I know this is something other people have asked online, but I would like to backup my Reminders. So I have 2 questions:
1 - There’s this location ~/Library/Reminders which some people already mentioned as the location where the reminders are stored. If I backup that folder on a regular basis and something happens, is it enough to just move one of the older versions back into that location? Or is there something else?
2 - When it comes to iCloud in general, but this also helps me understand how my Reminders are back-up by Apple, is iCloud the main place where everything is stored and then whatever we have on our devices is just a synced version of it? So even if the Reminders on my Mac disappear, I would be able to access them via the iCloud website, making it easier to then recreate those on my device, if needed, or just resync with the device?
Still related to iCloud: how reliable is it when it comes to not deleting Reminders (or any other data for that matter) randomly? I’m still using Todoist and I am able to backup all my reminders and they are saved as CSV files, which is great. I just wanted to rely more on the Apple products, rather than having more and more apps.
Recently there was a post from a forum member whose reminders were irretrievably lost, despite having backups and iCloud sync. Caveat emptor (unfortunately I seem to be using this phrase more and more lately ).
This may not be much help to you, but for what it may be worth, although I’ve had periodic issues with Apple Notes, I’ve never had a problem with Reminders. I’ve never lost any of my reminders and they sync instantaneously. I know others have had a different experience.
Oh wow. That sucks…
One of the options, and I used that in the past, is to use the iPhone to use the “Print” option so you can have a PDF version. I mean, it’s not perfect, but if you lose the Mac and the iCloud version, at least you don’t lose everything…
I’ve never used Reminder enough to experience any issues. Been using Todoist for a while now, but I think I went so “minimalistic” with how approach my tasks, that Reminders is probably more than enough, along with the Calendar.
For Notes, I got a script that allows me to backup all notes as HTML files. Not a perfect solution, but it saves all your Notes, just in case.
set rootFolder to "" & (path to home folder) & "My Files:Backups:Notes:" -- EDITED
-- set notesBackupsFolder to rootFolder & "Notes Backups:"
set currentDate to do shell script "/bin/date \"+%Y-%m-%d, %I.%M.%S %p\""
tell application "Finder"
-- try
-- folder notesBackupsFolder
-- on error
-- make new folder at folder rootFolder with properties {name:"Notes Backups"}
-- end try
set exportFolder to make new folder at folder rootFolder with properties {name:"Notes Backup, " & currentDate}
set exportFolder to exportFolder as text -- THIS, ADDED
end tell
-- Simple text replacing
on replaceText(find, replace, subject)
set prevTIDs to text item delimiters of AppleScript
set text item delimiters of AppleScript to find
set subject to text items of subject
set text item delimiters of AppleScript to replace
set subject to "" & subject
set text item delimiters of AppleScript to prevTIDs
return subject
end replaceText
-- Get an HTML file to save the note in. We have to escape
-- the colons or AppleScript gets upset.
on noteNameToFilePath(noteName)
global exportFolder
set strLength to the length of noteName
if strLength > 250 then
set noteName to text 1 thru 250 of noteName
end if
set fileName to (exportFolder & replaceText(":", "_", noteName) & ".html")
return fileName
end noteNameToFilePath
tell application "Notes"
repeat with theNote in notes of default account
set noteLocked to password protected of theNote as boolean
set modDate to modification date of theNote as date
set creDate to creation date of theNote as date
set noteID to id of theNote as string
set oldDelimiters to AppleScript's text item delimiters
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to "/"
set theArray to every text item of noteID
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to oldDelimiters
if length of theArray > 4 then
-- the last part of the string should contain the ID
-- e.g. x-coredata://39376962-AA58-4676-9F0E-6376C665FDB6/ICNote/p599
set noteID to item 5 of theArray
else
set noteID to ""
end if
if not noteLocked then
set fileName to ("[" & noteID & "] " & (name of theNote as string)) as string
set filepath to noteNameToFilePath(fileName) of me
set noteFile to open for access filepath with write permission
set theText to body of theNote as string
write theText to noteFile as Unicode text
close access noteFile
tell application "Finder"
set modification date of file (filepath) to modDate
end tell
end if
end repeat
end tell
I’ve been using Obsidian more and more and maybe I will eventually transfer all my notes there, because it allows for more things that Notes doesn’t, plus the fact that each note is a markdown file on my computer, easily “backup-able”
I wish Apple had the Export Notes/Reminders feature implemented, just like Calendar and Contacts. Those are super easy to backup
This looks awesome! Thanks for sharing.
And the fact that it converts to markdown, is amazing, because then I just need to put them inside my Obsidian vault
Thanks!
For Notes, I got a script that allows me to backup all notes as PDF files. Not a perfect solution, but it saves all your Notes, just in case.
I handle this by importing Apple Notes as markdown files to a DEVONthink archive database. I can access them in multiple formats and convert them as needed. I found this solution to be the best of both worlds; I have all the advantages of using Apple Notes and also have them as markdown files in DEVONthink and can use DEVONthink’s rich feature set as needed.
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