Notes is Broken

Apologies if this is the wrong place to post, but I've tried various bug report methods with no response. Maybe you can guide me to the correct place to post this. My notes app crashed over a year ago after creating a folder with a slash in it. I need access to my notes. If anyone can figure this out I would be greatly appreciative as I work for Apple and don't like using Microsoft OneNote. It has persisted through many MacOS updates and I've followed guides to delete the cache/stored notes many times. Also tried turning off iCloud syncing. Here's the partial crash log:

-------------------------------------
Translated Report (Full Report Below)
-------------------------------------

Process:               Notes [66625]
Path:                  /System/Applications/Notes.app/Contents/MacOS/Notes
Identifier:            com.apple.Notes
Version:               4.10 (2230)
Build Info:            Notes-2230000000000000~3
Code Type:             X86-64 (Native)
Parent Process:        launchd [1]
User ID:               501

Date/Time:             2023-08-23 06:41:49.9362 -0500
OS Version:            macOS 13.5 (22G74)
Report Version:        12
Bridge OS Version:     7.6 (20P6072)
Anonymous UUID:        23825D9C-14FD-E100-FEAA-9FAAC0D93511

Sleep/Wake UUID:       1F495E51-139F-467C-97FD-13C866186E61

Time Awake Since Boot: 370000 seconds
Time Since Wake:       2888 seconds

System Integrity Protection: enabled

Crashed Thread:        1  Dispatch queue: NSManagedObjectContext 0x600003c29ad0

Exception Type:        EXC_BAD_INSTRUCTION (SIGILL)
Exception Codes:       0x0000000000000001, 0x0000000000000000

Termination Reason:    Namespace SIGNAL, Code 4 Illegal instruction: 4
Terminating Process:   exc handler [66625]

Application Specific Backtrace 0:
0   CoreFoundation                      0x00007ff814bde18a __exceptionPreprocess + 242
1   libobjc.A.dylib                     0x00007ff81470442b objc_exception_throw + 48
2   CoreFoundation                      0x00007ff814c79fef -[NSObject(NSObject) __retain_OA] + 0
3   CoreFoundation                      0x00007ff814b49797 ___forwarding___ + 1392
4   CoreFoundation                      0x00007ff814b49198 _CF_forwarding_prep_0 + 120
5   NotesHTML                           0x00007ffb25c568e0 -[ICNFIMAPAccountProxy _serverNameForMailbox:parentMailbox:separatorCharacter:] + 312
6   NotesHTML                           0x00007ffb25c56308 -[ICNFIMAPAccountProxy renameMailbox:newParentMailbox:] + 204
7   NotesHTML                           0x00007ffb25c13e1f -[NFIMAPAccountProxy renameMailbox:newParentMailbox:] + 160
8   NotesHTML                           0x00007ffb25c43b50 -[NFLocalToIMAPPusher updateFolderOnRemote:inParent:accountProxy:errorIsFatal:] + 25
9   NotesHTML                           0x00007ffb25cbb660 +[NFLocalToRemotePusher moveFolderOnRemote:toParent:originalParent:accountProxy:errorIsFatal:] + 157
10  NotesHTML                           0x00007ffb25c33cc9 __71+[NFOfflineActionManager _executeMoveFolderAction:forAccount:outError:]_block_invoke + 725
11  CoreData                            0x00007ff81a807cae developerSubmittedBlockToNSManagedObjectContextPerform + 158
12  libdispatch.dylib                   0x00007ff8148ea033 _dispatch_client_callout + 8
13  libdispatch.dylib                   0x00007ff8148f7ba1 _dispatch_lane_barrier_sync_invoke_and_complete + 60
14  CoreData                            0x00007ff81a807bc5 -[NSManagedObjectContext performBlockAndWait:] + 277
15  NotesHTML                           0x00007ffb25c33986 +[NFOfflineActionManager _executeMoveFolderAction:forAccount:outError:] + 235
16  NotesHTML                           0x00007ffb25c3249d +[NFOfflineActionManager _executeActionForAccount:action:outError:] + 394
17  NotesHTML                           0x00007ffb25c31bcf __58+[NFOfflineActionManager executeOfflineActionsForAccount:]_block_invoke + 1254
18  CoreData                            0x00007ff81a807cae developerSubmittedBlockToNSManagedObjectContextPerform + 158
19  libdispatch.dylib                   0x00007ff8148ea033 _dispatch_client_callout + 8
20  libdispatch.dylib                   0x00007ff8148f7ba1 _dispatch_lane_barrier_sync_invoke_and_complete + 60
21  CoreData                            0x00007ff81a807bc5 -[NSManagedObjectContext performBlockAndWait:] + 277
22  NotesHTML                           0x00007ffb25c31623 +[NFOfflineActionManager executeOfflineActionsForAccount:] + 552
23  NotesHTML                           0x00007ffb25c55df7 -[ICNFIMAPAccountProxy _recoverFromConnectionlessStateHighPriority:] + 261
24  NotesHTML                           0x00007ffb25c55879 -[ICNFIMAPAccountProxy checkOutGatewayForMailbox:highPriority:needsCheckIn:] + 665
25  NotesHTML                           0x00007ffb25ca2423 -[ICNFIMAPMailboxProxy updateFromServer] + 135
26  Notes                               0x000000010b5a323d Notes + 2191933
Up vote post of jbrotman Down vote post of jbrotman
530 views
Posted by
jbrotman
Reply
Add a Comment

Replies

I don't think this is because you put a slash in a folder name (you don't say whether it's a backslash or forward slash). I just created a new user and created two folders without a problem:

Quitting the app and reloading it worked fine.

Can you access your Notes on an iPhone or iPad? Can you log into a different Mac and see whether your iCloud Notes sync and can be accessed? How about at iCloud.com

There are a lot of things you haven't mentioned you've tried.

Posted by
darkpaw
Up vote reply of darkpaw Down vote reply of darkpaw
Add a Comment

I just now created a new user and notes works fine on the same Mac for that user. Also works fine on my iPhone and iCloud.com. The reason I believe it has something to do with the slash, is immediately upon renaming the folder, it crashed and hasn't worked since. At one point the folder was there, with everything after the slash in the name, excluding the slash. I've since deleted that folder. I can't recall if it was back or forward slash. Thanks for your response!

Posted by
jbrotman
Up vote reply of jbrotman Down vote reply of jbrotman
Add a Comment

If you can access your notes on your iPhone, then can't you delete one at a time and see if the Mac's Notes app works then? Repeat until the offending note is found...

Once you know which one is causing the issue you can restore the deleted notes.

Posted by
darkpaw
Up vote reply of darkpaw Down vote reply of darkpaw
Add a Comment

The problem is it's a folder, not a note. When I go to edit the folders to attempt to delete the offending folder, it's greyed out, meaning I can't delete it from my phone. And it doesn't even show up on iCloud.com...

Is there documentation that will help me decipher the crash log? Or does that just come with experience?

Posted by
jbrotman
Up vote reply of jbrotman Down vote reply of jbrotman
Add a Comment

Ok I just got it working by turning off notes syncing under the mail app account sync options. This is really strange, but I appreciate your helping me!

Posted by
jbrotman
Up vote reply of jbrotman Down vote reply of jbrotman
Add a Comment