The Notes app on iOS and OS X is handy for jotting down quick notes, but it lacks the organizational and indexing features that you find in more robust note-taking solutions. If you are a long-term Apple user, you likely have a lengthy list of notes sitting idle in the Notes app. Put those snippets of information to good use by importing them into an app like Evernote, where they can be tagged, searched and organized for quick recall.
Exporting a note from the Notes app can be a daunting prospect as Apple does not provide a way to automatically import your notes into another application. Apple may not provide a tool, but that does not mean your notes are stuck forever in iCloud. You can transfer these notes on an individual basis using a manual cut and paste method or roll up your sleeves and get familiar with AppleScript to automate the process.
Copy/Paste Method
The easiest, but slowest method of transferring notes is to open each entry in the Notes app on your Mac or iOS device and copy the contents of each note to the clipboard. You then can open the Evernote app and create a new note. Lastly, you can paste the clipboard text into Evernote, where it can be saved into a notebook, tagged and indexed by the app.
The AppleScript Way
AppleScript is a scripting language built into OS X that allows you to take direct control of apps, execute commands and manipulate files with the press of a button. In the case of the Notes app, you can utilize a script that’ll open the Notes app on OS X, copy each stored note, and save that information in a new Evernote note. You only need to open the AppleScript editor on your Mac and copy the script below:
tell application "Notes"
set theMessages to every note
repeat with thisMessage in theMessages
set myTitle to the name of thisMessage
set myText to the body of thisMessage
set myCreateDate to the creation date of thisMessage
set myModDate to the modification date of thisMessage
tell application "Evernote"
set myNote to create note with text myTitle title myTitle notebook "Imported Notes" tags ["imported_from_notes", "Mavericks", "Another_Example_Tag"]
set the HTML content of myNote to myText
set the creation date of myNote to myCreateDate
set the modification date of myNote to myCreateDate
end tell
end repeat
end tell
Once the script is in the editor window, just select the “Run the Script” button at the top to initiate the script and let it run its course. When completed, all your OS X Notes will be copied over to Evernote. This is a non-destructive process, so all your original notes will remain in the Notes app. You then can open Evernote and add attributes to the notes so they will be easy to find at a later date.
