Help! I lost all my iCloud Notes after updating to Catalina

Hey again! I’m afraid not, sorry for the troubles, I’ve lost very important data before, and learned the hard way as well, so I make sure I have backups.

If you choose not use iCloud, (or another syncing service) to store the notes, they’d show up after restoring your backup, as content in iCloud isn’t stored in the backup, but separately on Apple’s servers for easy access anywhere.

I like keeping a local backup (On my device or a hard drive), as well as iCloud, (For the few services I use, to access it remotely), better safe than sorry, you know.

Here’s a great article to follow:

Archive or keep copies of your iCloud data:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204055#notes

And earlier the Time Machine article was posted. Having both is a good idea. Anyhow I know none of this will help you in the current situation, but hope it can help in the future, all the best!

I couldn't find anything on the Recently Deleted files on iCloud.com.

That's not a good sign. I can only imagine and suggest the possibility that your lost Notes may have been created under a different Apple ID. Might that be possible?

Sadly, I didn't back up my Mac laptop on TimeMachine.

This is all too common 😟

Back up your files with Time Machine on Mac

Hey Fmeng! Sorry to hear that, I know what it’s like to lose important data.

Did you use Notes on any other devices?

If you do have other accounts (Gmail, Yahoo, Aol, etc), if you look I’m a System Preferences > Internet Accounts, select other accounts besides iCloud, are “Notes” checked? If not, you can check them and see if they show up.

Same on iOS > Settings > Passwords and Accounts, can you check there?

I only ask because sometime people will be syncing with Notes (Or other data such as Contacts) with one account and think it’s syncing with another account, simply by “checking” “Notes” on the other account might bring them back, (Hopefully in your case).

Otherwise, I have another solution:

If you DID have notes on an iPhone before they deleted, and you DID have an iPhone backup from that time period:

Erase your phone, then choose the option to restore your backup, (Whether through iCloud or iTunes (Or Music, from your computer),

Once the backup has finished restoring, IMMEDIATELY place your iPhone/iPad in Airplane mode as soon as you see the home screen, (Just to ensure no internet connection).

THEN Check Notes app, if they are all there, (Which I’ve seen before), you can move them to the “On My iPhone” section to ensure they are saved,

THEN, Re-enable the Internet, most likely they’ll be gone from iCloud, but still accessible on your iPhone.

I’ve only had this work a handful of times but without another backup is probably the best shot.

You can do something similar with your Mac, including restoring a backup or restoring the database, but I know you didn’t have a Time Machine or another backup, which is why I mentioned using your iOS devices (If you even have any), and since restoring any archives from iCloud.com failed to restore any.

Anyhow I truly hope one of those suggestions helps! Otherwise apologize and recommend backing up, even having several different backups, you can get external hard drives with a large capacity from most big box stores now for pretty cheap, hope that helps!

Besides turning on Time Machine?