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I'm trying to merge all of my text-based notes into Notes.app. My notes are all over the place: some in text files, some in email drafts, etc. I can of course just copy and paste the text of such notes into Notes.app, but then their date created and date modified will be as of the time I copy and paste them in, rather than when I actually made them or modified them, and I'd like to retain the original date data.

I don't believe there is a way to change this directly in Notes.app, but is there a way to change the dates in the files created by Notes.app? If so, how?

Vincent
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2 Answers2

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I was trying to do the same thing--have original dates for notes that I was moving off my old Samsung phone onto my Mac (which syncs with the iPhone I now use). Both programs display one date--either the created or last modified date.

The solution I used: I sent all Samsung memos to my computer (I actually put them in Notes.app, but it doesn't matter where you have them on the computer). Then, what I did is I turned off the Wifi (maybe not necessary?) and went into "Settings" > "Date & Time", unlocked the lock at the bottom and unchecked "Set date and time automatically". Then, I reset the date to the date I wanted displayed on the note in Notes.app, clicked "Save" and I made a new note, copying what I had already imported into the computer/Notes.app. It created the note with exactly the date I wanted. :) I repeated the process for the rest of the notes. At the end, I rechecked "Set date and time automatically" and restarted the Wifi.

A solution that works, both clunky and elegant, depending on how you look at it. I am going to do the same for importing my voice memos into iTunes to sync correctly with Voice Memos on my iPhone.

bret7600
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Kathleen
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At this day, an easy way to create a note in Notes.app for macOS, with specific creation date it's to export a note with Evernote, then edit resulting .enex file, that it's an xml file, search for tag "created" and change as you want; then import that .enex file in Notes.app . Screenshot of my actual template.enex file:

enter image description here

fcelsa
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    This doesn't work. The resulted note's modification time is the time of the import, not the time specified in the file. – Alexander Revo Jan 04 '20 at 17:44
  • @AlexanderRevo As I just discovered, you need to update both "created" and "updated". Editing "created" alone won't cut it. – Arnaud Nov 15 '20 at 21:52