Add photos, PDFs and more in Notes on Mac
You can add photos, videos, PDFs, drawings, emoji and other items to your notes. If you use upgraded iCloud notes or notes stored on your Mac, you can also attach map locations and webpage previews. (If you haven’t upgraded your iCloud notes or are using an account other than iCloud, you can add map locations or webpage links, but you won’t see previews for them.)
If your notes are in an Exchange account, you can’t attach any files, map locations or webpage previews.
Add photos from your photo library
Go to the Notes app
on your Mac.Open a note or click
to create a new note.Click
in the toolbar, then click Choose Photo or Video.Click the photo you want to add from the window that appears, then click Add. You can choose multiple photos.
Tip: Add a photo quickly by dragging it from the Photos app into a note.
Add photos and files from your Mac
Go to the Notes app
on your Mac.Open a note or click
to create a new note.Click
in the toolbar, then click Attach File.Select the file, then click Attach.
Tip: Add a file quickly by dragging it from Finder or the Desktop into a note.
To change how large all images, scanned documents or PDFs appear, see View attachments from all your notes.
Add photos and files from your iPhone or iPad
Adding photos, scans and other files to your Mac from your iPhone or iPad requires macOS 10.14 or later, and iOS 12 or later or iPadOS 13 or later. See Insert sketches, photos and scans from iPhone or iPad.
Go to the Notes app
on your Mac.Open a note or click
to create a new note.Click File > “Insert from iPhone or iPad”, then choose one of the following:
Take Photo
Scan Documents
Add Sketch
You can mark up attachments (including scanned documents) and PDFs after you attach them to a note.
Add emoji to your notes
Go to the Notes app
on your Mac.Open a note or click
to create a new note.Press Fn/
-E, or choose Edit > Emoji & Symbols.Click a character or symbol to add it to your text.
If Apple Intelligence* is turned on, you can create custom emoji — called Genmoji. See Create your own emoji with Genmoji.
Add items directly from another app
You can attach an item — such as a map location or webpage preview — to a note from within another app. You can create a new note with the attachment or add attachments to an existing note.
Go to another app — such as Maps, Safari, Preview or Photos — on your Mac.
Do any of the following:
Share from the toolbar: Click
, then choose Notes.Note: The Share button doesn’t appear in all apps.
Share from a selection: Select some text or images, Control-click your selection, then choose Share > Notes.
Click the Choose Note pop-up menu, then choose New Note or the name of an existing note.
Click Save.