michael Bryan Michael Bryan Sep 27, 2012 9:28 AM in response to Michael Bryan
    Level 1 (66 points)
    Sep 27, 2012 9:28 AM in response to Michael Bryan

    Can anyone tell me how to be sure that when I in future I create a "Note" - whether it be on my desktop Imac,.....Iphone,.....or Ipad,  that it will go in to the right folder, account or directory (or whatever?) to be synced seamlessly and with "push" to all three devices via Icloud.  ???  

     

    IN OTHER WORDS:   To configure things so all Notes  -- regardless of where or opn what platform created ---  go to the cloud and then get seamlessly pushed to the other two devices automatically all the time ?

  • by kasplat,

    kasplat kasplat Sep 27, 2012 11:29 AM in response to Michael Bryan
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Sep 27, 2012 11:29 AM in response to Michael Bryan

    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.

  • by LousyFool,

    LousyFool LousyFool Sep 28, 2012 1:04 AM in response to kasplat
    Level 4 (2,645 points)
    Sep 28, 2012 1:04 AM in response to kasplat

    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?

  • by ceciliafromoceanport,

    ceciliafromoceanport ceciliafromoceanport Nov 16, 2012 8:47 AM in response to LousyFool
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 16, 2012 8:47 AM in response to LousyFool

    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

  • by Michael Bryan,

    Michael Bryan Michael Bryan Nov 16, 2012 2:39 PM in response to ceciliafromoceanport
    Level 1 (66 points)
    Nov 16, 2012 2:39 PM in response to ceciliafromoceanport

    Wish I could help you further but all I can say is to repeat what I did to resolve a similar issue:

     

    make sure yopu are using the iCloud account and no other in your Notes application on the mobile device and then check to be sure Icloud syncing of Notes is turned on in the Icloud pref pane in OS 10.8  on your laptop.

  • by ceciliafromoceanport,

    ceciliafromoceanport ceciliafromoceanport Nov 16, 2012 10:17 PM in response to Michael Bryan
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 16, 2012 10:17 PM in response to Michael Bryan

    Thank you. It worked, so you are brilliant!

  • by robertman42,

    robertman42 robertman42 Nov 19, 2012 8:49 AM in response to ceciliafromoceanport
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 19, 2012 8:49 AM in response to ceciliafromoceanport

    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.

Page 1 Next