How to retrieve missing iPad notes after iCloud Sync

I am having the same problem. All of the notes I took in my classes are gone. There is no recently deleted folder and I cannot find the notes that I took prior to syncing. Has anyone found a solution to this?

Has anyone found a solution to this? I spent half a day writing notes on my iPad that were deleted with no warning when I decided to turn sync on. This is so unfair; I lost all that time and work, and I'm so devastated. Please post a solution if/when you find one :(

Same happened to me, over 100 notes. I called apple and after a half hour they said they’re gone and they can’t help. I asked to talk with someone else. She said she was a senior advisor and there was nobody else for me to talk with, and there’s nothing else she could do, then hung up on me without saying anything else.

None of the links you provided answered the problem. The Notes were not in any deleted notes. The problem is that Apple has a bug. Instead of placing the Notes into deleted notes when you sync or turn on iCloud, Apple simply deletes all the notes from the device and then downloads the notes from iCloud. As others also stated, there is no warning that this would occur. Another Apple bug is that when you download your device backup from iCloud into a new device that was purchased, you expect your settings to remain unchanged. In this case, Apple changed the settings for Notes from using iCloud syncing to not using it. This is what caused the initial problem. I and others believed we were syncing because that is how we were using Notes. Nothing changed except that we changed devices, and that Apple decided to introduce not one, buy two bugs.

None of the links you provided answered the problem. The Notes were not in any deleted notes. The problem is that Apple has a bug. Instead of placing the Notes into deleted notes when you sync or turn on iCloud, Apple simply deletes all the notes from the device and then downloads the notes from iCloud. As others also stated, there is no warning that this would occur. Another Apple bug is that when you download your device backup from iCloud into a new device that was purchased, you expect your settings to remain unchanged. In this case, Apple changed the settings for Notes from using iCloud syncing to not using it. This is what caused the initial problem. I and others believed we were syncing because that is how we were using Notes. Nothing changed except that we changed devices, and that Apple decided to introduce not one, buy two bugs.

Except the same things happened to me, I did NOT remove any notes, I tried to sync my notes that were already on my IPad to my ICloud and APPLE deleted them NOT me you would think a multi-BILLION dollar company would be able to fix this problem with THEIR products. I was writing a book and lost ALL of my progress. This is something APPLE NEEDS to fix. Also it should just be a rule of thumb that syncing mean syncing and not replacing.

Happened to me too and I recovered my notes on my iPad

i contacted apple support and then an agent chatted with me, we did basic troubleshooting and then she had someone call me.

i was asked to “restore setting” and while I was doing that, my apps were uploaded to the cloud. My iPad restarted after that and in setting up, that’s where we (me and the apple rep) clicked for the last back up IN MY IPAD (not the icloud).

i recovered mine like 90% and then i manually transferred the notes from my iPad to my iPhone prior pressing again (sync this iPad) before doing again “sync this iPad”

i hope this helped

Was anyone able to get a resolution to this issue? Apple support basically told me to go to Gmail to see if they can help restore since my icloud account is my gmail. Not sure how to even go about this, absolutely insane to me that apple would not have a solution for this. I only intended to sync but obviously that has a different meaning for Apple, it quite literally means replace and tough luck. so disappointed, if anyone has any solutions please share. I have months work on there.

This just happened to me (July 2024).

I cannot imagine how this hasn’t been fixed yet, as this original post is from over a year and a half ago (January 2023).

Some people who have commented here have lost HUNDREDS of notes, and so much work. I would be absolutely livid.

This needs to be fixed NOW, and made a priority. If your software is permanently deleting a person’s work without warning how could anyone trust your products?

This happened to me on my Macbook Air - to sync your Notes from your iCloud:

1. Click on Notes -> Accounts
2. iCloud -> Show more apps -> Notes
3. Toggle the sync button
4. Wait for Notes app to respond and upload your notes from the could.

Hope this helps.

After updating my desktop to Big Sur, I lost my all my notes going back to 2017, I did not have Notes backed up on iCloud, previous posts led me to this resolution to retrieve them, try the following steps:

-must be on a desktop, not iPhone or other device

-log into iCloud on Chrome, not Safari

-select Notes

Your Notes should appear now. Unfortunately you might have to screen should, copy/paste, or save images individually, but at least you can see each note.

Apple I am very sad and disappointed. I noticed that Notes were not on icloud and I turned icloud on and it erased all my notes from my phone. 2 years worth of notes and important info all gone all because I turned iCloud on. I figured it would just sync my icloud with the ones on my phone because that’s what makes sense. But no it deleted every single note I had for 2 years. Can you explain why this happened?

For anyone finding this in 2024, this just happened to me as well when trying to sync my mac notes. Absolutely terrible. I have lost notes from over a year and a half. Lesson learned in trusting apple software. To anyone else experiencing this, I am very sorry, this is truly egregious and poor software design.

I turned on iCloud sync for notes on my iPad when I realized it wasn't on. Like others, all of my iPhone notes showed up on my iPad, but my iPad notes DISAPPEARED after syncing. I need those notes. How can I get them restored?

This just happened to me as well and I’m devastated.

YEARS and YEARS of notes for my work and even about six years of rough writings for a book I had been working on amongst countless other important things that I check in on daily and add to. This is absolutely F*CKED.

They were synced to iCloud and Gmail and they’re nowhere to be found. No ‘recently deleted’ folders anywhere and my phone was just backed up a little over twenty four hours ago so in theory they should be SOMEWHERE.

Please help!!