How to transfer notes from Samsung Notes to Xiaomi: all working ways

The switch from Samsung to Xiaomi is often accompanied by a data portability problem, especially when it comes to proprietary apps like Samsung Notes. Unlike contacts or photos, notes are stored in a closed format and are not automatically synchronized with other ecosystems. However, there are at least 5 proven ways to transfer them to a Xiaomi device without losing formatting, drawings or attachments.

In this article, we’ll look at all the current methods, from official export through Samsung Cloud to workarounds using third-party services. Importantly, some methods require pre-configuring on an old device, so start the transfer before you dump or sell a Samsung phone. If you’ve already parted with the gadget, look at the sections on recovery from backups.

Pay special attention to the format of notes: text recordings are easier to carry than handwritten or multimedia, which may require conversion to PDF or the use of specialized tools like OneNote.

1.Official Exports through Samsung Cloud

The most reliable way to do this is to use Samsung Cloud’s built-in export feature, which retains the structure of notes, including attachments and handwriting, but requires an active Samsung Account account.

Instructions:

• 📱 Open the Samsung Notes app on your old device.
• 🔧 Go to Settings. → Exports and imports → Exports to Samsung Cloud.
• ☁️ Select notes for export (you can note everything) and confirm the download.
• 📥 On your Xiaomi device, open your browser and go to the official Samsung Cloud website.
• 🔓 Sign in with the same account and download the archive with notes in.snb or.zip format.

Make sure Samsung is synchronizing with Samsung Cloud| Check free space in the cloud (at least 50 MB per 100 notes) | Disable VPN – it can block access to Samsung Servers | Back up notes to the memory card (in case of a crash)

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⚠️ Note: Samsung Cloud only stores notes for 30 days after deleting your device from your account.If you have already sold your phone, restore cloud access via Find My Mobile or contact Samsung support.

The downloaded archive can be opened on Xiaomi through:

• 📄 Mi File Manager (manually extract.snb files and convert them to.snb files) PDF via online services).
• 🖥️ OneNote or Google Keep (import via Open File").

2. Export to PDF and transfer to Xiaomi

If the notes contain only text or simple images, the most versatile way is to convert to PDF, which is supported by all Xiaomi devices and retains the original design.

How to export:

1. Open the note in Samsung Notes.
2. Press. ⋮ (Three points) → Exports → PDF.
3. Select quality (high for clarity of handwritten text is recommended).
4. Save the file to your internal memory or SD-map.
5. Move PDF to Xiaomi via Bluetooth, Email or the cloud (Google Drive, Mi Cloud).

On the Xiaomi device, files will open in:

• 📖 Mi PDF Viewer (pre-installed application).
• 📱 WPS Office or Adobe Acrobat (for editing).

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If the note contains handwritten text, increase the display scale in Samsung Notes to 150% before exporting to PDF – this will improve readability on the Xiaomi screen.

⚠️ Note: When exporting to PDF If you need to continue with notes, use the methods in the following sections (for example, synchronization via OneNote).

3. Synchronization through Microsoft OneNote

OneNote is the only app that directly supports importing notes from Samsung Notes while retaining most of the elements (including handwriting and attachments), a method that is suitable if you plan to actively use notes on Xiaomi.

Step-by-step:

• 📲 Install OneNote on both devices (Samsung and Xiaomi).
• 🔄 On Samsung, open Samsung Notes, select a note → Share. → OneNote.
• 📂 Select the section to save (for example, "Personal Notes").
• ☁️ Wait for synchronization (can take up to 5 minutes).
• 📱 On Xiaomi, open OneNote and update the data – notes will appear in the selected section.

Advantages of the method:

• ✅ Formatting, including markers, color highlighting and drawings, is maintained.
• ✅ The ability to edit on Xiaomi (unlike the other two). PDF).
• ✅ Automatic synchronization between devices.

⚠️ Attention: If you have more 50 Imports will take a long time, but we recommend that you transfer the data in portions. 10-20 to avoid synchronization failures.

4.Move over Google Keep or other cloud services

If you don't like the previous methods, you can use intermediate services like Google Keep, Evernote or Notion, which is universal, but requires manual copying of data.

Algorithm of action:

1. On Samsung, open a note in Samsung Notes.
2. Click Share → Copy text (for text notes) or Save as an image (for handwritten).
3. Open Google Keep and create a new note.
4. Insert copied text or upload an image.
5. On Xiaomi, install Google Keep and sync your data through your Google account.

Comparison of services for transfer:

For notes with more images or document scans, it’s better to use Evernote – it supports OCR (picture text recognition) and has more flexible export settings.

Google Keep|OneNote|Evernote|Mi Notes (built-in)|Other-->

5. Manual transfer via backup (for advanced users)

If the notes are critical and the standard methods don't work, you can extract them directly from Samsung's backup, which requires access to an ADB or root file manager.

Instructions for users without root:

1. Connect Samsung to your PC and enable USB Debugging (Settings → About Phone → Build Number – press 7 times, then Settings → Developer Settings).
2. Install Android SDK Platform Tools.
3. Run the command to create a backup: adb backup -f samsung_notes.ab -app com.samsung.android.app.notes
4. Download the Android Backup Extractor utility and extract from samsung_notes.ab snb.
5. Convert.snb to PDF via online services (e.g. SNB to PDF).

⚠️ Note:.snb files contain metadata (time of creation, tags), but not all converters store them. Use Python scripts like snb-parser (available on GitHub) to control the process).

Important: ADB backups do not include attachments (photos, audio) if they are stored separately from text. Retrieval will require access to the /data/data/com.samsung.android.app.notes/files folder.

6. Alternative methods: screenshots and OCR

If all previous methods are not available (for example, you have already reset Samsung to factory settings), the last option is to restore notes from screenshots via OCR (text recognition).

How it works:

• 📸 Take screenshots of notes on Samsung (or restore them from Google Photos if screen backup is enabled).
• 🖼️ Transfer the screenshots to Xiaomi.
• 🔍 Use applications for OCR: Google Lens (built into Google Photos); Microsoft Lens (more accurately, it recognizes handwritten text); CamScanner (for multi-page notes).
• 📝 Copy recognized text to any note-taking app on Xiaomi.

The accuracy of recognition depends on the quality of the screenshot:

• 🔹 Text: 95-98% (clear-faced).
• 🔹 Handwritten notes: 70-85% (Microsoft Lens is better at working).
• 🔹 Tables/diagrams: 60-70% (requires manual editing).

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OCR is the only way to recover notes if you don’t have access to the original Samsung device, but it doesn’t save formatting and can distort special characters (like mathematical formulas).

Frequent Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

When transferring notes, users face typical preventable problems:

⚠️ Note: If, when exporting to PDF Russian characters disappear, check the encoding in the Samsung Notes settings. UTF-8 In the Settings section → Additionally. → Text encoding.

Other common mistakes:

• 🚫 Lack of cloud space: Samsung Cloud only provides 15GB for free.If notes aren't exported, clear the cloud of unnecessary files or use Google Drive as an intermediate storage facility.
• 🚫 OneNote sync failures: Make sure both devices have the latest version of the app installed. If you fail to sync, restart OneNote and check your Internet connection.
• 🚫 Empty. PDF-Files: This happens if the note uses non-standard Samsung fonts. Change the font to Arial or Times New Roman before exporting.

If the notes contain encrypted text (such as passwords), they cannot be transferred in standard ways.

1. Transcrib the note to Samsung.
2. Copy the text manually or through Secure Folder (if configured).
3. Save the data to Mi Notes with encryption enabled (Settings → Security → Encrypt the note).

FAQ: Answers to popular questions