How to Restore "On My Mac" Notes?

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Level 1

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How to Restore "On My Mac" Notes?

This morning I was searching in my Notes app for something when the program began working very slowly. A message popped up -- something like "Unable to read 'sqlite'" -- and then the search brought up 0 results. I thought that was strange so I tried again, but the application froze. After force-quitting and restarting my computer, I opened my Notes app and to my horror, "On My Mac" Notes are completely empty!

I have found the actual archive files -- "NoteStore.sqlite"; "NoteStore.sqlite-shm"; "NoteStore.sqlite-wal" -- as well as individual files for each note [Library>Containers.com.apple.Notes>Data>Library>CoreData>ExternalRecords>Notes V4>then two different numbered folders, each with>ICNote>_records>and then more numbered folders with various notes within. Each file is numbered like this: p###.notesexternalrecord. Some show a text preview, some do not.] But when I try to open ANY of these with the Notes app, the Notes app opens and nothing happens. No new notes show up.

I know I could manually read these each as an HTML file and create new notes from them, but I have SO many, it would take forever. Any ideas of how I can restore them to Notes painlessly, and what is going on here??? Could it even just be something in my application settings that's not letting them show??

Other things to mention

- iCloud notes working fine. When I reopened the App, they had to take some time to reload from scratch as well, which I thought was odd. They reloaded but not "On My Mac" sadly.

- I suspect the freezing problem started because my hard drive was full or nearly full today. I've cleared some space, hoping that would solve it but I'm finding the same result.

iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)

Posted on Jun 1, 2017 6:53 AM

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Answer 1

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macjack

Level 10

111,180 points

Jun 1, 2017 7:01 AM in response to AnterDemi

A hard drive that is running low on space can cause all sorts of strange things. If you have the notes in iCloud Drive, try this:

iCloud Drive FAQ - Apple Support

How do I get back files that I deleted?

If you need to access a file that you deleted within the last 30 days, you can recover it from iCloud.com.

Sign in to iCloud.com.
Click Settings.
Under Advanced, click Restore Files.
Browse the list of files in the Restore Files window.

After 30 days, files are removed from Restore Files.

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Answer 2

AnterDemi Author

Level 1

10 points

Jun 1, 2017 7:05 AM in response to macjack

The notes in iCloud are fine. It's my "On My Mac" notes that are missing (or rather, I can find the files but they won't reopen in Notes now), so sadly they were not backed up this way. Thanks anyway!

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Answer 3

macjack

Level 10

111,180 points

Jun 1, 2017 7:17 AM in response to AnterDemi

Seems I misunderstood. Some of your notes are on your Mac and others backed up in iCloud? If that's the case and you can't retrieve from iCloud, do you have a backup, Time Machine or clone you can restore from?

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Answer 4

AnterDemi Author

Level 1

10 points

Jun 1, 2017 7:26 AM in response to macjack

Yes. I have the "NoteStore.sqlite"/"NoteStore.sqlite-shm"/"NoteStore.sqlite-wal" files, which from what I can understand are basically archives of all of the "On My Mac" notes. But the issue is, when I try to open them with the Notes app, nothing happens.

I also have individual files for each note that are named like this: p###.notesexternalrecord. But again, when opening with Notes, nothing happens. The app opens but no new notes appear. So I'm not sure if there is another way to make them appear in Notes or if I'm doing something wrong.

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