diff --git a/src/entities/note.js b/src/entities/note.js
index 233246e90..7a3e89aa4 100644
--- a/src/entities/note.js
+++ b/src/entities/note.js
@@ -475,7 +475,7 @@ class Note extends Entity {
     /**
      * @return {Promise<Attribute>}
      */
-    async createAttribute(type, name, value = "") {
+    async addAttribute(type, name, value = "") {
         const attr = new Attribute({
             noteId: this.noteId,
             type: type,
@@ -490,12 +490,12 @@ class Note extends Entity {
         return attr;
     }
 
-    async createLabel(name, value = "") {
-        return await this.createAttribute(LABEL, name, value);
+    async addLabel(name, value = "") {
+        return await this.addAttribute(LABEL, name, value);
     }
 
-    async createRelation(name, targetNoteId) {
-        return await this.createAttribute(RELATION, name, targetNoteId);
+    async addRelation(name, targetNoteId) {
+        return await this.addAttribute(RELATION, name, targetNoteId);
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/src/routes/api/clipper.js b/src/routes/api/clipper.js
index 9bf806950..0344037a5 100644
--- a/src/routes/api/clipper.js
+++ b/src/routes/api/clipper.js
@@ -31,7 +31,11 @@ async function addClipping(req) {
     let clippingNote = await findClippingNote(todayNote, pageUrl);
 
     if (!clippingNote) {
-        clippingNote = (await noteService.createNote(todayNote.noteId, title, '')).note;
+        clippingNote = (await noteService.createNewNote({
+            parentNoteId: todayNote.noteId,
+            title: title,
+            content: ''
+        })).note;
 
         await clippingNote.setLabel('clipType', 'clippings');
         await clippingNote.setLabel('pageUrl', pageUrl);
@@ -51,7 +55,11 @@ async function createNote(req) {
 
     const todayNote = await dateNoteService.getDateNote(dateUtils.localNowDate());
 
-    const {note} = await noteService.createNote(todayNote.noteId, title, content);
+    const {note} = await noteService.createNewNote({
+        parentNoteId: todayNote.noteId,
+        title,
+        content
+    });
 
     await note.setLabel('clipType', clipType);
 
diff --git a/src/routes/api/notes.js b/src/routes/api/notes.js
index c06542111..210776074 100644
--- a/src/routes/api/notes.js
+++ b/src/routes/api/notes.js
@@ -53,10 +53,10 @@ async function getChildren(req) {
 }
 
 async function createNote(req) {
-    const parentNoteId = req.params.parentNoteId;
-    const newNote = req.body;
+    const params = Object.assign({}, req.body); // clone
+    params.parentNoteId = req.params.parentNoteId;
 
-    const { note, branch } = await noteService.createNewNote(parentNoteId, newNote, req);
+    const { note, branch } = await noteService.createNewNote(params);
 
     note.cssClass = (await note.getLabels("cssClass")).map(label => label.value).join(" ");
 
diff --git a/src/routes/api/sender.js b/src/routes/api/sender.js
index 06d87d7b4..c60cab4ac 100644
--- a/src/routes/api/sender.js
+++ b/src/routes/api/sender.js
@@ -26,10 +26,10 @@ async function uploadImage(req) {
 async function saveNote(req) {
     const parentNote = await dateNoteService.getDateNote(req.headers['x-local-date']);
 
-    const {note, branch} = await noteService.createNewNote(parentNote.noteId, {
+    const {note, branch} = await noteService.createNewNote({
+        parentNoteId: parentNote.noteId,
         title: req.body.title,
         content: req.body.content,
-        target: 'into',
         isProtected: false,
         type: 'text',
         mime: 'text/html'
diff --git a/src/services/backend_script_api.js b/src/services/backend_script_api.js
index c430c9f88..505bd9721 100644
--- a/src/services/backend_script_api.js
+++ b/src/services/backend_script_api.js
@@ -178,7 +178,7 @@ function BackendScriptApi(currentNote, apiParams) {
      */
 
