New bug: Scanned pages in Notes app disappear

I’ve been using the scan feature in Notes to make PDFs for a long time. I often save multiple PDFs in a single note and then move them to my computer later. Today, several 24–page PDFs I made only saved the first page when I hit save. Unfortunately, I did not realize until later so I lost a lot of time and work. I have never seen this before but it happened with three separate PDFs today - where I could see all the pages before saving. But in the end only one page was there. Several other PDFs in the same note were fine. I do not believe this is user error but I’m not sure what’s going on. It’s rather stressful and I hope this bug gets fixed.

iPhone 15 Pro, iOS 17

Posted on Feb 14, 2024 03:34 AM

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4 replies

Mar 4, 2024 03:52 AM in response to nukue333

I have a related problem, which is that, sometimes, after deleting a scanned page in notes (e.g. deleting page 5 of 7), it looks like it’s deleted based on the preview shown in notes, but when I export it as a pdf to Files or any external app, the deleted page shows up in the pdf.


It appears Notes somehow sends deleted pages when sharing it as a pdf to an external app like Files, or even trying to do Print.

Feb 16, 2024 04:46 AM in response to nukue333

I wanted to update but I don't see an edit button. So the bug is actually in how the PDF previews in notes. Generally, when you tap the three-dot menu, it shows you *all* the PDF pages as tiny thumbnails. But, in the PDFs I'm talking about, it shows just one page and that's all you can view on your phone. It also shows that the file is very small (about a page worth). But then I realized that, if you actually send the PDF to your computer, everything is there and the size is correct. So the issue is actually in how the PDF previews/renders in Notes: You can only see one page and it shows just one thumbnail. But, oddly, the whole document opens on the computer. This doesn't happen with every scan but seems to happen intermittently (but often). Also, when I have this happen with a certain set of documents, it happens again and again with the same set. Repeated scanning just repeats the issue. It's really weird. I've been using Notes to scan documents for a long time and never run into this until recent weeks.

Jun 28, 2024 05:34 PM in response to thoreaulylazy

It seems Notes does not immediately saved the pdf when you delete pages. A workaround that I did is to turn one of the pages clockwise/anti-clockwise. And turn it again to the original orientation. This seems to trigger Notes to save the latest version of the pdf and you can finally save to files/print without deleted the pages.


You will know the method works when Notes froze for a few seconds after you hit the save to files/print button.

Jun 30, 2024 12:09 AM in response to nukue333

UPDATE: I've found that, even though the file size appears smaller than it should be and even though only one thumbnail shows when you hit the dots to expand IN the Notes app (where you can usually see all the pages individually), once I send the file to myself via iCloud, the PDF generally has all the pages. This just seems to be a weird glitch that you can only see the first page and thumbnail on the phone; but if you send it to yourself on the computer, all the pages are there. Annoying and a bit stressful (because I tend to do these in batches, and it slows me down to check files by airdropping them), but at least the only real problem is the phone view. This is also totally unpredictable and intermittent, as far as when it only shows the first page. But I don't have any faith that they will fix it. (UPDATE: Oops! I guess I basically said this before but it seemed to bear repeating.)

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New bug: Scanned pages in Notes app disappear

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