About

movenotes is a set of utilities to migrate from Apple Notes to:

• GMail Apple Notes
• Joplin

The Apple Notes app does not provide a move all action to move all Apple Notes in a folder to GMail.

gyb is used to import and export note email messages to and from GMail.

mac_apt is used to extract the Apple Notes database from iOS device backups.

readnotes is used to extract Apple Notes from the Notes app databases for iOS and Mac OS.

bookmarks is used to extract bookmarks to be moved to GMail or Joplin as notes.

chrometabs is used to extract the current tabs from Google Chrome to be moved to GMail or Joplin as notes.

listurls is used to extract URLs from text files to be moved to GMail or Joplin as notes.

filterurls is used to filter URLs from text files to be moved to GMail or Joplin as notes.

twitter-to-sqlite is used to extract Twitter likes via the Twitter API.

jq is used to format JSON files.

Usage

Extract Apple Notes

Extract MacOS Notes Databases

In the example, see the ~/output_macos/Export/NOTES directory for copies of files to process using readnotes.

The mac_apt.db file does not contain a complete representation of the note text.

python3 mac_apt.py -o ~/output_macos -s -x MOUNTED / NOTES

Extract MacOS Notes

See the readnotes README for how to extract notes from the Apple Notes databases.

Extract iOS Notes Databases

Use Finder to create a local iOS backup and then use mac_apt to extract the notes from the backup.

In the example, see the ~/output_ios/Export/IDEVICEBACKUPS directory for copies of files to process using readnotes.

The mac_apt.db file does not contain a complete representation of the note text.

python3 mac_apt.py -o ~/output_ios -s -x MOUNTED / IDEVICEBACKUPS

Rename 4f98687d8ab0d6d1a371110e6b7300f6e465bef2 from iOS backup to NoteStore.sqlite.

Name of notes SQLite database varies depending upon OS version:

Database	OS Version
NotesV1.storedata	Mountain Lion
NotesV2.storedata	Mavericks
NotesV4.storedata	Yosemite
NotesV6.storedata	El Capitan and Sierra
NotesV7.storedata	HighSierra
NoteStore.sqlite	El Capitan+

python3 mac_apt_artifact_only.py -i ~/output_ios/NoteStore.sqlite -o ~/output_ios_notes -s NOTES

Currently, mac_apt does not extract public.url attachments in Apple Notes (see [ydkhatri/mac_apt#33). Any URLs in public.url attachments will be missing from the note text until public.url attachments are supported.

Extract iOS Notes

See the readnotes README for how to extract notes from the Apple Notes databases.

Extract iCloud Notes

To obtain a copy of your data:

1. Log in to privacy.apple.com.
2. Select the "Get started" link under the "Get a copy of your data" heading.
3. Tick the boxes of the categories of data you want to download (Notes).
4. Press Continue.
5. Select your preferred maximum file size (Apple will split up the data into chunks, up to a maximum of 25 GB) and press Continue.

After the download is ready, extract it into a local folder.

Load iCloud Notes into database

python3 -B icloud2sql.py --email [email protected] --input ~/iCloudNotes --output ~/notesdb

Download GMail Apple Notes

Download GMail notes as EML files using GYB

./gyb --email [email protected]  --action estimate --search "label:Notes"

./gyb --email [email protected]  --search "label:Notes"

Load EML notes into database

python3 -B gyb2eml.py --email [email protected] --action list-files --local-folder ~/gyb/[email protected] > filelist.txt

python3 -B eml2sql.py --email [email protected] --filelist ./filelist.txt --output ~/notesdb

Convert Emails into Notes

Convert MBOXes to EMLs

python3 -B mbox2eml.py --email [email protected] --input ./mboxes --output ~/note_emls

python3 -B filelist.py --path ~/note_emls --extensions ".eml" > filelist.txt

Load EMLs into database

python3 -B eml2sql.py --email [email protected] --filelist ./filelist.txt --output ~/notesdb

Convert EMLs in database to Apple Note EMLs

python3 -B sql2eml.py --email [email protected] --input ~/notesdb --output ~/note_emls

Move Apple Notes to GMail Folder

Save database as EML notes

python3 -B sql2eml.py --email [email protected] --input ~/notesdb --output ~/note_emls

Package EML notes as an MBOX file

python3 -B eml2mbox.py --email [email protected] --input ~/note_emls --output ~/mboxes

Load EML notes MBOX into GMail

./gyb --email [email protected] --action restore-mbox --local-folder ~/mboxes --label-restored Notes

Move Apple Notes to Joplin

Load iCloud Notes into database

python3 -B icloud2sql.py --email [email protected] --input ~/icloud_notes --output ./output

Load MacOS Notes into database

python3 -B macapt2sql.py --email [email protected] --input ~/macos_notes --output ~/notesdb

Load iOS Notes into database

python3 -B macapt2sql.py --email [email protected] --input ~/ios_notes --output ~/notesdb

Load iOS Notes into database and move all notes to folder "Notes"

python3 -B macapt2sql.py --email [email protected] --input ~/ios_notes --output ~/notesdb --folder Notes

Load Joplin Notes into database

python3 -B joplin2sql.py --email [email protected] --input ~/JoplinNotesRAW --output ~/notesdb

Remove duplicate notes from database

Remove duplicate notes across all folders.

