diff --git a/src/calibre/db/notes/exim.py b/src/calibre/db/notes/exim.py
index 6c3db1bd0e..c55854b536 100644
--- a/src/calibre/db/notes/exim.py
+++ b/src/calibre/db/notes/exim.py
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ def expand_note_resources(root, get_resource):
             if x:
                 img.set('src', data_url(guess_type(x['name'])[0], x['data']))
                 img.set('data-filename', x['name'])
+    return root
 
 
 def import_note(shtml: str | bytes, basedir: str, add_resource) -> tuple[str, str, set[str]]:
diff --git a/src/calibre/utils/formatter_functions.py b/src/calibre/utils/formatter_functions.py
index 85254bfe35..bbe9c3a56e 100644
--- a/src/calibre/utils/formatter_functions.py
+++ b/src/calibre/utils/formatter_functions.py
@@ -2608,7 +2608,7 @@ class BuiltinGetNote(BuiltinFormatterFunction):
                     # Change the body to a div
                     root.tag = 'div'
                     # Expand all the resources in the note
-                    expand_note_resources(root, db.get_notes_resource)
+                    root = expand_note_resources(root, db.get_notes_resource)
                     note = html.tostring(root, encoding='unicode')
             return note
         except Exception as e: