Notes wiped out after toggling "Sync this Mac" during a pending iCloud sync

I have a 2018 MacBook Pro with macOS Sequoia 15.7.9. I have ~300 notes locally On My Mac. I started dragging and dropping each folder to the iCloud section. In System Settings –> iCloud –> Notes, I toggled On for "Sync this Mac". About 70 notes appeared in iCloud almost immediately. After 5-10 minutes, I noticed that the number of notes in iCloud did not change so I thought the sync got stuck. I toggled Off for "Sync this Mac" and toggled On again. Now, instead of seeing ~300 notes on my Macbook Pro's iCloud section, I see only 70. The remaining ~230 vanished. I inspected NoteStore.sqlite, NoteStore.sqlite-shm, and NoteStore.sqlite-wal, but it reflects only the current state. Unfortunately, I do not have any Time Machine backups nor did I backup any of these NoteStore files. It looks like toggling Off for "Sync this Mac" wiped out the ~230 pending notes. If so, this is seems like a terrible design from iCloud making this process not as robust. There should have been at least some warning. Is there any hope for me to retrieve those 230 lost notes?

Posted on Oct 21, 2026 8:42 PM

1 reply

WheelieNick

Level 9 (74,110 points)

Oct 22, 2026 2:34 PM in response to razarqski

Hi there

Please try this

1. Check iCloud.com on the Web

Open a browser and go to iCloud.com/notes and log into your Apple Account.
Look through your main folders and check the Recently Deleted folder in the sidebar.
If any notes managed to push through or get archived there, select them and click Recover.

2. Check the "Recently Deleted" Folder Locally

Open the Notes app on your MacBook Pro.
Look at the left sidebar and scroll down to Recently Deleted (under either iCloud or On My Mac).
If you do not see the "Recently Deleted" folder, create a random test note and delete it to force the folder to appear, then check if any missing notes are inside.