     /**
-     * @typedef {object} CreateNoteExtraOptions
+     * @typedef {object} CreateNoteParams
      * @property {boolean} [json=false] - should the note be JSON
      * @property {boolean} [isProtected=false] - should the note be protected
      * @property {string} [type='text'] - note type
@@ -189,13 +189,10 @@ function BackendScriptApi(currentNote, apiParams) {
     /**
      * @method
      *
-     * @param {string} parentNoteId - create new note under this parent
-     * @param {string} title
-     * @param {string} [content=""]
-     * @param {CreateNoteExtraOptions} [extraOptions={}]
+     * @param {CreateNoteParams} [extraOptions={}]
      * @returns {Promise<{note: Note, branch: Branch}>} object contains newly created entities note and branch
      */
-    this.createNote = noteService.createNote;
+    this.createNote = noteService.createNewNote;
 
     /**
      * Creates new note according to given params and force all connected clients to refresh their tree.
@@ -205,11 +202,11 @@ function BackendScriptApi(currentNote, apiParams) {
      * @param {string} parentNoteId - create new note under this parent
      * @param {string} title
      * @param {string} [content=""]
-     * @param {CreateNoteExtraOptions} [extraOptions={}]
+     * @param {CreateNoteParams} [extraOptions={}]
      * @returns {Promise<{note: Note, branch: Branch}>} object contains newly created entities note and branch
      */
     this.createNoteAndRefresh = async function(parentNoteId, title, content, extraOptions) {
-        const ret = await noteService.createNote(parentNoteId, title, content, extraOptions);
+        const ret = await noteService.createNewNote(parentNoteId, title, content, extraOptions);
 
         ws.refreshTree();
         
diff --git a/src/services/date_notes.js b/src/services/date_notes.js
index 7887b4b40..270258576 100644
--- a/src/services/date_notes.js
+++ b/src/services/date_notes.js
@@ -14,10 +14,10 @@ const DAYS = ['Sunday','Monday','Tuesday','Wednesday','Thursday','Friday','Satur
 const MONTHS = ['January','February','March','April','May','June','July','August','September','October','November','December'];
 
 async function createNote(parentNoteId, noteTitle, noteText) {
-    return (await noteService.createNewNote(parentNoteId, {
+    return (await noteService.createNewNote({
+        parentNoteId: parentNoteId,
         title: noteTitle,
         content: noteText,
-        target: 'into',
         isProtected: false
     })).note;
 }
@@ -35,7 +35,8 @@ async function getRootCalendarNote() {
     let rootNote = await attributeService.getNoteWithLabel(CALENDAR_ROOT_LABEL);
 
     if (!rootNote) {
-        rootNote = (await noteService.createNewNote('root', {
+        rootNote = (await noteService.createNewNote({
+            parentNoteId: 'root',
             title: 'Calendar',
             target: 'into',
             isProtected: false
diff --git a/src/services/image.js b/src/services/image.js
index 34cdb6ec7..21a3c3a3b 100644
--- a/src/services/image.js
+++ b/src/services/image.js
@@ -57,14 +57,17 @@ async function saveImage(parentNoteId, uploadBuffer, originalName, shrinkImageSw
 
     const parentNote = await repository.getNote(parentNoteId);
 
-    const {note} = await noteService.createNote(parentNoteId, fileName, buffer, {
-        target: 'into',
+    const {note} = await noteService.createNewNote({
+        parentNoteId,
+        title: fileName,
+        content: buffer,
         type: 'image',
-        isProtected: parentNote.isProtected && protectedSessionService.isProtectedSessionAvailable(),
         mime: 'image/' + imageFormat.ext.toLowerCase(),
-        attributes: [{ type: 'label', name: 'originalFileName', value: originalName }]
+        isProtected: parentNote.isProtected && protectedSessionService.isProtectedSessionAvailable()
     });
 
+    await note.addLabel('originalFileName', originalName);
+
     return {
         fileName,
         note,
diff --git a/src/services/import/enex.js b/src/services/import/enex.js
index c898498d9..2d9bd57cc 100644
--- a/src/services/import/enex.js
+++ b/src/services/import/enex.js
@@ -30,7 +30,10 @@ async function importEnex(taskContext, file, parentNote) {
         : file.originalname;
 
