[Android General] corpsetomb:
Hello!

This is a guide to help anyone who cannot retrieve or unlock any important documents in ColorNote. This can happen for many reasons, such as forgetting your password, or getting a new phone. This same situation happened to me, and I scoured the internet to find a way to retrieve my important notes. I found and tried multiple things from different places, and after a day I was able to retrieve my notes. I figured since there wasn't a thread on this, and because their still might be people out there using this app, or people who don't use it because of this situation, that I would post the method here for easy access and availability.

Credit to GPT (posted the fix on Retrogade Peace) Mick Lee, Mohammed Rafi, collegemomlynn, jambavo75.

Some of the instructions were a little hard to follow for me, so I will do the best I can at detailing the steps here. PART I will review if you have never synced your notes to an account, like Google, Facebook etc. PART II will be if you HAVE synced your account. Either way we will get you up and running. If pictures are needed to help with the process, or even a walkthrough video, let me know and I will post them here.

Part I (Without Online Sync)

1. Read these instructions all the way through before starting. I recommend finding all of the menu settings and getting familiar with where to find everything in the app before starting the process.

2. Make sure you have an older version of the app, or download the one provided in this post. 4.0.5 seems to work (Thanks to @fjdlkjfldjsjsjjfs).

3. Go into the App, click the three lines on the top left-hand side, then click on Settings.

4. Scroll down and make sure Auto Backup is checked.

5. If it is NOT checked, then enable Auto Backup (check the box) and wait 24 hours for the backup to happen. I didn’t see any other way of speeding this up, so make sure to wait the 24 hours. If for some crazy reason it asks you for a password to enable auto backup, make sure you have the

latest

version of ColorNote. That should fix the problem and let you select Auto Backup without the password.

6. After this step, or if Auto Backup was already enabled, go to Settings, then scroll down towards the bottom and click on Backup.

7. On this screen, you should see a Backup Notes button, and right below it the Saved Backup Data section, which will include the date, time, and a

box to the right with the number of notes that was backed up.

8. Verify the backup by clicking on the file (where the date and time are) and then click view. This should show you all your locked and unlocked notes.

9. Once you have verified the backup, you are going to clear the Master Password.

10. Note – Resetting the Master Password will delete your locked notes; however, you will still have the backup. That is what we will be working with to get your notes back.

11. Go to Settings, scroll down to Security, and click on Master Password.

12. If this screen is asking for the Current Master Password, then click on the three circles menu button on the top right hand side, select clear password, then click okay on the popup box that comes up.

13. Now you can set a new Master Password, and re-enter it. Then click Save.

14. Go back to Backup (Settings > Backup)

15. Click on the backup file you want to restore.

16. Click Restore.

17. Now you can open the locked notes with your new Master Password.

Part II (WITH Online Sync)

1. Follow steps 1-8 in Part 1.

2. Go to Settings, click Online Sync, then Sign Out.

3. At this point, all your notes will be gone. They are safely stored in your online sync as well as the auto backup files.

4. Go to Settings, scroll down to Security, and click on Master Password, and setup a new Master Password.

5. In the settings menu, click on Backup, then click on the backup file. (If you don’t see a backup file, then you must sync the account again and wait 24 hours. Please see steps 1-8 in Part I.)

6. Once you click on the backup file, a popup menu will come up. Click View.

7. This will show you all your files. If you click on the locked notes, you will be able to open them with your new password.

8. You can restore the note by pressing the sideways-U-shaped arrow on the top right-hand corner of the note itself. You can also long press the note from the previous notes screen and the restore option that pops up on the bottom of the screen.

9. Note – You must restore the notes individually, DO NOT select them all and then choose Restore. If you try it this way, it will reconnect you to Online Sync and cancel out your new password.

10. Once you have restored all the notes you want, you can reconnect to Online Sync if you choose to (Settings > Online Sync).

That’s it! Hopefully you have successfully recovered your important, locked notes. I truly hope this has been helpful, and again I appreciate all the people mentioned above for their wisdom and guidance on this process. Please post any questions, comments or concerns you may have.

I apologize for the lengthy post, I realize I went a little overboard with the details, however I just wanted to make sure things were clear.

Thanks!