Apple Notes Cost Tuning

Storage Audit Script

#!/bin/bash
# Audit Apple Notes storage consumption
echo "=== iCloud Storage Overview ==="
# Total iCloud usage (approximate from system)
df -h ~/Library/Mobile\ Documents/ 2>/dev/null | tail -1

echo ""
echo "=== Notes Content Audit ==="
osascript -l JavaScript -e '
  const Notes = Application("Notes");
  const accounts = Notes.accounts();
  let report = [];
  accounts.forEach(a => {
    const notes = a.notes();
    let totalChars = 0;
    let withAttachments = 0;
    notes.forEach(n => {
      totalChars += n.body().length;
      if (n.attachments().length > 0) withAttachments++;
    });
    report.push(a.name() + ": " + notes.length + " notes, ~" +
      Math.round(totalChars / 1024) + "KB text, " +
      withAttachments + " with attachments");
  });
  report.join("\n");
'

Optimization Strategies

Move Large Notes to "On My Mac"

// Move attachment-heavy notes to local account (no iCloud cost)
const Notes = Application("Notes");
const localAccount = Notes.accounts().find(a => a.name() === "On My Mac");
const icloud = Notes.defaultAccount;

// Find notes with large bodies (likely have embedded images)
const largeNotes = icloud.notes().filter(n => n.body().length > 100000);
largeNotes.forEach(n => {
  console.log(`Large note: ${n.name()} (${Math.round(n.body().length / 1024)}KB)`);
});
// Manual move: drag notes to "On My Mac" in Notes.app sidebar

Archive Old Notes to Markdown

# Export old notes to local markdown files, then delete from iCloud
ARCHIVE_DIR="$HOME/notes-archive/$(date +%Y-%m)"
mkdir -p "$ARCHIVE_DIR"
osascript -l JavaScript -e '
  const Notes = Application("Notes");
  const cutoff = new Date(Date.now() - 180 * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000); // 6 months ago
  Notes.defaultAccount.notes()
    .filter(n => n.modificationDate() < cutoff)
    .map(n => JSON.stringify({ title: n.name(), body: n.body() }))
    .join("\n");
' | while IFS= read -r line; do
  title=$(echo "$line" | jq -r '.title' 2>/dev/null) || continue
  safe=$(echo "$title" | tr '/:*?"<>|' '-' | head -c 80)
  echo "$line" | jq -r '.body' > "$ARCHIVE_DIR/$safe.html"
done
echo "Archived to $ARCHIVE_DIR — review before deleting from Notes"

Error Handling

Resources

• iCloud+ Plans and Pricing
• Manage iCloud Storage
• Mac Automation Scripting Guide

Next Steps

For monitoring iCloud sync health, see apple-notes-observability. For archiving and data export, see apple-notes-data-handling.