Apple Notes

Interact with the macOS Notes app via AppleScript. All commands use osascript.

List All Folders

code

exec: osascript -e '
tell application "Notes"
    set output to ""
    repeat with f in folders
        set noteCount to count of notes in f
        set output to output & name of f & " (" & noteCount & " notes)" & linefeed
    end repeat
    return output
end tell
'

List Notes in a Folder

Replace FOLDER_NAME with the target folder (use "Notes" for the default folder):

code

exec: osascript -e '
tell application "Notes"
    set output to ""
    set theNotes to notes of folder "FOLDER_NAME"
    repeat with n in theNotes
        set output to output & name of n & " | " & (modification date of n as text) & linefeed
    end repeat
    return output
end tell
'

List All Notes (All Folders)

code

exec: osascript -e '
tell application "Notes"
    set output to ""
    repeat with f in folders
        set folderName to name of f
        repeat with n in notes of f
            set output to output & "[" & folderName & "] " & name of n & " | " & (modification date of n as text) & linefeed
        end repeat
    end repeat
    return output
end tell
'

Read a Note by Name

code

exec: osascript -e '
tell application "Notes"
    set theNotes to notes whose name is "NOTE_TITLE"
    if (count of theNotes) > 0 then
        set theNote to item 1 of theNotes
        set noteName to name of theNote
        set noteBody to plaintext of theNote
        return "Title: " & noteName & linefeed & linefeed & noteBody
    else
        return "Note not found: NOTE_TITLE"
    end if
end tell
'

Create a New Note

Replace FOLDER_NAME, NOTE_TITLE, and NOTE_BODY. The body supports HTML for rich text.

Plain text note:

code

exec: osascript -e '
tell application "Notes"
    tell folder "FOLDER_NAME"
        make new note with properties {name:"NOTE_TITLE", body:"NOTE_BODY"}
    end tell
end tell
return "Note created successfully."
'

Rich text note (HTML body):

code

exec: osascript -e '
tell application "Notes"
    tell folder "Notes"
        make new note with properties {name:"NOTE_TITLE", body:"<h1>Title</h1><p>Paragraph text here.</p><ul><li>Item 1</li><li>Item 2</li></ul>"}
    end tell
end tell
return "Note created successfully."
'

Append to an Existing Note

code

exec: osascript -e '
tell application "Notes"
    set theNotes to notes whose name is "NOTE_TITLE"
    if (count of theNotes) > 0 then
        set theNote to item 1 of theNotes
        set currentBody to body of theNote
        set body of theNote to currentBody & "<br><p>APPENDED_TEXT</p>"
        return "Text appended successfully."
    else
        return "Note not found: NOTE_TITLE"
    end if
end tell
'

Search Notes by Keyword

code

exec: osascript -e '
set searchTerm to "KEYWORD"
tell application "Notes"
    set output to ""
    repeat with f in folders
        repeat with n in notes of f
            if (name of n contains searchTerm) or (plaintext of n contains searchTerm) then
                set output to output & "[" & (name of f) & "] " & name of n & linefeed
            end if
        end repeat
    end repeat
    if output is "" then
        return "No notes found matching: " & searchTerm
    end if
    return output
end tell
'

Delete a Note by Name

code

exec: osascript -e '
tell application "Notes"
    set theNotes to notes whose name is "NOTE_TITLE"
    if (count of theNotes) > 0 then
        delete item 1 of theNotes
        return "Note deleted."
    else
        return "Note not found: NOTE_TITLE"
    end if
end tell
'

Notes

•Notes app must be installed (default on macOS).
•First run may trigger a permission dialog. The user must click Allow.
•Default folder is typically named "Notes" (or localized equivalent, e.g., "备忘录" in Chinese).
•Note body uses HTML internally. Use plaintext property to get clean text.
•Very large notes may be truncated by exec output limits.
•iCloud-synced notes are accessible if the user is signed in.