Notes Disappeared from Mac, Why and How to Recover [Full Ways]

How to recover notes on Mac when Mac notes disappeared after macOS update? How to recover deleted notes on Mac, Macbook Pro, or Macbook Air? Read the post and you will get all the four effective ways to recover notes disappeared from Mac with ease, including using the recently deleted folder, iCloud backup, Time Machine backup and third-party EaseUS data recovery software.

Notes Disappeared from Mac? 5 Ways to Recover Notes on Mac

Apple Notes is a notetaking app available on iOS and macOS. In the information age, we are becoming increasingly accustomed to taking notes, which can be a moment of inspiration or an important working schedule.

However, notes may disappear from a Mac for unknown reasons. How do you recover the notes that disappeared on your Mac? This tutorial covers five ways to recover notes on Mac.

Solutions	Steps	Scenarios
😀Recover notes with Mac data recovery software	Download and install EaseUS Mac file recovery software. Run it and scan your Mac for notes that disappeared.	Deleted notes are not in the Recently Deleted folder and are permanently lost.
🔁Restore from Recently Deleted Folder	Open the Notes app on your Mac. Open the Recently Deleted folder. Find your notes and move to Mac.	Notes are deleted, so go to the Recently Deleted folder.
🟩Recover missing notes from Temporary Folder	Click on "Finder > Go > Go to Folder". Copy and paste the Mac Notes storage location "~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Notes/Data/Library/Notes/" to find notes.	Apple notes suddenly disappear
😀Recover from iCloud backup	Go to Apple > System Preferences > iCloud. Open Notes for iCloud backup.	All my notes disappeared on my Mac
💾Recover from Time Machine	Connect your backup external hard drive to your Mac, and find the missing notes to restore.	Mac notes disappeared after the upgrade.

Recover Notes Disappeared from Mac with Data Recovery Software

Even if you can not recover the disappeared notes through the first three ways, you can still restore the lost notes with the premier EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac.

When choosing which software to help you recover disappeared notes on Mac, EaseUS Mac note recovery software is your best choice. Being professional, safe, and easy to use, the EaseUS software stands out among the data recovery software.

• It allows you to recover notes lost due to accidental deletion, disk formatting, virus attacks, system crashes, etc.
• It helps users recover deleted files on Mac from an emptied Trash Bin, including lost notes due to accidental deletion.
• It allows users to restore Mac notes from backups in Time Machine or iCloud Drive.
• If you sync your Notes on iCloud Drive, the EaseUS software also provides an iCloud Recovery feature to help you recover notes that have disappeared on your Mac.

Check out the following steps to recover notes that disappeared from your Mac in only three steps:

Step 1. Select the drive to be scanned

In the main EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard window, there will be a list of the drives connected to your Mac. Select the drive you need to recover lost/deleted files from, and click the "Search for lost files" button.

Step 2. Select your lost data/files

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac will immediately scan your selected disk volume and display the scanning results on the left pane. You can sort the results to find the wanted files if you are looking for certain files.

Step 3. Recover lost/deleted data

Once you have found the desired files, preview the files and then click "Recover" to begin the recovery of your deleted/lost Mac files.

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Notes Disappeared from Mac? Restore from Recently Deleted Folder

How long have you removed the content from the Notes application? By default, the Notes program keeps stuff for 30 days after deletion. If you can't find the deleted notes in the "Recently Deleted" folder, consider EaseUS Mac data recovery software, which also performs well in recovering deleted notes on Mac.

So if you're looking for Notes files you may have accidentally deleted, check the "Recently Deleted" folder:

Step 1. Open the Notes app on your Mac.

Step 2. Click to open the"Recently Deleted" folder in the left sidebar.

Step 3. Find the missing note. Right-click it, and click "Move to > On My Mac".

The Notes app on Mac can only retain deleted notes within 30 days. If you can't find the recently deleted notes or you delete them permanently, the most efficient way to get data back is using specialized Mac file recovery software.

Restore Mac Disappeared Notes from Temporary Folder

Mac will create temporary files named ".storedata" files in the user Library folder when you are using the Notes app. So, if your notes disappeared on Mac suddenly, you can browse the ".storedata" files to find missing notes:

Step 1. Open Finder and hit the following keys on your keyboard – Cmd, Shift, G. (Or go to the "Go > Go To Folder" in the top status bar).

