Guide: how to extract text from any iOS notes app backup on your Mac

Scenario: you had a sweet notes app like DailyNotes, perhaps one that your girlfriend installed while you weren't looking. So it was on her iTunes account, lets say. Then one day you upgrade to a new iOS version and backup all your data. For whatever reason you erase your iPad, install the new version, and recover back all the apps from the backup. (Maybe you were beta testin g prior to that so you wanted to wipe it clean.) Still your data is gone! Or is it?

"Fortunately" you backed up. However all that this means is that the text you entered into DailyNotes is stored somewhere in your backup, inside of a file named something like

"8f5d7ff4111c9b9e4c8dbb7395efdce9c260e0de-20110814-232318", encoded in a .sqlite database file wrapped inside that data.

Now, if you reinstall the DailyNotes app (or whatever) off of the app store under your own user account, will you get your data back as well? I honestly don't know. But I tried to find out, and I could get no straight answers. Most people said I'd lose my data, and the only way to get back my data would be to restore from the old backup, which of course would erase my current data! So I'd have to backup, then restore from the older backup, then restore from the newer backup again. Does anyone realize how LONG these backups and restores take? FOREVER! I don't have that much time guys. I just need a fast way to access a simple text file. Why does iOS make this such a chore? It's my own content, my own data, which is mine, my copyright, my intellectual property, and the iOS is hiding it from me inside an anonymously-named text file.

SO HERE'S WHAT YOU DO:

Download mono framework here and install it: (free)

http://www.go-mono.com/mono-downloads/download.html

(this can be easily uninstalled later, it has an uninstaller app)

Download iPhone Backup Extractor here and extract it in your Downloads directory: (free)

http://www.iphonebackupextractor.com./free-download/

(this can be easily uninstalled later, just delete the folder)

Download SQLite Database Browser 2.0 b1, and extract it in your Downloads directory: (free)

http://sourceforge.net/projects/sqlitebrowser/

(this can easily be uninstalled later, just delete the app)

You can move the two apps to your Applications directory if you intend to keep them long-term, but you can run them just fine from the Downloads directory which will make them easier to identify and erase after you're done, if you don't plan to keep them around.

Go to Finder and open the iPhone Backup Extractor directory. Resize that window to the side of your screen.

Go to Terminal and set the window where you can see part of it if the previously mentioned Finder window from the last step was floating on top of it.

Type "cd " (yes that's c, d, space) in Terminal then hit command-Tab to switch to Finder.

Drag the folder icon from the title bar of the finder window into the Terminal window that's now in the background. For you newbies, the "title bar" is the VERY topmost edge of the window (the frame of the window) which should have a folder next to the words, "iPhone Backup Extractor" visible in it. You're clicking and dragging THAT folder icon into the terminal window in the background. HIT ALT-TAB AGAIN WHEN DONE.

Now you're back in the Terminal and it should say:

"cd /Users/yourname/Downloads/iphonebackupextractor-latest" after the unix prompt. HIT ENTER.

Now type:

mono iPhoneBackupExtractor.exe

This will run the iPhone Backup Extractor app. It takes a few minutes to load because mono is slow (it's emulating Windows basically). Be patient.

NOTE: The Backup Extractor can only see backups stored on your boot drive that are in the users folder of whatever user you're currently logged in as. So if your backup is on an external drive or a CD, etc., just copy it to the desktop.

Once iPhone Backup Extractor loads, you'll see its window where you can select the backup. Select whichever one you want to work with. Then hit Expert mode. Each app that was on your device at the time you made the backup will have a directory shown. It will be named something like:

com.ramki.dailynotes

Expand the one you want to recover data from by clicking the plus sign next to it. Then expand the Documents directory for it. You'll see a file called something like Daily_Notes.sqlite. Click the dark black box next to this and a checkmark should appear.

Once you've checked the file to recover, click "Extract selected" below and save to your Desktop (or wherever!).

Now quit iPhone Backup Extractor unless you have other data to also extract.

NEXT... OPEN the app SQLite Database Browser 2.0 b1.

Once it loads, open your Daily_Notes.sqlite file (or whatever .sqlite file you extracted, not necessarily Daily_Notes, that's just my example). If you followed my previous steps that file will be on your Desktop.

Once it loads you'll see three buttons at the center of the window near the top called, "Database Structure," "Browse Data," and "Execute SQL." CLICK ON "Browse Data."

Now on the left-hand side of the window there is a pop-up menu with the word "Table: [POP-UP-MENU-IS-HERE] "... CLICK on the pop-up menu. It will actually say the name of one of the database files that's within the SQLite database, something like "ZAPPSTATE" or "ZDAYDATA" or whatever (not "POP-UP-MENU-IS-HERE", that was just text I put as a placeholder since it could be anything really).

Now that you've clicked the pop-up menu, select each item one by one and look at the data that appears in the table.

(Don't worry, you're just working with a COPY of the file, so if you accidentally delete anything it's not a real problem, just delete the .sqlite file and start the steps over from the beginning of this message.)

You should eventually find a table that has the text that you're looking for! Mine was called "ZDAYCONTENT".

WHEN YOU ARE LOOKING AT THE DATABASE TABLE, it looks like an Excel spreadsheet. That means you may have to double-click on the database cell to get it to show you the entire contents of that part. (It only shows a truncated text string in each cell, but if you double-click, a new window will open on top of the current window, showing the full text that was in there.) Now you can copy the text out and paste it into another app like Text Edit or MS Word or Pages, etc. You can also export the data in the File Menu > Export to an SQL or CSV file. (CSV is a text file where the data is all there, just separated by commas. This can then be imported into Excel or Numbers or another database or printed, etc., or just opened into Pages or Word or BBEdit etc.)

CAVEATS: Dates will often be shown as a weird number like 3780 or 2863 etc. You may have to figure out on your own what this date means. I honestly have no clue. SQLite Database Browser does not seem to support viewing or exporting PNG and image files.

Other than that good luck. Post any questions here.

AND HEY, APPLE: MAKE THIS EASIER! FILES BELONG IN FOLDERS, NOT INSIDE FOLDERS THAT ARE INSIDE APPS!!!