HOW TO Move Google Mail (Gmail) Notes to iCloud

Written on August 19th 2012 at 00:59. Last modified: August 19, 2012

Want To Move Your Gmail Notes to iCloud?

If you have been syncing your Gmail notes to your iOS device (iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch) and have now also enabled iCloud Notes sync then you’ll probably notice your Gmail Notes don’t sync across to iCloud.
This is because they are treated as two separate accounts on your iOS device so you’ll need to consolidate them into one account – in this case, I’ve chosen iCloud to store all my notes since I hardly ever create notes in Gmail.
This article solves the problem of how to move all of your notes from your Gmail Notes account to your iCloud notes account without having to copy/paste the contents of each note.
We’ll then delete the Gmail account as it’s not needed anymore (unless you want to store future notes in Gmail).

Moving Gmail Notes To iCloud Using Your Mac

Mountain Lion (OS X 10.8)

In Mountain Lion we have the new stand alone Notes app so the instructions are a little different to older versions of OS X.
First we need to have both our iCloud and our Gmail account setup on the Mac and then we’ll move the Notes.

1. Open System Preferences > Mail, Contacts & Calendars (should also be & Notes but hey, even Apple aren’t perfect)
2. If you haven’t yet added your iCloud account, click the plus (+) symbol > click iCloud.  If you have already set it up then just make sure Notes is checked in the right side.
3. Enter your Apple ID and click Create.
4. When the process is complete, ensure Notes is ticked on the right.
5. Now click plus (+) symbol again and choose Gmail on the right.
6. Enter your Gmail account details and click Setup.
7. Uncheck everything except Notes and click Add Account.
8. Now open the Notes app (it’s in the Dock by default or hit CMD+Space and type Notes)
9. You should see two accounts on the left (see screenshot).  Click on the Gmail account.
10. Now do a Select All (CMD+A).
11. Now drag and drop all of the Notes on top of the iCloud account.

That’s it!
All of your Gmail notes have now been moved into your iCloud account.
You should now remove your Gmail account again from your Mac and also from your iPhone leaving your Notes entirely on iCloud.

Lion or earlier (OS X 10.7)

Before Mountain Lion Notes were hidden away in the Mail app.
First we need to have both our iCloud and our Gmail account setup on the Mac and then we’ll move the Notes.

1. Open System Preferences > Mail, Contacts & Calendars (should also be & Notes but hey, even Apple aren’t perfect)
2. If you haven’t yet added your iCloud account, click the plus (+) symbol > click iCloud.  If you have already set it up then just make sure Mail & Notes is checked in the right side.
3. Enter your Apple ID and click Create.
4. When the process is complete, ensure Mail & Notes is ticked on the right.
5. Now click plus (+) symbol again and choose Gmail on the right.
6. Enter your Gmail account details and click Setup.
7. Uncheck everything except Mail & Notes and click Add Account.
8. Now open the Mail app (it’s in the Dock by default or hit CMD+Space and type Mail)
9. You should see three accounts on the left (see screenshot).  If you don’t see your Gmail notes account as shown, right click Notes > Get Account Info > Change Account to Gmail > Mailbox Behaviors tab > uncheck Show Notes in Inbox > close Account Info and Gmail should appear.
10. Click on the Gmail account.  Your Gmail notes should appear on the right.
11. Now do a Select All (CMD+A).
12. Now drag and drop all of the Notes on top of the iCloud account.

That’s it!
All of your Gmail notes have now been moved into your iCloud account.
You should now remove your Gmail account again from your Mac (if you want!) and also from your iPhone leaving your Notes entirely on iCloud.