“Notes quit unexpectedly” on macOS

notes-iconSince the new Notes app on macOS has a sharing function, I am planning to use it much more often. But today I shared a note with someone else, and since then, the Notes app systematically crashed when I opened it, with the message “Notes quit unexpectedly“.

This is how I managed to solve it:

  • In System Preferences, navigate to iCloud
  • Turn off the Notes synchronisation
  • In the Finder menu, click Go while keeping the Option key pressed, and select Library
  • Open the Containers folder
  • Move the com.apple.Notes folder to the trash
  • In System Preferences, iCloud, turn the Notes sync back on
  • Start Notes again.

11 thoughts on ““Notes quit unexpectedly” on macOS”

  1. I previously moved the notes folder to the desktop but as a result all my notes disappeared. I next found this article and followed the same steps but my old notes did not reappear even after I turned the sync back on.
    All notes continue to be on my phone.

  2. many thx

    very clear steps that worked a treat (unlike the myriad of failed advice on google and apple discussions)

  3. I tried these steps since Notes was periodically crashing if I opened it on a note that had changed on another device. I’m not sure if it fixed the crashes as of yet, but a side effect was one of my notes completely vanished off all my devices (I managed to put my iPhone in airplane mode and recover it from there).

    Also now when I open Notes on my MacBook Air, the spinning sync indicator in Notes never goes away. It just always spins. Notes are syncing, but that indicator never goes away.

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