Notes not accessible via API

Posted by PKP on in Standard Integration Questions

Since both forms of Notes (from Candidate profile and within Recruiter Activity iForm) are inaccessible via API, what is the best, most straight-forward and reliable technical solution to: 

1) Bulk export all Notes data for all candidates between X date and Y date in order to load this data into an internal application?

2) Bulk import and continuously sync all Notes data for all candidates after Z date (ongoing)?

We need a concrete, feasible solution since this is a non-negotiable for our upcoming application. 

Thanks!

Submitted by JonB on June 02, 2026 Permalink

I believe the most straightforward option for exporting Notes is a scheduled file export to SFTP. You can configure a search in the UI to define the note details, date range, and fields included in the export. Add filters to the search to narrow down the notes you want based on your required date range. You will need to work with iCIMS to schedule the export. As far as I know, the most frequent scheduled export cadence available is hourly.

For importing Notes into iCIMS, the closest equivalent is the CSV import process, where you provide a CSV file with the Notes data and iCIMS processes it on a scheduled basis, also up to once per hour. iCIMS Support should be able to provide the documentation and required file format for creating Notes through CSV import.

Submitted by PKP on June 03, 2026 Permalink

Thanks, Jon. Assuming your team is also an iCIMS client, have you successfully implemented a Notes-related feature using SFTP/CSV? Or anything that syncs Notes data back and forth?



Our team has been talking to iCIMS about this for some time now. They suggested adding another custom field (among the plethora already in place) to consolidate all Notes and then access via API, but this would be too workflow-disruptive and clunky, hence the need for something cleaner.



Would appreciate any more context/info if you've built similar.

Submitted by JonB on June 04, 2026 Permalink

My company, harmonizeHR, is an iCIMS partner, not a current iCIMS client. That said, we do a lot of integration and automation work for iCIMS customers, and I am also a former iCIMS employee.

We have not built a full two-way Notes sync between iCIMS and another system. However, I have used the CSV import process to create Notes several times, and I have built searches used to export data related to Notes.

A few things I would keep in mind:

  1. Hourly is the most frequent cadence I am aware of, so you would need to be comfortable with a delay of up to an hour before a Note appears in the other system.
  2. Notes can only be created through import, but not updated. In practice, I do not usually see Notes edited frequently, and the lack of real-time sync may actually reduce the impact here. For example, if someone creates a Note at 3:45, edits it at 3:55, and the export runs at 4:00, the export should include the 3:55 version.
  3. I would also validate how deleted Notes, edited Notes, and duplicate handling should work in your use case before committing to the import/export approach.

Using an API would obviously be the cleaner route, but given the limitation I think SFTP export plus CSV import is the most practical path I am aware of.

Out of curiosity, what are your biggest concerns with the import/export option? Is the concern mainly latency, reliability, duplicate handling, auditability, or something else?