python3 -B removedups.py --email [email protected] --input ~/notedb

Clean resources directory

Remove unused resource files across all folders.

python3 -B cleanres.py --email [email protected] --input ~/notesdb

Convert database to Joplin Notes

python3 -B sql2joplin.py --email [email protected] --input ~/notedb --output ~/JoplinNotesRAW_New

Convert Bookmarks to Notes

Load Firefox bookmark backup into database

Firefox Profile Folder

sessionstore-backups folder

Select a backup in ~/Library/Application\ Support/Firefox/Profiles/yourprofile.default/bookmarkbackups

Decompress Mozilla Firefox bookmarks backup files

./lz4jsoncat ./sample.jsonlz4

python3 -B ffbookmarks.py --path ./sample.json

python3 -B url2sql.py --email [email protected] --input ./urls.txt --output ~/notesdb --folder Bookmarks

Load Firefox bookmarks into database

python3 -B ffplaces.py --path ~/Library/Application\ Support/Firefox/Profiles/yourprofile.default/places.sqlite

python3 -B url2sql.py --email [email protected] --input ./urls.txt --output ~/notesdb --folder Bookmarks

Load Firefox tabs into database

Firefox Profile Folder

sessionstore-backups folder

~/Library/Application\ Support/Firefox/Profiles/n8hzydqt.default/sessionstore-backups/recovery.js

python3 -B ffrecovery.py --path ~/Library/Application\ Support/Firefox/Profiles/yourprofile.default/sessionstore.js

python3 -B url2sql.py --email [email protected] --input ./urls.txt --output ~/notesdb --folder Bookmarks

Load Chrome bookmarks into database

python3 -B chbookmarks.py --path ~/Library/Application\ Support/Google/Chrome/Default/Bookmarks > urls.txt

python3 -B url2sql.py --email [email protected] --input ./urls.txt --output ~/notesdb --folder Bookmarks

Load Chrome tabs into database

python3 -B chrometabs.py --path ~/Library/Application\ Support/Google/Chrome/Default/Current\ Tabs > urls.txt

python3 -B url2sql.py --email [email protected] --input ./urls.txt --output ~/notesdb --folder Bookmarks

Load Safari bookmarks into database

python3 -B sfbookmarks.py --path ~/Library/Safari/Bookmarks.plist > urls.txt

python3 -B url2sql.py --email [email protected] --input ./urls.txt --output ~/notesdb --folder Bookmarks

List URLs in text files

Extract text data into a file using strings and then use listurls.py to extract the URLs in the text.

The titles will be retrieved online which can take some time. If the title cannot be retrieved, the URL will be used as the title.

python3 -B listurls.py --path ./input --output ./urls.txt

Format URLs into Firefox bookmark HTML file

python3 -B htmlbackup.py --path ./urls.txt > bookmarks.html

Extract URLs from Firefox or Chrome bookmark HTML files

python3 -B htmlbookmarks.py --path ./input --output ./urls.txt --backup

Filter URLs from URL backup file

The sites.txt file contains sites and URLs to filter out of the URL files.

python3 -B filterurls.py --path ./input --sites ./sites.txt --output ./urls.txt --backup

Load bookmark URLs into database

If the title matches the URL, titles will be retrieved online which can take some time. If the title cannot be retrieved, the URL will be used as the title.

python3 -B url2sql.py --email [email protected] --input ./urls.txt --output ~/notesdb --folder Bookmarks

Convert Twitter Likes to Notes

Extract Twitter Likes from API

twitter-to-sqlite favorites faves.db

Extract Twitter Likes from Archive

See How to download your Twitter archive on Twitter's website for how to download a copy of your Twitter archive.

$ twitter-to-sqlite import archiveYYYYMMDD.db ./twitter-YYYY-MM-DD-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/data/like.js

Load Twitter likes from Archive into database

python3 -B twitterarchivelikes2sql.py --email [email protected] --input /path/to/Twitter/archive/likes/archiveYYYYMMDD.db --output ~/twitterdb --cache ./url_dict.json --error ./error_dict.json

Expand Shortened URLs

The Twitter archive contains shortened URLs using Twitter's URL shortener.

Other URL shorteners are also used by the authors of the tweets.

Over time, these URL shorteners can become unavailable so the URLs need to be expanded. The Twitter archive data may contain shortened URLs that can no longer be expanded for this reason.

If there are expansion errors, this step will need to be repeated.

python3 -B expandurls.py --cache ./url_dict.json --error ./error_dict.json

cat url_dict.json | jq '.' > temp.txt
cp temp.txt url_dict.json
rm temp.txt

cat error_dict.json | jq '.' > temp.txt
cp temp.txt error_dict.json
rm temp.txt

Wipe the Twitter database and re-run the step to load the database with the cache of expanded URLs.

rm ~/twitterdb/*

Load Twitter Likes from API into database

python3 -B twitterlikes2sql.py --email [email protected] --input /path/to/Twitter/API/likes/faves.db --output ~/twitterdb --cache ./url_dict.json --error ./error_dict.json

Expand Shortened URLs

Expand shortened URLs in the Twitter likes.

Wipe the Twitter database and re-run the step to load the database with the cache of expanded URLs.

rm ~/twitterdb/*

Convert database to Jopin Notes

python3 -B sql2joplin.py --email [email protected] --input ~/twitterdb --output ~/JoplinNotesRAW_Twitter