Apple has a support doc on backing up iCloud data with a less than ideal recommendation for macOS Notes.app backup …
To copy notes, open the Notes app at iCloud.com. Copy the text of each note and paste it into a document on your computer, such as a Pages or TextEdit document. Save the document to your computer. To export your notes as PDF, open the Notes app in OS X Mountain Lion or later. Select the note, then click File > Export as PDF and choose a location.
Maybe Automator could make this scale, but I’ve never had much luck with Automator.
There’s a better approach that, oddly, Apple used to recommend …
Open Notes.
Select View > Show Folders.
Create a new folder called Notes Backup in the On My Mac section of your folders list.
Select one or more notes from your All iCloud folder. Holding the Option key down, drag the notes into the Notes Backup folder. A green plus icon should appear as you're dragging the Notes to the new folder. This creates a copy of your iCloud Notes on your computer.
If you have an iCloud section in your folders list, but not an On My Mac section, you will need to create one.
Quit Notes.
In System Preferences, select iCloud. Deselect Notes.
Open Notes. Select File > New Folder. Name your folder Notes Backup. Create a new note in that folder as a placeholder. Quit Notes.
In System Preferences, select iCloud. Select Notes.
Open Notes. You should now see a section for iCloud and a section for On My Mac. Follow the instructions above for making a local backup of your iCloud Notes.
Restore Deleted Notes from Time Machine Backup. You can also get your notes back from the built-in Time Machine. Generally, Time Machine can automatically backup the files such as notes, music, apps, email, documents, etc. So, if you have a backup, you can restore your lost notes. Apple’s Notes (available both for OS X and iOS) has long been one of my most frequently used apps. With its improved cross-platform syncing in recent OS iterations, the app is better than ever.
For this to work you need to enable the “On my Mac Account”. That may be disabled on most Macs and I suspect Apple would like to get rid of it. Which is perhaps why it’s no longer part of the backup support doc. In any case this does work on El Capitan, it does scale, and it enables restore.
If you ask Google how to backup Notes.app, the AI presents this as a “pre-answer” above all web page results. Google’s AI does better than Apple’s support documentation team.
Apple needs a better backup/restore solutions for all of its iCloud data, especially Notes.app, but for now this helps.
If you store them in iCloud, you can automatically see all of your notes on any device where you’re signed in with your Apple ID. Open your Notes app. From the Notes sidebar, choose to store your notes in iCloud or On My Mac by clicking a folder in the account that you want to use. From the menu bar, choose File Import to Notes.
Please follow the steps below to transfer notes saved on the previous device to the new device using local backup.
- When you have the previous device
- Open ColorNote and go to the device backup screen on the previous device.
[Menu -> Backup -> Tap ‘Device’ in the upper bar] or [Settings -> Backup] - Manually back up notes
[Press ‘Backup Notes’ -> Enter master password -> Done]
- Move backup files from the previous device to the new device
[If your backup file is on the SD card: Move the SD card of the previous device to the new device]
[If your backup file is on the internal storage: Copy the backup file of the previous device to your PC, and then copy it to ‘data/colornote/backup’ on the new device.]
- Open ColorNote and go to the device backup screen on the new device.
[Menu -> Backup -> Choose ‘Device’ in the upper bar] or [Settings ->Backup]
How To Backup Notes App On Mac Computer
- Tap the file you want to restore in the backup file list.
- Choose ‘Restore’ and type the master password that you set when the backup file was created.
- When you don’t have the previous device
- Move backup files from the previous device to the new device
[If your backup file is on the SD card: Move the SD card of the previous device to the new device]
[If your backup file is on the internal storage: Copy the backup file of the previous device to your PC, and then copy it to ‘data/colornote/backup’ on the new device.]
- Open ClorNote and go to the device backup screen on the new device.
[Menu -> Backup -> Tap ‘Device’ in the bar] or [Settings -> Backup]
Mac Os Note App
- Tap the file you want to restore in the backup file list.
- Choose ‘Restore and type the master password that you set when the backup file was created. If your notes have been automatically backed up, you might not be required to type the master password.
How To Backup Notes App On Mac Os
*Troubleshooting