Resolved App-cleaner deleted apple notes data.

[mpuzey]

Hi

I've done something rather foolish and lost important notes that I wrote in Apple notes (not sticky notes).

I have sometimes used appcleaner to get rid of minor apps that I have tried out and since I didn't do a clean install of Mavericks I found it useful for mopping up duplicate apps.

I have had two versions of notes appear on my alfred app search, the new one and one with a barred circle on. I decided to use appcleaner to remove this old copy. As many of you may know this isn't a good idea because appcleaner has been known to interfere with important files.

I moved the following files and folders into my recycle bin with appcleaner and moved them to my desktop when I realised my mistake (as no notes were now viewable on my existing version of notes):

com.apple 12-32-58-493.Notes (folder)
com.apple 12-32-58-571.Notes (folder)
com.apple.Notes (folder)
com.apple.Notes 12-32-58-513.mdimporter (plugin)
com.apple.Notes.help
com.apple.Notes.savedState
Notes (old version of app)
Notes_96F828C4-CBA8-5D94-BDDA-DB97EE22F381.plist

Unfortunately I am unable to simply 'put back' these files from trash as I have moved them out of trash onto my desktop (again rather foolishly).

Essentially I need to know where to move these in order to get my notes back. I had assumed it would be easier to import this data from one file or plist or something like safari bookmarks.

I've also come across the following answer about how to restore notes.
http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/111264/how-to-recover-missing-notes-since-mavericks-update
I am able to locate the NotesV1.storedata NotesV1.storedata-shm and NotesV1.storedata-wal files in my Library and then Notes folder but am unsure as to how I 'restore' these files to notes.

Thanks for any help you can provide, so far I have found little to no information as to how notes are moved between macs etc.

 

[GGJstudios]

If you elect to use apps like AppCleaner, be aware that in most cases, app removal software doesn't do a thorough job of finding and removing files/folders related to deleted apps, and, as you discovered, may delete something important if you're not careful. For more information, read this and this. If you just want to delete the app, drag the .app file to the trash. No other software needed. If you want to completely remove all associated files/folders, no removal apps will do the job.

​

The most effective method for complete app removal is manual deletion:

Best way to FULLY DELETE a program​

 

[mpuzey]

Hi thanks for responding. Apologies also for rambling as I wanted to be sure to include all of the information in order to solve my problem.

To be clear...my problem is not with how I should be deleting apps, in future I will avoid these pointless utilities. Instead I want to know how I can restore my notes as I have not physically deleted any important files, as I have not emptied them from my trash.

I have misplaced these files and would like to know how to restore them or how I can just add whatever file has my notes in to the version of the notes app that is currently working my mac.

Thanks

 

[Doug Hope]

Do you have a time machine back up?

 

[Weaselboy]

Hi thanks for responding. Apologies also for rambling as I wanted to be sure to include all of the information in order to solve my problem.

To be clear...my problem is not with how I should be deleting apps, in future I will avoid these pointless utilities. Instead I want to know how I can restore my notes as I have not physically deleted any important files, as I have not emptied them from my trash.

I have misplaced these files and would like to know how to restore them or how I can just add whatever file has my notes in to the version of the notes app that is currently working my mac.

Thanks

So you can open the Notes app and it works, you just have no data in it??

I just did a couple experiments by making a new note and searching for changed files in the notes folders to try and pin down the actual data. From the time stamp of the file it appears the Notes data is in this NotesV2 file in the folder below. I would try to find the three NotesV2 files in those folders you pulled from the trash, then put them back in this folder.

Before you do that, I would option drag that Notes folder to the desktop so you have a copy and can get it back if this goes badly.

~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Notes/Data/Library/Notes

Click the Desktop then hit shift-command-g then paste in the path above and enter to get to that folder.

If you have iCloud Notes sync on I think you should turn it off before trying this.

I have not deleted or moved my files to verify this, so no idea if it will work, but might be worth a shot for you.

Make a backup first also just in case.

 

[mpuzey]

So you can open the Notes app and it works, you just have no data in it??

I just did a couple experiments by making a new note and searching for changed files in the notes folders to try and pin down the actual data. From the time stamp of the file it appears the Notes data is in this NotesV2 file in the folder below. I would try to find the three NotesV2 files in those folders you pulled from the trash, then put them back in this folder.

Before you do that, I would option drag that Notes folder to the desktop so you have a copy and can get it back if this goes badly.

~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Notes/Data/Library/Notes

Click the Desktop then hit shift-command-g then paste in the path above and enter to get to that folder.

Image

If you have iCloud Notes sync on I think you should turn it off before trying this.

I have not deleted or moved my files to verify this, so no idea if it will work, but might be worth a shot for you.

Make a backup first also just in case.

Thank you very much! this solved my problem! Exactly what I was looking for. I copied and pasted these files into that path and all my notes are back.

Essentially I have a new version of notes that Mavericks introduced, the one that I have been using since the update, and I've also had the old version. Little to my knowledge the data was still being saved in the space for the old version. Just to clarify what I mean by these duplicate apps I have a screen of my alfred app entry for Notes below (just incase you are not familiar with alfred it is a shortcut to all of your apps). As you can see there was actually four versions on notes once I'd made sure I had spare versions of all of the files that went into trash before trying to resolve the issue.

I haven't seen much on here about this strange app duplications from Mavericks so I assume this is just because I didn't do a clean install.

Thanks again all