Help with Notes app on old Macbook?
February 16, 2025 3:49 AM Subscribe
Hello, I hope someone can help me with some advice for backing up Notes on my old (2013) Macbook? The issue: I have Notes app notes on "My Mac," and Notes app notes on iCloud, and they are different. I'd like to have the notes on My Mac back up to iCloud. I don't care about preserving the existing iCloud notes at all. How do I make this change? (Normally, I would just try a few things, and usually I can get the results I want, but I'm very worried about losing my existing My Mac notes! They have some irreplaceable info, so I want to be very careful!) Thank you!
Response by poster: Hm ... I don't really have a Notes folder per se ... like, I have Users > MyName > Library > Containers > Notes, and in that last folder is a folder, "Data," and the contents there are for tmp, SystemData, Music, Downloads, Documents, etc., so it's not really a "Notes App" Notes folder.
I should have mentioned that I'm using Big Sur, because it's the last OS update my computer will accept, so this might make a difference!
posted by luckydog at 4:31 AM on February 16 [1 favorite]
I should have mentioned that I'm using Big Sur, because it's the last OS update my computer will accept, so this might make a difference!
posted by luckydog at 4:31 AM on February 16 [1 favorite]
Best answer: According to this answer on a different Ask-a-question website over at https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/401753/move-apple-notes-from-mac-to-icloud, (and also what I think theBigRedKittyPurrs meant):
In the Notes app (and not in your Finder), select all your notes in the "In My Mac" section, and manually drag them to a folder inside the "iCloud" section.
(All these are done in the Notes app. You are not supposed to find the folders in your Finder.)
If you hold them the "Option" key while you are dragging, the notes will be copied over and not just moved over. (You should see a "+" symbol attached to your cursor while you are doing that.)
posted by applesurf at 5:01 AM on February 16 [4 favorites]
In the Notes app (and not in your Finder), select all your notes in the "In My Mac" section, and manually drag them to a folder inside the "iCloud" section.
(All these are done in the Notes app. You are not supposed to find the folders in your Finder.)
If you hold them the "Option" key while you are dragging, the notes will be copied over and not just moved over. (You should see a "+" symbol attached to your cursor while you are doing that.)
posted by applesurf at 5:01 AM on February 16 [4 favorites]
Response by poster: Okay, thank you both! I was able to make a copy on iCloud and an extra copy on My Mac (for good measure!), so now I can see about getting local notes to back up to iCloud without worrying about accidentally losing anything in the process!
posted by luckydog at 6:01 AM on February 16
posted by luckydog at 6:01 AM on February 16
applesurf did an excellent job of translating my too-early-in-the-morning answer. i’m glad it worked!
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 10:41 AM on February 16
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 10:41 AM on February 16
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posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 3:55 AM on February 16