I had similiar problems in the past and I am worrying about the unsyched notes?
Could someone describe the detailed way to solve this synch-conflict? I am using Apple notes on my Mac and iPhone mostly.
Also does someone know a way to see the number of Notes I have within the folders ony my Mac? Also I cannot see the numbers in icloud.com/notes. In comparsion to my iOS devices I cannot see the number of Notes on my Mac or in iCloud.
Thank you for your help.
An also another question:
My initial Plan was to export the Appele Notes weekly to a trusted system. But I dont do it regularly, so they pile up.
Does anybody know a trusted way to export ALL of the Apple Notes at once as (preferebly PDF, to make it more trustworthy?). In this way I could export my Apple Notes (Monthly/yearly), with a few clicks, ahev peace in mind and could just search within that pdf for notes / or extract the notes from there. Thank you very much!
I find Drafts + GoodNotes is the perfect combination. I much prefer GN’s ink system and interface.
There are also many useful features in Drafts that Notes doesn’t have. I only use Notes for sharing with my wife, after I lost all faith in its reliability.
This is a major weakness of Apple Notes (AN) and why I am relying on DEVONthink (DT) and Drafts. The only way to export AN in bulk is through iCloud. Depending on the number of notes it can take a day or two for the notes to export. They export as PDFs within Folders making it a pain to subsequently send to other apps. As I said in my OP, I like Apple Notes. The app has many excellent features but the periodic sync problems and the inability to easily get your notes out of AN does not, in my opinion, make it a good repository of mission critical professional notes. I have also never considered AN to be an app to use for storing documents, there are far better apps for that purpose, DT being at or near the top of the list.
I used Exporter (https://apps.apple.com/es/app/exporter/id1099120373?l=en&mt=12), but this exports to markdown, not PDF. I’ve not tried it for months though.
Thanks!
I’m trying to avoid having more apps than I need. That great topic of How many Mac Apps are You Sporting? / What is your #AppNum? was definitely thought provoking.
What I like about Apple Notes:
I had major syncing issues on a nonApple platform and that was a chronic headache for me. I know how sync problems can create misery. Also, the problem with exporting Apple Notes was not something I had considered.
I’m going to try adding Drafts to my app mix but wish it was a better Apple Notes replacement for me. The dictation using Apple Watch feature seems nice but I see it requires a connected phone or network to work, something I don’t always have. Just Press Record on Apple Watch doesn’t need that but that’s still another app . . .
At the top under View there is an option to show or hide note count.
Thanks, but I cant seem to find to bulk-export Apple Notes through icloud and icloud.com/notes.
Could you explain that metheod a bit more perhaps? Thank you!
@KontiKonsumi This is one of the reasons I can’t trust Apple Notes for mission critical notes. It is not easy to download them. In fact, you must request the download. Once the request is granted, which may take a day or two, you will receive an email from Apple with a download link.
I hope this is helpful.
Apple Notes sync has gotten much better over time, but I decided the best approach is to use a system of Markdown files. I’m currently using iA Writer for this, along with iCloud for the syncing. I switched back in March and I haven’t had any syncing issues. I guess iCloud is best at syncing files.
I use Drafts as a starting place for text as it was originally conceived, but I don’t consider it appropriate for long term storage because it is still a closed database format. Markdown files are plain text and if I want to switch away from iA Writer, there is no export process. The files are ready to use by any app that can read plain text.
For anything Apple Pencil related, sketches or handwritten notes, I use GoodNotes.
That’s great. I’ve requested AN downloads twice. One took 4 days, the other took 5.
Indeed! That is why, as much as I like Apple Notes, it is not, in my opinion, a good or safe repository for important information. I prefer Markdown in DEVONthink.
It seems like people don’t trust Apple Notes but trust Drafts which uses CloudKit. I assumed the underlying sync for Apple Notes is CloudKit or is it a different service?
That is beyond my computer pay grade but there is something fundamentally different. I seldom have syncing issues with other apps but I do have periodic issues with AN. And, I have very few attachments. Most of my AN are just that, notes.
David detailed some of his own problems with Apple Notes in MPU 535. He said there that he’d been told that Apple Notes uses a different sync engine than other Apple products. I don’t, unfortunately, have the exact quote handy. But given the problems that I’ve seen I wasn’t surprised.
@Bmosbacker Thank you very much, this is a clever approach!
Dear @WayneG: Could you tell how the Notes look like when they have been downloaded? Is it a smiple text file or a single pdf file for every downloaded note? Would be happy about a screenshot.
Thank you!
I use Apple Notes for text and pdfs. My last download, when unpacked, contained two zip files. The first image shows a note containing a pdf. The txt file in the second column from right is the title of the note. The actual PDF is in the far right column.
This image shows a note that contained only text.
I keep these downloads as a backup, but I have also used them to evaluate other software. Before I load the data into a new program I normally unpack everything then search for .pdf files which I move to a new folder. I repeat the process for .txt files, then save the ones containing useful information and discard the ones that only contain the title of a note.
@KontiKonsumi I don’t have a recent download to show you but it looks like @WayneG does above.
I haven’t trusted Apple Notes since it mysteriously deleted a group of them. But because of convenience I still use it, but I will frequently make a backup by drag and dropping note folders from iCloud to On My Mac. The local copy acts as a backup.
Thank you very much @WayneG, for also giving an insight to your approach! And thanks to you as well @Bmosbacker
