Multiple notes lost over the last 2–3 weeks on Simplenote for Mac
-
I appear to have lost multiple notes, or substantial amounts of text, created during the last two to three weeks — approximately between September 11 and October 1, 2026.
I cannot provide an exact number or all the titles because some entire notes may have disappeared. One confirmed example is the notes I took during an in-person meeting on September 26.
I may have experienced a memory or network synchronization problem. I noticed the loss 2-3 days ago.
Device information:
- Simplenote native Mac app version 2.17, build 11247
- macOS 12.5, build 21G72
- App bundle:
com.automattic.SimplenoteMac
I have already checked:
- The Simplenote web application
- Note history, including blank and duplicate notes
- Trash and the history of trashed notes
- A complete Simplenote export created on October 2
- The local Simplenote database, caches and temporary files
The missing notes and text are not present in any of these locations.
The server export contains 3,342 active notes and 12 trashed notes. The local Mac database contains 3,350 active notes and 12 deleted notes. The eight additional local notes are all from January 2026, so they do not account for the recent losses.
The local database contains normal activity during the affected period, but some notes that I remember creating are absent entirely. For September 26, for example.
However, this is not limited to that single note. I believe several notes or edits from the entire two-to-three-week period are missing.
Could the Simplenote team please check whether there are:
- Server-side revisions not shown in the application
- Synchronization failures or conflict logs for my account
- Deleted-object tombstones
- Failed or rejected changes from the Mac client
- Any private recovery procedure for multiple missing notes
I have preserved the local database and the server export. I have not logged out, reinstalled the application or cleared its data.
Because the support forum is public, please let me know how I can provide my account email, database or export privately if required.
-
Hi @chaosimportantdd17b0b6eb –
Thanks for such a thorough report, and I’m sorry you’ve lost notes from the last few weeks.
To answer your questions directly: the Version History in the app shows every revision of a note that our servers have. We don’t keep a separate set of revisions, conflict logs or deleted records that could restore notes the app doesn’t already show. When a sync conflict replaces a note’s content, the replaced version is kept in that note’s History. Since you’ve checked History, Trash and a full export and the content isn’t there, it most likely never reached our servers.
The most useful clue is in your own investigation. The missing notes aren’t in your Mac’s local database either, even though it shows normal activity for that period. If they’d been written on the Mac and failed to sync, they would most likely still be in that local database. So it’s possible some of them were written on another device that never finished syncing. That device may still have them.
- Which device did you use to take the notes at the September 26 meeting?
- Which other devices or apps are signed in to this account (for example an iPhone, iPad, Android phone, another computer or a browser)?
If another device is involved, please don’t log out of Simplenote, delete the app or clear its data on that device. Notes that haven’t synced are only stored on that device, and logging out would remove them. Open the app there, look for the missing notes, and if you find them, copy the text somewhere safe before doing anything else.
Let me know what you find and we’ll take it from there.
-
Hi there, @chaosimportantdd17b0b6eb,
Do you have updates about that, do you still need help? We usually close inactive threads after one week of no movement, but we want to make sure we’re all set before marking it as solved. Thanks!
