Q: iOS 9 / iTunes / Outlook Notes sync on Windows

This was a helpful suggestion on how to back up Notes in Outlook. I can't seem to mark it as helpful though.

I likewise have several hundred Notes that I rely on syncing between MS Outlook and my iPhone.

After several syncs, I now see that Apple as made an extra copy of all my Notes and put a copy into the "un-categorised folder".  This has at least kept them separate from my categorised Notes.  So on the iPhone, I have double Notes entries (one proper; the other an Apple copy with no line breaks/returns).

I deleted all the "errant" Notes on MS Outlook and synced again.  This at least got rid of the errant copies on Outlook, but I still have double copies on my iPhone.

I'm extremely displeased with Apple; the least we expect is for them to not destroy our existing data.

As noted above, I would never have said yes to "do you want to update Notes" if I'd have known this.

I tried this with care, and had disastrous results. I synchronized iTunes with my PC running Windows 7 and Outlook 2010 , after deleting any notes on my iOS 9 iPhone 4s. My Outlook notes were wiped out on my PC and I had to restore Outlook to my last backup to recover dozens of notes.

Back up your Outlook immediately before trying this technique.

I'm using Windows7, Outlook 2007, iTunes v12.3.0.44 & iPhone5.  Also, only sync via cable without iCloud.  I do not use iCloud.  This is with the Notes updated to new app.

End result is 233 Notes in MS Outlook and now 466 Notes on iPhone after the replication problem caused by Apple.

Upon syncing, I get the message "iTunes could not sync notes to the iPhone (Name's) iPhone because the iPhone is disconnected."

I can sync, but it ends with error message (I don't trust it) and any notes that are not categorised, get duplicated without line spaces/breaks.  So on iPhone I have one good Note and a dodgy copy.

Blimey this is getting even weirder!

Here's the latest on my Outlook 2010 (PC) and IOS9 Notes (iPhone 6plus):

If I add a new note with a sketch to my iPhone and then sync with iTunes (12.3.0.44), the Note goes across to Outlook 2010 with [OBJ] after the text, clearly indicating that the sketch cannot be imported into the text-only format of Outlook 2010 Notes.

If I then delete the same note from Outlook 2010 and then sync again, the original Note remains on the iPhone.

If I add a Note to Outlook 2010 and then sync again, the new Note does not go across to the iPhone

This is all despite there is no longer a switch to sync Notes in the 'Info' section of Outlook 2010 sync settings.

To conclude:

The sync operation appears to take place whether the user wants it to or not (no switch visible in iTunes 'Info' sync section)

The sync appears to be one-directional - iPhone to Outlook 2010

Only plain text will be transferred - all sketches, photos etc. added to the Note on the iPhone will not go across to Outlook 2010 but be represented by text-based placeholders.

So:

I'd personally like to revert my Notes on my iPhone to the old format - text only

I'd also like the option within iTunes sync options under 'Info' to choose whether to sync Notes

I'd also like iTunes to manage a bi-directional sync, as it did before and flawlessly, in my experience

The question is, will this ever happen??

I have multiple iOS devices syncing to my Windows 7 PC with iTunes version 12.3.0.44. I do not use iCloud Notes.

I too have noticed that after updating to iOS 9, there is no longer the ability to properly two-way sync the iOS Notes app with MS Outlook 2013 Notes in Windows. This is a problem for me since I have over 600 Outlook Notes that I sync with my iOS devices. I use Outlook Notes because some of my information is sensitive and it allows me to store it locally on my PC.

Here is a summary of my ordeal:

• On my iPad Mini 2, I elected to upgrade to the new Notes app after the iOS 9 update. In that case, the line breaks of my notes were deleted and the sync with Outlook option in iTunes was eliminated.

• On my iPhone 5, I elected to not upgrade to the new Notes app after the iOS 9 update. In that case, the line breaks of my notes were properly intact but the sync with Outlook option in iTunes was still eliminated.

I mention the line breaks because that is another issue and the original reason why I didn't upgrade to the new Notes app when I updated my second device to iOS9. I have spent several hours trying to sync iOS9 Notes with Outlook on both iOS devices multiple times to no avail.  These attempts have caused duplicate notes in Outlook with corrupted data so I recommend that all Outlook Notes users backup their pst files before attempting to resolve this issue.  I have concluded that iOS 9 Notes now only supports central storage in the cloud.  Further evidence is on this webpage:

https://support.apple.com/kb/PH21254?locale=en_US

I have downgraded my primary devices to iOS 8 and re-synced them to a backup pst Outlook Notes file. Two-way sync functionality is restored and I plan to see if there is a satisfactory resolution before I upgrade to iOS 9 again.

If iOS device users rely on syncing to Outlook Notes, I highly recommend that they don't upgrade to iOS9.  Again, upgrading to iOS9 and not electing to upgrade the Notes app does not resolve the sync issue, at least in my case.

Does anyone know of another iOS notes app that supports syncing with Outlook Notes?

I used the files found through a link located on this webpage:

http://osxdaily.com/2015/09/16/downgrade-ios-9-back-to-ios-8-4-1/

Is that not advisable?  I did it with my iPad Mini 2 and it seems to work fine.

The link are to files located at appldnld.apple.com which I believe is the Apple download server.