merging separate Notes setups in iCloud

Question

I have a question about the Notes app and how it interacts with iCloud. I own both an iPhone and a Mac and I am using iCloud on both of them with the same account.

A lot of things like Photos seem fully sync'd between those two locations and iCloud.com, as far as I can tell.

However, on my iPhone in the iCloud settings, I still have Notes switched to off. On my Mac in the iCloud settings, it is switched on. As a result, Notes is exactly the same between my Mac and iCloud.com, but on my iPhone it is different.

On my iPhone I have several folders in Notes: "On my iPhone", as well as several additional folders for several different email accounts (e.g. Gmail and Yahoo). All of the folders have different notes in them.

What will happen if, on my iPhone, I turn Notes on in the iCloud settings? How can I consolidate this? I think what I would ideally like is to just merge everything together so it's one folder, but I don't want to lose any notes in the process. I might settle for just merging the "On my iPhone" folder with what I have in my Mac if that is possible (The Mac/iCloud.com notes are all in one folder).

Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

If you enable Notes under iCloud settings on your iPhone you will then have an iCloud section in the Notes app. In the Notes app you will still have the section 'On My iPhone' with all your previously save notes in there. You will not lose them be enabling Notes under iCloud settings. After you enable the Notes feature under iCloud settings you can transfer the 'On My iPhone' notes by going into the Notes app, selecting that directory. Then select edit at the top right, you will now have to option 'Move All' at the bottom left. If you select Move All you can then select the iCloud notes directory to merge them with the rest of your iCloud notes. They will then sync and show up on your iCloud account as well as any other devices using iCloud notes, including your Mac.