How to transfer notes from Xiaomi to Oppo: all ways with pros and cons

Why moving notes between Xiaomi and Oppo is not a trivial task

The transition from Xiaomi to Oppo often comes with unexpected difficulties in migrating data. While contacts and photos are usually easily transferred through cloud services, notes are not the case, the reason lies in proprietary applications: Mi Notes (on Xiaomi) and Notes (on Oppo) use different storage formats and are not directly compatible. Even standard tools like Google Drive or Mi Mover do not always process such data correctly.

The second problem is the differences in database structure: Xiaomi stores notes in encrypted.ndb format (for local notes) or syncs them with Mi Cloud in a proprietary cloud, whereas Oppo uses the.json format by default for export/import. This means that simply copying files through a Explorer is not enough. Fortunately, there are workarounds – from manual export to use of third-party utilities.

In this article, we will discuss 5 working methods for porting notes, including nuances for different versions of MIUI (12 to 14) and ColorOS (11 to 14), and also warn against typical errors that lead to data loss. If you use the Redmi Note 12 or Oppo Reno 10, the instructions will also be suitable for you.

Method 1: Export notes from Mi Notes to a universal format

The most reliable way is to convert Xiaomi notes into an intermediate format, which can then be imported into Oppo, which requires the Mi Notes app and access to the phone's file system.

Steps:

• 📱 Open Mi Notes on your Xiaomi and tap on the three dots in the top right corner.
• 📤 Select Note Exports → A text file (.txt) or HTML (if available).
• 📁 Save the file to internal memory → Download or on a memory card.
• 🔗 Connect Xiaomi to your PC and copy the exported files to a separate folder.

Please note that if you have MIUI 14 or newer, the export option may be hidden behind an additional menu.

1. Go to Settings → About phone and tap the MIUI version 7 times to activate the developer mode.
2. Return to Settings → Additional → For developers and enable USB debugging.
3. Connect your phone to your PC and use ADB to pull notes with the command: adb pull /data/data/com.miui.notes/databases/notes.db

⚠️ Note: Note.db contains all notes in encrypted form. Decrypting it will require specialized software like SQLite Browser or a Python script. Without technical skills, it is better to use methods 2-4.

Method 2: Sync with Google Keep (for short notes)

If your notes don't have complex formatting (to-do lists, text blocks, images), you can use Google Keep as an intermediate storage method, which works 100% for notes up to 20,000 characters.

Instructions:

• 📲 Install Google Keep on both phones (Xiaomi and Oppo) from Google Play.
• 🔄 On Xiaomi, open Mi Notes, select a note → Share. → Google Keep.
• 📋 Repeat for all notes (or use the option to select all if available).
• 🔄 On Oppo, open Google Keep, select a note → Copy in the buffer → insert in the standard Notes app.

Advantages of the method:

• ✅ No need for root rights or technical skills.
• ✅ Keeps formatting (bold text, lists, colors).
• ✅ Automatically synchronized between devices.

Disadvantages:

• ❌ Not suitable for notes with attachments (PDF, audio, large images).
• ❌ Manual copying takes time if notes are more than 50.

Method 3: Use of third-party applications (e.g. Notion or Evernote)

If you’re willing to use a third-party app temporarily, Notion or Evernote will be a great bridge between Xiaomi and Oppo, which support import/export in universal formats and have clients for both platforms.

Step-by-step instructions for Notion:

1. Download Notion on Xiaomi from Google Play or the official website.
2. In Mi Notes, select a note → Share → Notion (or copy the text manually).
3. In Notion, create a new page and paste the contents of the note.
4. On Oppo, set Notion, log in and export notes to PDF or Markdown.
5. Open the exported file and copy the text to the standard Notes app on Oppo.

For Evernote, the process is similar, but with nuances:

• 📌 Evernote is better at formatting, but has a free tariff limit (60 MB/month).
• 📌 Supports imports from.enex (special format Evernote), but export from Mi Notes into it is impossible - you will have to use it. HTML or TXT.

⚠️ Note: When using Notion or Evernote, make sure that Oppo has the latest version of the app installed. ColorOS 13+ There is a bug that causes older versions to misrepresent Cyrillic characters in exported files.

Method 4: Transfer over local backup (for advanced users)

This is a good way to do it if you don’t want to use cloud services or have a lot of attachment notes, and you’ll need access to Xiaomi’s file system and basic ADB skills.

Algorithm of action:

1. Enable USB debugging on Xiaomi (see Method 1).
2. Connect your phone to your PC and execute the command to create a backup: adb backup -f mi_notes.ab -app com.miui.notes On the screen Xiaomi will be a request for confirmation – allow the creation of a backup (do not set a password!).
3. Download the Android Backup Extractor utility and unpack mi_notes.ab: java -jar abe.jar unpack mi_notes.ab mi_notes.tar
4. In the unpacked folder, find the file apps/com.miui.notes/db/notes.db — It's a notebook database.
5. Use SQLite Browser to export data to CSV or JSON.
6. On Oppo, import the resulting file through the Notes app (Import option in settings).

If you don’t want to work with ADB, the alternative is to use the Swift Backup app (requires root):

• 🔧 Install Swift Backup and provide root access.
• 📦 Create a backup of the Mi Notes app.
• 📤 Export backup in.swb format to PC.
• 🔄 On Oppo, restore the backup using the same app (if it supports ColorOS).

Method 5: Synchronize with Mi Cloud and Manual Transfer

If your notes are already synced to Mi Cloud, you can export them via a web interface, a method that is suitable for users who have previously enabled cloud sync in Mi Notes.

How to move:

1. Open your browser on your PC and go to i.mi.com (the web version of Mi Cloud).
2. Sign in with the same account as Xiaomi.
3. Go to the Notes section.
4. For every note: 📋 Open the note and copy the text (Ctrl)+A → Ctrl+C). 📎 If you have attachments (photos, files), download them separately.

Notes

Limitations of the method:

• ❌ It only works if sync with Mi Cloud was enabled before Xiaomi reset.
• ❌ The web version of Mi Cloud does not have the option of mass export – you will have to copy each note manually.
• ❌ Formatting (colors, fonts) may be lost.

💡

If you have a lot of notes, use a browser extension like Tampermonkey with a script to automatically copy text from Mi Cloud. An example of a script can be found on GreasyFork for "Mi Cloud Notes Exporter."

Problem Solving: What to Do When Notes Are Not Passed

Even if you follow the instructions, you can make mistakes, and here are the most common problems and solutions.

If none of these methods worked, try the following:

• 🔄 Resetting Mi Notes: on Xiaomi go to Settings → Annexes → Application management → Mi Notes → Warehouse → Clear the data. After the reboot, try exporting the notes again.
• 📧 Contact us for support: write in support of Xiaomi asking for notes in a readable format (indicate that you are switching to another brand).
• 🛠️ Use specialized utilities: for example, Mi Notes Exporter (available on GitHub) for automatic parsing notes.db.

💡

If your notes contain sensitive information (passwords, document scans), avoid cloud services (Methods 2 and 5), prefer local export (Method 4) or manual copying (Method 3 with Notion offline).

FAQ: Frequent questions about moving notes from Xiaomi to Oppo