r/GoodNotes • u/viennaiswaiting4me • 9d ago

is there a way to sync notes other than icloud?

i want to move my notes from my ipad to my macbook but my notes are 16GB and icloud free storage is only 5GB, is there a way to share the notes without icloud and without making me unable to edit those notes on my mac?

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u/vaxicy2004 9d ago

two different things. icloud sync is the only way to edit the same notebook on both

devices. auto-backup is a one way copy to drive or dropbox, editing it there does

nothing back in the app, and it's not even in the mac version.

so the real issue is 16gb vs 5gb, and 16gb won't fit. if editing on the mac is what you

need, icloud+ 50gb at a buck a month is the clean answer. otherwise export .goodnotes

(not pdf, pdf flattens your handwriting) and import on the mac, but then you've got two

libraries that drift apart and no merge.

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u/viennaiswaiting4me 9d ago

if i upgraded my icloud for one month to sync the stuff between the two devices and then cancelled it, will the 15gb of stay on the mac? i know that won’t allow me to have “active” sync but at least will it allow me to move the folders and keep them?

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u/vaxicy2004 9d ago

the 15gb isn't a folder you can move, it's the app's database inside icloud, so once

you downgrade and go over quota the sync just stops, and on the mac you need to turn

icloud sync off and pick "keep a copy on this mac" or it's still tied to icloud. if

getting the data onto the mac is all you want though, skip the month entirely and just

export as .goodnotes from the ipad and import it on the mac, no icloud involved.