Transfer voice memos from iPhone to mac, with the new names I changed

I am new to iTunes and a relatively new Mac user. Few weeks ago, I connected iPhone 5s to Mac iTunes 12.3.1.23. On the Mac there was a prompt to import all the videos, pictures and voice memos from the iPhone. The transfer was successful.

At a later time, I changed the names of some of the same voice memos directly on the iPhone, to reflect the date they were recorded. I’d like to reflect that change on the voice memos on the Mac. So, on the Mac I went to the voice memo files I’d downloaded, and dragged them to the Trash, so that I wouldn’t get duplicate copies.

But when I connect the iPhone to the Mac again, the voice memo titles that show up under “my device” are the old titles without the dates. Also, there was no prompt this time, prompting me to move my files from the iPhone to the Mac.

1) How can I get the Mac to import these voice memo files again from my iPhone? I’m not getting any prompts when I plug it in, I just manually open iTunes.
2) How to import them with the new titles I wrote with the dates added? I still keep getting the old file names when I click “my device” in iTunes on the Mac.

The next steps I am trying:

3) I tried dragging and dropping the audio files from the iPhone to the Mac. I can’t drag them at all.

4) I have tried highlighting the voice memos I want to transfer to the Mac, and going to File > Add To Library, and selecting a folder to drop them into. But they are not appearing in the folder I directed them to, or anywhere else.

Even if it doesn't address my specific problem, it would help me if I could just transfer these audio files to the mac in any way possible, even if not going through iTunes.

dragged them to the Trash

Click to expand...

That isn't how to do that. To remove a clip from iTunes, you have to open iTunes, select the clip, right click (CMD-click) and then select Delete. It will ask if you are sure, and if you say you are, it will then ask if you want to delete the file from the computer as well. iTunes has a database of clips and tracks, and when it displays, it shows what the database says. That's why dragging the tracks to the trash didn't change iTunes.

At this point what you can try is to delete the recordings from iTunes (it may produce an error when it cannot find the files you trashed), then try syncing again to see if the new files will copy over. However, be aware that you MAY lose the recordings on the iPhone because you deleted them on the Mac and iTunes may sync by deleting them on the iPhone. I don't know how to prevent that if iTunes decides to do that. iTunes isn't very user-friendly in that respect.

In future, rename anything you want renamed on the iPhone FIRST, then sync.

Thanks for the insight, Jake. Right, I don’t want to take the risk of losing the files as I have over a hundred of them. Is there another way I can transfer them without using iTunes?

Yes, agreed. In the future, I will find a different handheld device from which I can transfer audio and written files easily. Preferably a device that is “dumb” where I can simply drag and drop item without extraneous software. Not sure if companies manufacture non-smart devices anymore.

You can connect iPhone to your computer to sync, and log in your iPhone in iTunes, to transfer voice memos from iPhone to your Mac.