Dear Knowledgeable Ones - just as the Notes app from Apple starts to look decent, the app on my MacBook no longer syncs with Notes on my iphone or ipad. Phone and ipad sync fine. But not recognising new notes on Mac after upgrading to Mavericks. Any ideas, please?
Did you sign into iCloud on your Mac after the upgrade?
Is the checkbox for Notes ticked in the System Settings for iCloud?
Were you holding your tongue in the right position as you prayed to the moon goddess while you restarted your Mac?
If none of those are are the culprit then… ask again. Someone more knowledgeable than me may answer.
All those things, and also sacrificed last year’s Christmas pudding to the Furies. I just want a simple thing that syncs notes between all three. The NotesTab app almost does that, but suddenly stops syncing. That just leaves Evernote which is rapidly becoming my go to app for everything except Scriv. But I wanted something simpler. Too complicated a desire I suppose. But thanks.
I’ve never had trouble syncing Notes with my iPad and iPhone and Mac, so don’t know what to suggest, beyond maybe trying an alternative like SimpleNote. But if you’re already using EverNote…
Yeah, as nom says, you must sacrifice yourself to the alter of iCloud if you wish to continue using Apple’s data products. Calendar, Address Book and all of that now must go through iCloud on both the computer and the device. If you opt out, then I am aware of no way of making iTunes work the way it used to, when it just kept your computer and iDevices silently and perfectly up to date, with no unnecessary bulk transfer of personal data across the Internet. I’d love to hear if anyone else has found a way around this. I have no need for Apple’s notetaking program as I have alternatives I prefer, but stuff like calenders and address books are difficult to replace.
I never got perfect service from iTunes, Address Book, or Contacts. They could not handle a database of 1,600 contacts. It’s the main reason I switched over to Google Mail, Contacts, and Calendar. When I edit any of those apps, they are synched wherever I log in. As for notes, Google offers Tasks, Keep, and SyncPad for SimpleNote, along with EverNote, SpringPad, WunderList…all running on the Mac Chrome browser.
I have much more modest requirements, and so never ran into any of these difficulties you speak of.
Thanks for the suggestion, but I have even less interest in uploading personal data to Google (or Facebook, or any of these organisations that are essentially just using your identity as a product), than I do to Apple. I was perfectly happy plugging my devices into the computer and syncing them with a button click. I really don’t need to access this information from anywhere in the world, from a central login or anything like that, so the increased risk of using the 'net as a storage device holds no worthy benefit. It’s good you moved over when you did though! Apple’s braindead policy on this matter is, if you ever once used iCloud to store your address book, removing it from an iDevice actually deletes the entire database. At this point, the only way to get my calendar back into the device would be to hand-type it all in. Riiight.
Fortunately OmniFocus does do most of what I need, and I control the synchronisation parameters. 
Ah, OmniFocus. Such an adaptable application. I keep a ‘Single Action’ project in a folder I’ve imaginatively named “Notes”. The workflow is simplicity itself. Everything I need to do or remember hits the Inbox, then, when I’ve time, it either gets done; allocated to, or becomes a project; or it is classified as a note and gets filed accordingly. If personal and/or sufficiently important, it’s subsequently transferred to Yojimbo. Works for me.
You’re a bit harsh on iCloud, Amber. I’ve never lost data by deleting information on my iDevices. But then, I’ve made a habit of using the <File:Export:Archive> routine on my MBP, so I’ve always a backup to hand if my good fortune should suddenly desert me.
Well, my issues with iCloud are less to do with its reliability (though it is true Apple does not have a good scorecard in the regard), and more just on the fact that I do not trust external corporations to safeguard my data. A good recent example of this is Adobe, which was deeply hacked to the point where they ended up providing hackers with detailed information, all the way down to credit card numbers, on a good percentage of their customers. This is a risk with any online storage provider, from Apple to Dropbox to Microsoft.
What I am referring to specifically, with deleting information: if you have at any point hooked your iDevice up to iCloud and then later changed your mind (I only did it so that I could test our iCloud support in Scapple) the only recourse for removing the account connection results in a full wipe of all data that iCloud manages, such as your address book, calendar and presumably anything else. This is good to know if you intend to test it, and later change your mind. You cannot easily reverse your decision.
OmniFocus is brilliant. A little expensive, but very scalable. I have thousands of notes in it, and I’ve never had a problem with it syncing.
