How to Backup Notes on Mac and iPhone -

Regularly backing up your Notes app is a good way to ensure your most important data is protected. Notes is among the most used apps for Macs and iPhones, and therefore it can be filled with important data that we always need access to, as well as sensitive information like passwords and login credentials.

Let’s go through the steps to backup notes on your Mac and iPhone.

Save Notes as PDF on Mac

PDFs are a versatile document type and make a good backup solution for your notes.

For example, if you have a note that contains all your usernames and passwords, export it as a PDF, and then take it a step further by placing it on a cloud service and later converting it to your preferred format (which you can do simply via Google Docs).

In any case, apart from copying and pasting the contents of your notes into another program, etc., the only way to save a single note as a file is through the PDF export feature for Mac.

Step 1: In Notes, select the specific note that you want to back up.

Selecting a note from the Notes app on Mac.

Step 2: After the note is selected (it will be highlighted in yellow in the notes directory), select the file tab, and then select the Export as PDF Possibility.

The option to export a note as PDF on Mac.

Step 3: Give your note a name so you can identify it later (you can also attach tags), then choose exactly where you want to save it. Beat those Save on computer Button.

Set a description for a note exported as a PDF on Mac.

iCloud on Mac

When your notes contain hundreds if not thousands of notes, backing up each note is a daunting task. But there are other effective ways to save a copy of all your notes simply by enabling certain macOS or iOS features. One such tool is iCloud. Let’s see how to sync your notes to Apple’s cloud storage service.

Step 1: Choose AppleID inside system settings.

Step 2: Inside Apps on this Mac using iCloudchoose Remarks apartment

Enable Notes app connection to iCloud on Mac.

Step 3: For added protection, you can always copy and paste the PDF files of the notes to your iCloud Drive.

Use Mac’s Time Machine

Time Machine on Mac also gives you a way to backup your notes. Additionally, if you back up your iPhone to your Mac that includes the Notes app, make sure that all your notes have been saved on both devices.

However, it should be emphasized that iCloud is the more reliable option due to its online nature, while a Mac can always be stolen, damaged, etc., which would render Time Machine’s functionality unusable.

Still, there’s no harm in creating a restore point with Time Machine in case you lose access to your notes.

Step 1: in the system settingschoose time Machine.

Step 2: In the Time Machine window, select a backup disk and follow the prompts to complete a backup.

Be sure to check out our Time Machine guide for a more detailed tutorial of the entire process.

The Select Backup Disk button for Time Machine on Mac.

Backup Notes on iPhone via iCloud

Those of us who have an iPhone will be regular Notes users. After all, phone numbers, access data, etc. result in a lot of useful information being stored in the app. You can make sure it’s backed up with iCloud, which offers a free service for up to 5GB.

Step 1: Open settingsand then select under your user profile Seek. Turn on iCloud if you haven’t already.

Step 2: Choose iCloud Tab, and if it’s not on, press the Green toggle button to the Remarks.

Enabling Notes app connection to iCloud on iPhone.

Step 3: As we mentioned earlier, you can always back up your iPhone to your Mac, which gives you another place to store your iPhone notes.

For more information on backing up your Mac, we have a complete guide to backing up your Mac as well as our guide to customizing your iPhone backup to iCloud.