Level 1

88 points

How to change orange text back to black in Notes?

Hi folks,

please, see the below example of a Notes entry:

the caret (the text cursor NOT the mouse cursor) is orange (which is the same as the highlight colour and OK).

However, after the data transfer from my previous iMac to the present new one (macOS Sequoia 15.5), random words in my Notes entries are now unchangeably orange while all of the text was originally black. No matter what I do, the words remain orange - even when copy-pasting the text into Pages (where all of the Notes' text appears in black) and then copy-pasting it back into Notes (where then the same words of the text reappear in orange). I would like to have again all of the text in Notes black. How can I accomplish this? And this is not to mention randomly red underlining in Notes indicating a possible spelling error - here: "bottom", which is obviously spelled correctly.

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: Blinking insert colour and text

iMac 24″

Posted on Jul 27, 2025 7:05 AM

Top-ranking reply

dubwisedude Author

Level 1

88 points

Posted on Aug 9, 2025 6:57 AM

Hi Chattanoogan,

here is the OP of the thread - I just want to let you know: YOU WERE RIGHT! After days with the support community and Apple tech support, trying this and that, thinking that all conceivable was done, and almost resigning myself to living with Notes as they were, the solution to the issue was indeed to turn "Math Results" in Notes of - if I am not mistaken, Math Results is a new feature of macOS Sequoia. But it must be done for each respective text of a note by selecting the text, then disabling the function (Notes -> Format -> Math Results (at the very bottom) -> Off). As far as I can see, there's no option to turn off Math Results globally for all notes at once.

I think the underlying problem that really led to the issue was that I use in my notes' texts sometimes math symbols in order to abbreviate which must have led the computer to treat such places as featuring actual math operations, ergo, the stylistic confusion.

Thanks again for your input. You were on the right track!

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47 replies

dubwisedude Author

Level 1

88 points

Jul 29, 2025 12:42 PM in response to VikingOSX

Nope. Rebooted, opened Notes, and in the Note in question, all text was black and appeared to stay black (at least for a while). Then I changed to another Note within Notes and when returning to the Note in question, the faulty style was back. How about deleting the .plist file from desktop and the 2015 com.apple.Notes folder?

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,218 points

Aug 1, 2025 9:35 AM in response to dubwisedude

Did you update to Sequoia v15.6 and still have issues?

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,218 points

Jul 30, 2025 11:20 AM in response to dubwisedude

The reason for the .plist on the Desktop is that it wouldn't be read by Notes. Since the problem persists after a reboot and switching to and from that particular note, why not delete the specific problematic note, then reboot and see if the issue is resolved?

Have you updated to macOS 15.6 yet, and if you have, has that resolved the issue in Notes? All of the Notes related data including SQLite database content will not be changed by a reinstallation of the operating system and inherently the Notes application, thus the problem, if not resolved will continue.

I have exhausted my suggestions and it is now time to contact Apple Support.

dubwisedude Author

Level 1

88 points

Aug 1, 2025 5:23 AM in response to VikingOSX

Just to let you know:

contacted Apple tech support and while the agent was friendly and helpful, hours passed spent on phone calls, waiting periods, and trying this and that, none of which resolved the issue. She finally stated that it may well be a software bug and a problem for engineering to deal with. I was asked to upload documentation (screen shot, screen recording, and a data dmg) for engineering but Apple's gigafiles uploads got stuck after 90% and emails with said attachments didn't send because they exceeded the allowable message size. All of which means that the issue remains, I can't forward documentation for Apple's engineers to consult, and I am left to my own wits and calling Apple tech support again soon. In the meantime, I will try one thing: I will save a copy of the com.apple.Notes folder to a USB drive and delete said folder from the system, then reboot and see...sigh...

dubwisedude Author

Level 1

88 points

Jul 30, 2025 9:50 AM in response to VikingOSX

Hi VikingOSX,

did you read my last two replies to you? How about deleting the 2015 "com.apple.Notes" folder altogether?