Although the master copy is kept in iCloud, doesn’t it keep a copy on (say) your desktop machine which you could backup separately prior to any attempt to back out of the iCloud system? For the same reasons as you I don’t like trusting personal data to a cloud based system. Whilst it seems possible to use something like a Synology NAS, that will only do CalDAV and not (AFAIK) CardDAV to sync the address book. The only other option would be a MacMini server off eBay.
I’ve been a user of Omnifocus since it existed as series of AppleScripts for use with OmniOutliner. Yes it’s expensive and probably overkill for much of what I do, but it’s ultra reliable and only once did I ever have a problem with syncing. And, that was back when Omni SyncServer was in its infancy. Thoroughly recommend it.
AV, put up yer dukes and let’s go OT. You are a much honored mentor/avatar here, but when you talk like this, I think I’m stuck in an episode of Portlandia.
I mean, the water company has my personal data. So does my employer, medical clinic, insurance agent, bank, and waste collector. (Bulletin: lots of empties at the druid home last night!) 
Since my switch to Google, I haven’t noticed any changes in junk mail, cop calls, or FBI surveillance. I’m just not that important, or bad-ass. (Cue Vic.)
Advertising and market research have been around for a long time. It’s just possible that at times they may do some good, like improve products or kill bad ones. Only trouble with Apple: they never, ever, listen to their customers. 
That’s utter twaddle, balderdash and solid sewage!! Email Apple and tell them that thousands of their customers would just love them to up the prices of their ridiculously overpriced bits of bling, by at least 50%. Bet you get a reply in no time at all.
“Hey Dude! Is that so? Well hang on in there kiddo, and we’ll see what we can do 
AP x x x x”
Solid sewage, eh? Must be time to ‘cut the crap’ then.
Right, sorry I didn’t mean to imply that removing the account from your iPad would delete the iCloud data store—it will delete the address book on the iPad. That’s ridiculous. There is no reason for Apple to do that. It means if you have 200 addresses on your iPad, try iCloud, decide you don’t like it and so remove the account—you lose all of the data you had accumulated on the iPad (a total system recovery to a backup point may not be feasible, and Apple provides no options for partial recoveries to say, just your Notes data without wiping out all changes made to the device since the backup point). There is no way to remove iCloud from your device without losing your data on that device that I’m aware of.
The desktop model is different. There OS X will retain data if you switch of iCloud. My warning on their policy was strictly for iDevices, and the resulting problem that if you do opt-out, you will no longer have a way of getting the data it manages onto your device from your computer, short of typing it all in by hand. I had been keeping them synced together with iTunes for years. Now I have none of that data, and no way to get it back on without using iCloud. That’s my gripe.
I think we’re talking about different things here. Hosting large quantities of your data on the Internet is not the same as the sewer company holding your publicly available address information. Nor is it the same as your medical records, which are protected by law. Likewise with banking, protected by different laws and exemptions—unless you opt-in to exposing your bank account to ‘net access, then you’re on your own, ha. These things are not even vaguely related, let alone mechanically enough to a degree where it would be useful to compare them.
When it comes to identity theft, you’re putting yourself in a whole different league of risk if you upload significant quantities of personal data to “cloud” services and whatnot. That’s what we’re talking about, the gradient of risk/benefit.
If the benefit outweighs the risk maybe it is worth it for you, but like I say, for myself and my very modest needs, there is no benefit to begin with, absolutely none. I only use a couple of computers, primarily only from a few locations. I don’t need worldwide access to my notes. If I gain nothing at all from accepting the risk of having it up there, why even bother? iCloud promises me nothing that I need, and only over-complicates the parts I would like. A competitor like Google doing roughly the same thing isn’t an alternative, that was my point. I don’t need either of these things, or anything else like it. All I need is a cable and a button.
As for wilfully opting in to being a product, that’s a different personal choice. I’m well aware of the fact that there are many ways for companies to use my information in their schemes, without my permission, but I really don’t see any reason to joyfully make it easier for them to do so. That whole segment of human endeavour strikes me as ultimately wasteful and contradictory to everything I (ideologically) feel to be the way forward for our species. Elaborate capitalist spy networks (call it what you will) isn’t where I feel society should be going. But, that’s approaching a segment of debate that has no merit in engaging in fisticuffs over, so I won’t say any more on that. 
My confusion. I was taking it that remove on one device meant that it was removed everywhere. Clearly not true. I do agree though that although typical Apple this is bad - our way or the highway.
Unfortunately although there are several CalDAV servers (Synology, QNap etc) there don’t appear to be any that would synchronise the address book via CardDAV(?) over a LAN. The alternative is a mini server off eBay which is overkill for what should be a simple operation.