Import your Apple Notes

Apple gives no way for a website or a phone app to read your Notes. Only a Mac app can ask the Notes app for them, so this import lives in the Eden app for Mac. There is no export step and no file to drag around: Eden reads your notes straight from the Notes app on your Mac.

What you get

• One Eden note per Apple note. Text, headings, lists, checklists, tables, links, and images all come across. The note keeps its original created date, so old notes land where they belong in your Library timeline instead of flooding "recent".
• One tag per folder. A Notes folder called Work becomes a tag called Work on every note inside it. If you already have a tag with that name, Eden uses it.
• Nested folders keep their parents. A note in a folder inside Work gets both tags, so the structure you built in Notes survives as a filter. Apple's default "Notes" folder is skipped as a tag when a note also sits in a deeper folder.
• Attachments ride along. PDFs, scans, and other files attached to a note are uploaded and linked at the bottom of the note.

Run the import

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   Open the Eden app for Mac

   Download it from eden.so/downloads if you haven't yet. On the web and in the Windows app the Apple Notes card is still listed, but it only links you to the download.

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   Go to Settings → Import

   Click Import from Apple Notes.
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   Allow Eden to read Notes

   The first time, macOS asks whether Eden may control Notes. Click Allow. If you clicked Don't Allow by mistake, open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Automation, find Eden, and turn on Notes.

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   Pick folders

   Eden lists every account and folder in Notes with its note count. Tick the folders you want, then click Import.

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   Watch it land

   A progress view shows each folder as it imports. Big libraries take a few minutes; you can keep using Eden in the meantime. When it finishes you see every tag it created with a count.

Running it again

Importing is safe to repeat. Eden remembers every note it has already brought over, so running the import again only adds notes that are new in Apple Notes. Notes you already imported are left exactly as they are in Eden, including any edits you made there.

If you delete an imported note in Eden, the next import you run brings it back. To keep a note out for good, delete it in Apple Notes or leave its folder unticked.

Finding imported notes

In the Library, open the Filter menu and choose Apple Notes under Imports to see only imported notes, or pick a folder's tag to see just that folder. Every imported note also carries Apple Notes as its source, so it shows up under Sources too.

Removing everything

Changed your mind? On the Apple Notes card in Settings → Import, click Remove imported notes. Every imported note moves to Trash, where you can restore it for 30 days. The tags stay, since you may have used them on other items by then.

Good to know

• Locked notes are skipped. Notes protected with a password can't be read by any app. The import counts them so you know how many were left behind.
• Very large notes are trimmed. A single note over roughly 180,000 characters is cut at that point with a marker.
• Formatting has limits. Underline, text colors, and fonts don't exist in Eden notes and are dropped; the words are kept. Drawings come across as images.
• Free plan item cap. Imported notes count toward the Free plan's item limit. If the cap is reached mid-import, the import stops and tells you; upgrade to continue.
• Windows and web. The Windows app and the web app can't reach Apple Notes. Their card points you to the Mac app instead, and "Remove imported notes" still works from anywhere.