-

, , ,

,
• , and Apple-specific classes for checklists and tables. Attachments (images, PDFs, sketches, scans) are embedded as or object references but cannot be directly extracted via JXA — they require the attachments() property. Understanding these data formats is essential for building reliable import, export, and backup pipelines.

  Note Body HTML Format

  
  <!-- Apple Notes uses a subset of HTML wrapped in <div> blocks -->
  <div><h1>Title</h1></div>
  <div><br></div>
  <div>Paragraph text here.</div>
  <div><b>Bold text</b> and <i>italic text</i></div>
  <div><br></div>
  <div><ul><li>List item 1</li><li>List item 2</li></ul></div>
  
  <!-- Checklists use Apple's custom class -->
  <div><ul class="com-apple-note-checklist">
    <li class="done">Completed item</li>
    <li>Incomplete item</li>
  </ul></div>
  
  <!-- Tables (macOS Ventura+) use standard HTML tables -->
  <div><table><tr><td>Cell 1</td><td>Cell 2</td></tr></table></div>
  
  <!-- Tags (macOS Sonoma+) are stored as hashtags in body text -->
  <div>#project #important</div>
  

  Export All Notes to JSON

  
  #!/bin/bash
  # Full export with metadata — useful for backups and migration
  osascript -l JavaScript -e '
    const Notes = Application("Notes");
    const results = Notes.defaultAccount.notes().map(n => ({
      id: n.id(),
      title: n.name(),
      body: n.body(),
      plaintext: n.plaintext(),
      folder: n.container().name(),
      created: n.creationDate().toISOString(),
      modified: n.modificationDate().toISOString(),
      attachmentCount: n.attachments().length,
    }));
    JSON.stringify(results, null, 2);
  ' > "$HOME/notes-export-$(date +%Y%m%d).json"
  

  HTML to Markdown Converter

  
  // src/data/html-to-markdown.ts
  function notesHtmlToMarkdown(html: string): string {
    return html
      .replace(/<h1>(.*?)<\/h1>/g, "# $1")
      .replace(/<h2>(.*?)<\/h2>/g, "## $1")
      .replace(/<h3>(.*?)<\/h3>/g, "### $1")
      .replace(/<b>(.*?)<\/b>/g, "**$1**")
      .replace(/<strong>(.*?)<\/strong>/g, "**$1**")
      .replace(/<i>(.*?)<\/i>/g, "*$1*")
      .replace(/<em>(.*?)<\/em>/g, "*$1*")
      .replace(/<li class="done">(.*?)<\/li>/g, "- [x] $1")
      .replace(/<li>(.*?)<\/li>/g, "- [ ] $1")
      .replace(/<br\s*\/?>/g, "\n")
      .replace(/<div>/g, "").replace(/<\/div>/g, "\n")
      .replace(/<[^>]*>/g, "")
      .replace(/\n{3,}/g, "\n\n")
      .trim();
  }
  

  Attachment Handling

  
  # List all notes with attachments and their counts
  osascript -l JavaScript -e '
    const Notes = Application("Notes");
    Notes.defaultAccount.notes()
      .filter(n => n.attachments().length > 0)
      .map(n => n.name() + ": " + n.attachments().length + " attachments (" +
        n.attachments().map(a => a.name()).join(", ") + ")")
      .join("\n");
  '
  
  # Note: JXA cannot directly save attachment binary data.
  # For full attachment export, use Shortcuts:
  # shortcuts run "Export Note Attachments" --input-type text --input "Note Title"
  

  Error Handling

  Issue	Cause	Solution
  body() returns empty string	Note contains only attachments (no text)	Check attachments().length; use plaintext() as fallback
  HTML contains unexpected tags	Note created on iOS with unsupported formatting	Strip unknown tags; keep only known Apple Notes subset
  plaintext() truncated	Very large note body	Export via body() HTML instead; convert after
  Checklist state lost in export	Custom class not preserved in conversion	Map class="done" to [x] before stripping HTML
  Attachment names are generic	Auto-generated names like Image.png	Use note title + index for meaningful filenames

  Resources

  • Mac Automation Scripting Guide
  • JXA Cookbook
  • Apple Notes File Format (reverse-engineered)

  Next Steps

  For migrating between note platforms, see apple-notes-migration-deep-dive. For backup automation, see apple-notes-deploy-integration.