I transferred a number of notes stored as “.txt” files into my new iPhone 16 from my old android phone. I went to a lot of trouble to save in a simple, universal format that anything can read and edit.
the user guide says if I select the file the menu will offer a choice to export the file to a different format, but there’s no such choice on the menu.
how do I edit simple text notes?
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
iPhone 16 Plus, iOS 18
Your iPhones Notes app cannot directly edits .txt files. The Files app lets you view them, but it doesn’t have an editing function.
What I would do is to ppload those ".TXT" file from the Android device on to Cloud Drives (Cloud Drives (Google Drive, OneDrive, DropBox, Flickr, box, AmazonDrive, Adobe Creative Cloud etc) Then please log in to the drive on the iPhone before you can access those files on Files App.
Share the ".TXT" files and select Pages
Now you can edit it.
Refer to the step-by-step pictorial representation of the process given below to open ".txt" files and edit it.
For multiple ".txt" Files. Upload all of them to iCloud Drive (Only)
Upload your ".txt" files from an Android device to iCloud Drive and access them in the Pages app on your Apple device, follow these steps:
At any time, you can move or rename the files according to your preference using the Files app.
Where and how did you transfer them?
Which user guide did you use?
I transferred using the move from Android tool during initial setup. I have the files, that’s not the problem.
I think I used the user guide for the files app; not sure how I got there. In any case I see that ai need to “share” the file, not “export”.
My phone does not have Pages installed. I prefer to use Word due to long habit, but there is some block put on Word preventing it from accessing plain text files.
The whole idea is to have text-only notes in a simple, generic, universal format that anything can read. Then I wouldn’t have to worry what might be lost, unreadable, or uneditable when switching to a different platform. That used to be easy to do, but apparently it’s impossible now.
a lot of the files were created in Samsung Notes, before I realized when I went to switch back to iPhone that they would all be lost. I figured out a way to laboriously convert them to .txt files so I wouldn’t have to face that issue again, but I guess I’m SOL.
Imagine that you’re going to tell me that the only solution is to install Pages and open and save each file I want to edit. Today’s phon s are amazing machines but it seems like a lot of trouble has been taken to complicate what should be something simple, solely to create a requirement for proprietary solutions to generic problems.
I used the move from android tool during initial setup. The files transferred, that’s not the problem.
I think I used the user guide for the files app, but I’m not sure. On any case, I see from your reply that I need to “share” not “export” to open the files in another app.
I don’t have Pages on my phone. From long habit I prefer Word, but it’s blocked from accessing text files on this phone.
My goal is to have simple, generic, universal text only notes that anything can access as I move from device to device and platform to platform. Preparing for the transfer, I was shocked that hundreds of notes created in Samsung Notes would be completely lost. I went through a long laborious process to convert them to a non-proprietary format. Now, I have to reverse that to get them into a proprietary format, which I will have to reverse again if I want access from other applications.
Modern phones are a marvel yet considerable effort has gone into making something simple into something complicated, for the sole purpose of tying users to proprietary methods forever.
I expect the only solution for me is to install Pages and be stuck with that format or go through convoluted actions to access accords all platforms. Not user friendly.
Editing txt files on my new iPhone 16
