Where Are Notes Stored on Mac & How to Recover Deleted Notes on Mac

Updated to Home > HowTos > File Recovery Tips on Mac by Robert on Mar 22, 2024 | Approved by Jennifer Allen

Where are Mac notes stored in Catalina, Mojave, Big Suretc?

Unlike the Windows operating system, macOS makes it harder for people to find the stored files or created folders. About notes on Mac, you can always see people are asking the question for where are notes stored on Mac and how to recover deleted notes on Mac. Before I tell you how to find the notes on your Mac, I should make it clear to you that notes are not separated files. It is in a single database, which means all notes are in a single file. In this case, please remember when you ask where are notes saved on Mac, you’re looking for a single database file. It’s in your Home Library. Find it in the path from the Home Library by clicking the Go to Folder window in Finder: ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Notes/Data/Library/Notes/.

Quick Navigation
Part 1. How to Find Recently Deleted Notes on Mac
Part 2. How to Get It Back from Notes Stored on Mac
Part 3. How to Recover Deleted Notes on Mac

Part 1. How to Find Recently Deleted Notes on Mac

You think where you’ve put the files which you don’t want to save anymore? Of course, it’s the trash bin. You can find the recently deleted notes in Finder’s trash bin on Mac. Here are the steps for how to recover deleted notes on Mac from trash bin:

1. Click the trash bin in Finder

2. Find the note on Mac you'd like to recover. Drag it from the trash bin to your desktop.

3. Drag the note from your desktop to your list of notes.

If you don’t see any recently deleted or disappeared notes on the Mac trash bin, you can try the spotlight on the right up to search for them. Enter the keywords which should be the content of note in the spotlight. If your notes on Mac just disappeared, by using this way, you may find deleted notes on Mac easily.

Part 2. How to Get It Back from Notes Stored on Mac

Some people even say that they want to try their luck to see whether they can recover deleted notes on Mac from Time Machine. It’s a great way if you get your Mac backed up to Time Machine. If you don't have a backup, you can try the notes data stored to find it on Mac.

1. Click the Finder, then go to the Go > Go To Folder Menu.

2. Copy and paste the: ~/Library/Container/com.apple.notes/Data/Library/Notes and click Enter. Or you can just click to open the path folder one-by-one until you see the last folder named as Notes. From there, you can see files with named you don’t know well. It doesn’t matter. You need to copy and paste them to your desktop.

3. Rename all the 3 files with the file extension ".html" and confirm the action when the system asks you if you would like to add the extension. Click "Use.html"

4. Launch any web browser on your Mac. Drag and drop the notes file in the web browser to check out the notes. Find the notes you need, copy them on another normal note.

Part 3. How to Recover Deleted Notes on Mac

If you have to use the Command + Del option to delete the notes or empty trash without backup the notes, you can’t find them using the above-mentioned ways. In this case, you need iBeesoft Data Recovery for Mac for help. It is a professional yet affordable Mac undelete or unformat tool specially designed for users to recover all kinds of lost and deleted files on Mac or removable devices. Here are its salient features:

Your Safe & Effective Recover Notes Mac Software

(Trust Score 4.8 by 1597 Users)
  • Recover deleted or lost more than 550 file types from Mac, including note, photo, video, excel, word, powerpoint, email and more.
  • Retrieve files lost due to all kinds of scenarios, including intentional and unintentional deletion, empty trash, formatted drive, os crash, virus attack, hard drive crash, etc.
  • 2 scanning modes saving time or getting a good recover deleted files on Mac for you to choose from.
  • Easy to use, even for individuals who don’t know much about computer techniques.
Download for macOS Download for Windows

Here are the simple steps for how to use iBeesoft Data Recovery for Mac to recover deleted notes on Mac.

Step 1. Click the download button to get the latest iBeesoft Data Recovery Mac version. Please make sure you’ve allowed your Mac to install it since it is trustworthy and virus-free.

Step 2. launch the notes data recovery software for Mac and select "Other Files" to scan. Click "Start" to restore lost notes on Mac.

Step 3. From the next window, select where once your notes are stored and click "Scan". Let’s it! The software begins to work.

Step 4. It takes a few minutes for the software to finish the scanning process. After then, you can see it find many notes. Please select them to preview before recover deleted notes on Mac. When finding the target notes, select it and click "Recover" to restore notes on your Mac again.