Can I recover a deleted file in "Notes"

[Billy JoeBob Roylee]

I opened the "Notes" icon from the home page. I accidentally deleted a file I would like to keep. Can I retrieve that file? Thanks.

 

[twerppoet]

Provided you aren’t running an older version of iOS, there should be a Recently Deleted folder in your folder list.

 

[Billy JoeBob Roylee]

I have the original operating system. I was sceptical about upgrading. I thought it would cause me to have issues.

 

[twerppoet]

Check, if you haven’t. If your iPad is only two to three years old, it might still have the option. I don’t remember what version the Recently Deleted folder was added. Certainly by iOS 12. Maybe as old as iOS 10 (but probably not).

If your iPad predates the feature, then it is very difficult to recover deleted notes. It generally requires a full restore from a backup made before the note was lost. Before the recent updates, I did not keep critical information in my Notes app because of this. Even now, I won’t keep important info just in Notes. Of course, I try not to keep the important stuff in any one place or device. Anything can fail, especial when this human is involved.

One other thing you can try. Go to icloud.com and sign in with your Apple account. The folder might work there even if it’s no on the iPad itself.

Updating is usually a good idea. Yes, it might slow down your iPad a bit (though in the case of version 10 it improved the speed of most iPads), but security and other changes are generally worth it. If you want to be cautious, then wait a few revisions into a major update, and ask how others with the same model iPad are doing.