     // root note is new note into all ENEX/notebook's notes will be imported
-    const rootNote = (await noteService.createNote(parentNote.noteId, rootNoteTitle, "", {
+    const rootNote = (await noteService.createNewNote({
+        parentNoteId: parentNote.noteId,
+        title: rootNoteTitle,
+        content: "",
         type: 'text',
         mime: 'text/html',
         isProtected: parentNote.isProtected && protectedSessionService.isProtectedSessionAvailable(),
@@ -207,14 +210,20 @@ async function importEnex(taskContext, file, parentNote) {
         // following is workaround for this issue: https://github.com/Leonidas-from-XIV/node-xml2js/issues/484
         content = extractContent(xmlObject['en-note']);
 
-        const noteEntity = (await noteService.createNote(rootNote.noteId, title, content, {
-            attributes,
+        const noteEntity = (await noteService.createNewNote({
+            parentNoteId: rootNote.noteId,
+            title,
+            content,
             utcDateCreated,
             type: 'text',
             mime: 'text/html',
             isProtected: parentNote.isProtected && protectedSessionService.isProtectedSessionAvailable(),
         })).note;
 
+        for (const attr of resource.attributes) {
+            await note.addAttribute(attr.type, attr.name, attr.value);
+        }
+
         taskContext.increaseProgressCount();
 
         let noteContent = await noteEntity.getContent();
@@ -231,13 +240,19 @@ async function importEnex(taskContext, file, parentNote) {
             }
 
             const createFileNote = async () => {
-                const resourceNote = (await noteService.createNote(noteEntity.noteId, resource.title, resource.content, {
-                    attributes: resource.attributes,
+                const resourceNote = (await noteService.createNewNote({
+                    parentNoteId: noteEntity.noteId,
+                    title: resource.title,
+                    content: resource.content,
                     type: 'file',
                     mime: resource.mime,
                     isProtected: parentNote.isProtected && protectedSessionService.isProtectedSessionAvailable(),
                 })).note;
 
+                for (const attr of resource.attributes) {
+                    await note.addAttribute(attr.type, attr.name, attr.value);
+                }
+
                 taskContext.increaseProgressCount();
 
                 const resourceLink = `<a href="#root/${resourceNote.noteId}">${utils.escapeHtml(resource.title)}</a>`;
diff --git a/src/services/import/opml.js b/src/services/import/opml.js
index 3b9e4f852..b4bd1a70b 100644
--- a/src/services/import/opml.js
+++ b/src/services/import/opml.js
@@ -44,8 +44,11 @@ async function importOpml(taskContext, fileBuffer, parentNote) {
             throw new Error("Unrecognized OPML version " + opmlVersion);
         }
 
-        const {note} = await noteService.createNote(parentNoteId, title, content, {
-            isProtected: parentNote.isProtected && protectedSessionService.isProtectedSessionAvailable(),
+        const {note} = await noteService.createNewNote({
+            parentNoteId,
+            title,
+            content,
+            isProtected: parentNote.isProtected && protectedSessionService.isProtectedSessionAvailable()
         });
 
         taskContext.increaseProgressCount();
diff --git a/src/services/import/single.js b/src/services/import/single.js
index 18c871fd0..983cca355 100644
--- a/src/services/import/single.js
+++ b/src/services/import/single.js
@@ -41,16 +41,18 @@ async function importImage(file, parentNote, taskContext) {
 
 async function importFile(taskContext, file, parentNote) {
     const originalName = file.originalname;
-    const size = file.size;
 
-    const {note} = await noteService.createNote(parentNote.noteId, originalName, file.buffer, {
-        target: 'into',
+    const {note} = await noteService.createNewNote({
+        parentNoteId: parentNote.noteId,
+        title: originalName,
+        content: file.buffer,
         isProtected: parentNote.isProtected && protectedSessionService.isProtectedSessionAvailable(),
         type: 'file',
-        mime: mimeService.getMime(originalName) || file.mimetype,
-        attributes: [{ type: "label", name: "originalFileName", value: originalName }]
+        mime: mimeService.getMime(originalName) || file.mimetype
     });
 
+    await note.addLabel("originalFileName", originalName);
+
     taskContext.increaseProgressCount();
 
     return note;
@@ -62,7 +64,10 @@ async function importCodeNote(taskContext, file, parentNote) {
     const detectedMime = mimeService.getMime(file.originalname) || file.mimetype;
     const mime = mimeService.normalizeMimeType(detectedMime);
 