Step 2. Copy and paste ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.notes/Data/Library/Notes/ and hit Enter. You will be presented with the following folder, which usually contains about three files. (Our lost data was stored in the "NotesV1.storedata-wal" file.)

Step 3. Make a backup of these files to a folder on your desktop, renaming each file to ".html". When asked if you would like to add the extension, click "Use .html". Once this is done, the files should look something like this (with your browser icon as the file icon – my browser in this instance is Firefox hence the orange icon).

Step 4. Double-click the files to open them up in your default browser, and you will be presented with the notes text in HTML format. Simply Cmd + F to find and recover the note text you are looking for.

How to Recover Notes Disappeared from Mac from iCloud

iCloud makes you sync notes among your Apple devices possibly. That is to say, if you delete notes on your Mac, you may retrieve them on iCloud backups:

Step 1. Disable the Internet access as quickly as you can once you discover the notes disappearing on your Mac. (Or go to "Preferences > iCloud > uncheck the box next to Notes.)

Step 2. Go to icloud.com, and sign in with your Apple ID. Choose Notes. Find the deleted notes and save them in a local file.

If this method doesn't work, use EaseUS software to recover your notes from iCloud:

Step 1. Choose iCloud Recovery

Select the iCloud tab from the left list, choose the "Recover data from iCloud account" option to recover your notes, and click "Next" to log in to your iCloud account.

Step 2. Choose the "Notes" category

EaseUS software will quickly scan all the recoverable data from your iCloud account. Check the "Notes" category, and click the "Next" button.

Step 3. Recover notes from iCloud

Select the notes you want to restore, click the eye icon to preview the details, and then click the "Recover" button to get them back.

Step 4. Save recovered notes

Choose a safe storage location on your Mac hard drive to save the recovered notes. You can also save the recovered notes to your cloud drives, such as DropBox, OneDrive, GoogleDrive, etc.

How to Recover Notes on Mac from Time Machine

You can use Time Machine, the built-in backup feature of your Mac, to automatically back up all of your files, including apps, music, photos, email, documents, and system files. When you have a backup, you can restore the notes from your backup.

Requiring no additional apps, using Time Machine is a quick and easy solution to recovering disappeared, deleted, and lost notes, which was nowhere to be found. To perform Mac note recovery, follow the guidance provided below.

Step 1. Connect the backup drive to your Mac. Start Time Machine.

Step 2. Open the backup files and find the notes files you need.

Step 3. Choose the note and click the "Restore" button.

Why Did My Notes Disappear on My Mac

But the mishap of Mac notes disappearing always happens. Many people would get stuck in a situation where:

• Notes disappeared from Mac after a major macOS upgrade
• They've accidentally deleted a note
• Turn off the iCloud backup
• Software problem because of a macOS bug
• Store notes with a third-party account

Don't worry. You can quickly recover lost notes from the Recently Deleted folder if you have not emptied it. Or you probably get the notes back from iCloud or Time Machine if you have made a file syncing/backup.

Bonus Tip: Where are Notes Stored on a Mac

Usually, your Mac notes are restored from the recently deleted folder, iCloud and Time Machine backup, and third-party software will be saved back to its original location. To check and view the recovered notes you've retrieved, you should know where Mac stores the notes. This is where Notes are stored on Mac, iMac, Macbook Pro, Macbook Air, etc.

~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Notes/Data/Library/Notes/

You can easily access the Notes location in Finder by following these steps.

• Pull down the Go menu from the Finder and choose Go To Folder.
• Enter the path ~/Library/Group Containers/group.com.apple.notes/ and find the exact file called NoteStore.sqlite. This is where actual Notes data is stored.

Mac Notes Disappeared FAQs

Read the questions and answers below to get additional help on Mac Notes recovery.

1. Where did my Notes go?

Where do deleted files go? It depends on the device and the way you delete your files. On Mac, deleted files go to the Trash. If you are deleting files from an external hard drive, the deleted files won't go to the Trash. They remain on the drive marked as empty.

2. Where are notes stored on Mac?

You can go to ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Notes/Data/Library/Notes/ to view the temporary notes.

3. Why did my Apple notes suddenly disappear?

The notes on Mac may be missing due to account issues, software crashes, system problems, human error, or other causes.