Are you still with me on this one? Or is it time for Apple's tech support?

dubwisedude Author

Level 1

88 points

Aug 2, 2025 6:38 AM in response to VikingOSX

I was just wondering: what if I delete ALL Notes folders from Library -> Containers, thereby presumably removing all content and formatting (of course after I saved the content somewhere else)?

dubwisedude Author

Level 1

88 points

Jul 27, 2025 8:08 AM in response to VikingOSX

Thanks for your input, VikingOSX!

I used macOS native TextEdit to do what you suggested - to no avail. In TE, the text is black, when copy-pasted into a New Note, the text is as before, i.e., with the orange words and wrong error underline.

I also noticed that as I gradually delete coloured words or the error underline, changes happen throughout the text, i.e., previously coloured words turn black or error underlines disappear. If I rewrite what I deleted, all text returns to as it was before (orange words, wrong error highlights). Really strange.

Anyway, I am out of my wits here...

dubwisedude Author

Level 1

88 points

Jul 27, 2025 9:38 AM in response to VikingOSX

Thanks VikingOSX,

I did manually rewrite the text in question in TextEdit using Plain Text, then copy/pasted the text into a New Note and the text got styled again exactly as before (orange words, red error underscore). I also tried disengaging all spelling and grammar in Notes when doing so and yet, the styling persisted.

Can I download the Notes app anew and start from scratch? Is a plist file to blame? Should I contact Apple support? Should I use another notes app such as Obsidian or Markdown?

dubwisedude Author

Level 1

88 points

Jul 28, 2025 5:28 AM in response to VikingOSX

Closed iMac yesterday evening, reopened it just now, went to Notes right away: for a few seconds it all looked great and I got my hopes up but then it all turned back to the faulty styles (random words in orange and error underscores). Then I did the "plain text paste into a New Note" but to no avail. I guess the next step is indeed Apple Support. But let me ask you again: would a system reinstall from Recovery maybe help?

Jul 29, 2025 6:42 AM in response to Fodeo

Fodeo wrote:

To change the orange text back to black in Notes, you can highlight the text, right-click, and select "Show Colors." Then, choose black as the color for the text.

If you'd read the thread from the beginning, you'd understand why that's not useful advice.

Jul 29, 2025 7:31 AM in response to IdrisSeabright

IdrisSeabright wrote:

Fodeo wrote:

To change the orange text back to black in Notes, you can highlight the text, right-click, and select "Show Colors." Then, choose black as the color for the text.

If you'd read the thread from the beginning, you'd understand why that's not useful advice.

That used to be expressed as Look Before you Leap😏

dubwisedude Author

Level 1

88 points

Jul 29, 2025 9:59 AM in response to VikingOSX

Hi VikingOSX,

thanks for bearing with me! Your first suggestion unchecking substitutions did nothing, so I continued with your second suggestion and I think we're on to something here because there is not just one "Notes" folder but four (see attachment) which appear to be two doubles (2 x container.plist + data (10 items) & 2 x Data (9 items)). What now?

[Edited by Moderator]

dubwisedude Author

Level 1

88 points

Jul 29, 2025 8:35 AM in response to VikingOSX

OP just wants to quickly pitch in here:

changing the font colour for a text with faulty styles in Notes does, in my case, not at all affect said styles, the orange words stay orange no matter what font colour I choose.

Another observation: after digging in Containers for the Notes folder I opened Notes and for several seconds the text in question was all black (no orange words, no error underscores) before suddenly reverting back to the faulty styles...argh!...go figure...

Jul 29, 2025 8:39 AM in response to VikingOSX

Re: “… Thus fine for your usage but does not address the OP issue … “

Hence the “disclaimers” included in my post.

(It didn’t seem that any results obtained using my own Ventura would be at all meaningful to the discussion)

dubwisedude Author

Level 1

88 points

Jul 29, 2025 8:43 AM in response to VikingOSX

For what it's worth, here's the respective date/time info of the four Notes folders, in case I need to selectively delete anything:

1 x container.plist + data = created 2015, modified today

1 x container.plist + data = created 2018, modified today

1 x Data = created 2020, modified today

1 x Data = created January 2025, modified today

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How to change orange text back to black in Notes?