-    const {note} = await noteService.createNote(parentNote.noteId, title, content, {
+    const {note} = await noteService.createNewNote({
+        parentNoteId: parentNote.noteId,
+        title,
+        content,
         type: 'code',
         mime: mime,
         isProtected: parentNote.isProtected && protectedSessionService.isProtectedSessionAvailable()
@@ -78,7 +83,10 @@ async function importPlainText(taskContext, file, parentNote) {
     const plainTextContent = file.buffer.toString("UTF-8");
     const htmlContent = convertTextToHtml(plainTextContent);
 
-    const {note} = await noteService.createNote(parentNote.noteId, title, htmlContent, {
+    const {note} = await noteService.createNewNote({
+        parentNoteId: parentNote.noteId,
+        title,
+        content: htmlContent,
         type: 'text',
         mime: 'text/html',
         isProtected: parentNote.isProtected && protectedSessionService.isProtectedSessionAvailable(),
@@ -118,7 +126,10 @@ async function importMarkdown(taskContext, file, parentNote) {
 
     const title = getFileNameWithoutExtension(file.originalname);
 
-    const {note} = await noteService.createNote(parentNote.noteId, title, htmlContent, {
+    const {note} = await noteService.createNewNote({
+        parentNoteId: parentNote.noteId,
+        title,
+        content: htmlContent,
         type: 'text',
         mime: 'text/html',
         isProtected: parentNote.isProtected && protectedSessionService.isProtectedSessionAvailable(),
@@ -133,7 +144,10 @@ async function importHtml(taskContext, file, parentNote) {
     const title = getFileNameWithoutExtension(file.originalname);
     const content = file.buffer.toString("UTF-8");
 
-    const {note} = await noteService.createNote(parentNote.noteId, title, content, {
+    const {note} = await noteService.createNewNote({
+        parentNoteId: parentNote.noteId,
+        title,
+        content,
         type: 'text',
         mime: 'text/html',
         isProtected: parentNote.isProtected && protectedSessionService.isProtectedSessionAvailable(),
diff --git a/src/services/import/tar.js b/src/services/import/tar.js
index b459d8c17..d71a6c55b 100644
--- a/src/services/import/tar.js
+++ b/src/services/import/tar.js
@@ -177,8 +177,11 @@ async function importTar(taskContext, fileBuffer, importRootNote) {
             return;
         }
 
-        ({note} = await noteService.createNote(parentNoteId, noteTitle, '', {
-            noteId,
+        ({note} = await noteService.createNewNote({
+            parentNoteId: parentNoteId,
+            title: noteTitle,
+            content: '',
+            noteId: noteId,
             type: noteMeta ? noteMeta.type : 'text',
             mime: noteMeta ? noteMeta.mime : 'text/html',
             prefix: noteMeta ? noteMeta.prefix : '',
@@ -324,7 +327,10 @@ async function importTar(taskContext, fileBuffer, importRootNote) {
             await note.setContent(content);
         }
         else {
-            ({note} = await noteService.createNote(parentNoteId, noteTitle, content, {
+            ({note} = await noteService.createNewNote({
+                parentNoteId: parentNoteId,
+                title: noteTitle,
+                content: content,
                 noteId,
                 type,
                 mime,
diff --git a/src/services/notes.js b/src/services/notes.js
index f5b225039..4cd3e081d 100644
--- a/src/services/notes.js
+++ b/src/services/notes.js
@@ -34,30 +34,24 @@ async function triggerNoteTitleChanged(note) {
     await eventService.emit(eventService.NOTE_TITLE_CHANGED, note);
 }
 
-function deriveTypeAndMime(noteData, parentNote) {
-    if (!noteData.type) {
-        if (parentNote.type === 'text' || parentNote.type === 'code') {
-            noteData.type = parentNote.type;
-            noteData.mime = parentNote.mime;
-        } else {
-            // inheriting note type makes sense only for text and code
-            noteData.type = 'text';
-            noteData.mime = 'text/html';
-        }
+function deriveMime(type, mime) {
+    if (!type) {
+        throw new Error(`Note type is a required param`);
     }
 
