Restoring iCloud Notes from local copy

Question

I used Notes on three MacOS/iOS devices (iCloud synchronization enabled). Accidentally I removed iCloud data. There were about 1000 notes, part of them were with attachments. Apple support can’t help with this issue. But I saved local copy from MacBook. When Internet connection is restored local copy is removing. So I looking for the best way to fix this.

iOS 16.4.1 macOS 13.2.1

I already tried to move all notes (when MacBook is not connected to Internet) to local storage, then enabled connection and copy back to iCloud. I got three different states on three devices. Restarting of applications and devices did not bring them to the same state.

Another variant: I think I should update synchronization status of my local records in db. But there are about 10 tables and it hard to guess what exactly should be updated.

Does anyone has Notes db specification or had an experience in restoring notes?

Have you got access the the notes directly in the copy? (Can you see them - the text?) — Thinkr, Apr 19 '23 at 17:53
yes, it is local copy of iCloud state before deletion. so I can access notes via Notes.app or directly via sqlite. — Konstantin Savin, Apr 19 '23 at 21:54
Maybe you copy the notes one by one and send them to your iPad. I know it can be tiresome but it works for sure — Thinkr, Apr 20 '23 at 05:29
thank you. but there are about 1000 notes. I want to check other options before. — Konstantin Savin, Apr 20 '23 at 07:54

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 19 '23 at 18:39

I already tried to move all notes (when MacBook is not connected to Internet) to local storage, then enabled connection and copy back to iCloud. I got three different states on three devices. Restarting of applications and devices did not bring them to the same state.

Copy/Export your existing Notes while offline

Notes is already on your local storage. What iCloud does is synchronize your local copy with what’s on Apple’s servers. When you removed iCloud, it became the “latest change to sync” so any client that contacts the servers will apply the latest change - the deletion.

Turn off iCloud sync (or go offline)
Extract the data out of Notes
- Export notes as PDFs (3rd party tool available)
- Cut/Paste as TextEdit, Pages, Word, (or other editing software) files.
Re-enable iCloud sync
Re-import the notes you exported

You will need to do this for all devices. However, you’ll only need to re-import the notes that differ across devices.

Thanks for your reply. I have about 1000 notes and part with attachments (images, pdf, mp3) so I'm trying to find a way to fix it without having to manually deal with each note. I believe it can be fixed by updating couple of fields in database — Konstantin Savin, Apr 19 '23 at 22:31

Restoring iCloud Notes from local copy

1 Answers1

Copy/Export your existing Notes while offline