-    if (!noteData.mime) {
-        if (noteData.type === 'text') {
-            noteData.mime = 'text/html';
-        } else if (noteData.type === 'code') {
-            noteData.mime = 'text/plain';
-        } else if (noteData.type === 'relation-map' || noteData.type === 'search') {
-            noteData.mime = 'application/json';
-        }
+    if (mime) {
+        return mime;
     }
 
-    noteData.type = noteData.type || parentNote.type;
-    noteData.mime = noteData.mime || parentNote.mime;
+    if (type === 'text') {
+        mime = 'text/html';
+    } else if (type === 'code') {
+        mime = 'text/plain';
+    } else if (['relation-map', 'search'].includes(type)) {
+        mime = 'application/json';
+    }
+
+    return mime;
 }
 
 async function copyChildAttributes(parentNote, childNote) {
@@ -92,7 +86,7 @@ async function copyChildAttributes(parentNote, childNote) {
  * - {integer} notePosition - default is last existing notePosition in a parent + 10
  *
  * @param params
- * @return {Promise<{note: Entity, branch: Entity}>}
+ * @return {Promise<{note: Note, branch: Branch}>}
  */
 async function createNewNote(params) {
     const parentNote = await repository.getNote(params.parentNoteId);
@@ -105,14 +99,12 @@ async function createNewNote(params) {
         throw new Error(`Note title must not be empty`);
     }
 
-    deriveTypeAndMime(params, parentNote);
-
     const note = await new Note({
         noteId: params.noteId, // optionally can force specific noteId
         title: params.title,
         isProtected: !!params.isProtected,
         type: params.type,
-        mime: params.mime
+        mime: deriveMime(params.type, params.mime)
     }).save();
 
     await note.setContent(params.content);
@@ -161,41 +153,6 @@ async function createTextNote(parentNoteId, title, content = "", params = {}) {
     return await createNewNote(params);
 }
 
-/**
- * @deprecated
- */
-async function createNote(parentNoteId, title, content = "", extraOptions = {}) {
-    if (!parentNoteId) throw new Error("Empty parentNoteId");
-    if (!title) throw new Error("Empty title");
-
-    const noteData = {
-        title: title,
-        content: content,
-        target: 'into',
-        noteId: extraOptions.noteId,
-        isProtected: !!extraOptions.isProtected,
-        type: extraOptions.type,
-        mime: extraOptions.mime,
-        dateCreated: extraOptions.dateCreated,
-        isExpanded: extraOptions.isExpanded,
-        notePosition: extraOptions.notePosition
-    };
-
-    const {note, branch} = await createNewNote(parentNoteId, title, noteData);
-
-    for (const attr of extraOptions.attributes || []) {
-        await attributeService.createAttribute({
-            noteId: note.noteId,
-            type: attr.type,
-            name: attr.name,
-            value: attr.value,
-            isInheritable: !!attr.isInheritable
-        });
-    }
-
-    return {note, branch};
-}
-
 async function protectNoteRecursively(note, protect, taskContext) {
     await protectNote(note, protect);
 
@@ -555,7 +512,6 @@ sqlInit.dbReady.then(() => {
 
 module.exports = {
     createNewNote,
-    createNote,
     updateNote,
     deleteBranch,
     protectNoteRecursively,
diff --git a/src/tools/generate_document.js b/src/tools/generate_document.js
index 7c2fb6b1e..bf250ca77 100644
--- a/src/tools/generate_document.js
+++ b/src/tools/generate_document.js
@@ -50,7 +50,12 @@ async function start() {
         const content = loremIpsum({ count: paragraphCount, units: 'paragraphs', sentenceLowerBound: 1, sentenceUpperBound: 15,
             paragraphLowerBound: 3, paragraphUpperBound: 10, format: 'html' });
 
-        const {note} = await noteService.createNote(getRandomParentNoteId(), title, content);
+        const {note} = await noteService.createNewNote({
+            parentNoteId: getRandomParentNoteId(),
+            title,
+            content,
+            type: 'text'
+        });
 
         console.log(`Created note ${i}: ${title}`);