With macOS Mojave came Voice Memos, a handy feature that was previously available only on iOS. If you’ve used Voice Memos on your iPhone or iPad, then you know how useful the app can be. You can quickly and easily record voice notes for yourself or conversations with others like meetings or interviews.
Working with Voice Memos on Mac is just as convenient, but if you haven’t used it, we show you how to use this feature on macOS.
Even though the app is super easy to use, here are a few basics that will get you started.
How to Record Voice Memos on Mac
To start a voice recording, just open Voice Memos from your Applications folder and click the big red Record button.
Start recording by clicking the Record button on the bottom-left pane.
Once you start recording, you can pause, play, move forward, move back, and just click Done when you finish recording.
Pause your voice memo recording by using the Pause button.
How to rename your Voice Memos
By default, your voice memos will be saved with “New Recording [number]” but you can rename them and probably should so that you can easily recognize them. You can rename voice memos in two ways.
Renaming from the List
Click on the voice memo in your list and then click on the name to put your cursor inside the field.
Use Delete to remove the current name.
Type the new name.
Hit Enter.
Renaming from the Menu
Select the voice memo on your list.
Click File > Rename from your menu bar.
Type the new name.
Hit Enter.
Rename your Voice Memo using the menu options.
How to duplicate, delete, and share Voice Memos
If you would like to duplicate a voice memo on your Mac, select the recording from your list and then click File > Duplicate from the menu.
To get rid of a voice memo, select the recording from your list and click Edit > Delete from your menu bar.
If you want to share a voice memo, select the recording and click the Share button on the top right of the app window. You can quickly share via Messages, AirDrop, and Notes, or choose More for your default sharing options.
How to edit Voice Memos on your Mac
If you need to cut out parts of a voice memo, you can trim it right within the app. Select the recording from your list and click the Edit button on the top right.
On the Edit screen, you can move the blue slider to the exact spot in your recording. Or, click the Play button and then hit Pause when you get to the place you’d like to edit.
Deleting portions and trimming Voice Memos is easy
Click the Trim button from the top right and use the slider to delete a portion of your recording or trim it.
For instance, there may be noise at the beginning that you would like to remove. You can move the yellow slider from the right all the way to the left capturing the part you want to remove within the handles. Then, click Delete and that portion will be removed.
Use Trim and Delete functions to adjust the recording.
As another example, you might want to cut the beginning and ending. Move the yellow slider from the left and right sides to only capture the part you want to keep in the handles. Then, click Trim.
Use trim function to selectively edit your voice memos.
When you finish trimming your voice memo, click Save to keep your changes and then Done to exit to the main Voice Memos screen.
Replacing portions of Voice Memos using ‘Replace’ and ‘Pause’ functions
Maybe what you need to do is replace part of a recording. On the edit, screen click Replace, record your new audio, and then click the Pause button to stop. Click Done when you finish to go back to the main screen.
How to Replace a portion of the Voice Memo.
How to add into a Voice Memo
You can record more onto the end of an existing voice memo. On the edit screen, move the blue slider to the very end of the memo. You will see the Replace button change to a Resume button. Click Resume, continue recording, and then click Pause and Done when you finish.
Use Resume to add in a segment to your Voice Memo.
Undoing your edits to the Voice Memo
If you make a change to a recording that you wish you hadn’t, click Edit > Undo from the menu bar. Just be cautious when editing your voice memos because if you hit Save or close and reopen the app, this action will not be available.
Where are the Voice Memo files located on my Mac?
While you can easily see and manage all of your recording within the Voice Memos app, you may want to access their storage location on your Mac. You can do this with Finder.
Click Go > Go to Folder from your menu bar.
Enter the path below into the pop-up window, replacing “your_username” with your own Mac user name.
The Recordings folder will open with your saved voice memos. Unfortunately, they are not named as you saved them in the Voice Memos app. For some reason, they are named beginning with the date they were recorded.
Recordings named prefixed with dates.
Voice memos in macOS Catalina are stored in the same place. Voice memos are stored in Catalina as m4a files on ~/Library/Application Support/com.apple.voicememos/Recordings.
The Voice Memos app is a nice addition to macOS. And with how easy it is to use, try to take advantage of it by recording notes to yourself, brainstorming sessions, or meetings when you have your Mac with you.
Are you going to give Voice Memos on Mac a try? Please let us know if you have any questions using the comments.
Sandy worked for many years in the IT industry as a project manager, department manager, and PMO Lead. She then decided to follow her dream and now writes about technology full-time. Sandy holds a Bachelors of Science in Information Technology.
She loves technology– specifically – terrific games and apps for iOS, software that makes your life easier, and productivity tools that you can use every day, in both work and home environments.
Her articles have regularly been featured at MakeUseOf, iDownloadBlog and many other leading tech publications.
i have ios Catalina on my Macbook Pro, I want to get to get to ‘Preferences’ for Voice Memos so I can choose ‘lossless’ for quality of recording, I’ve been searching online as to how to do this with no luck. I cannot find ‘preferences’ in the voice memo app. When I open the app, there is no menu at the top, Can you help?
I have an important 13 minute dictation on Voice Memo on my iMac but now when I attempt to retrieve it, it says the dictation is only 7 seconds long. How do I retrieve my dictation?
I love using voice memos, but in the case of longer memos–15 minutes or more–I often can’t replay them entirely. The playback function simply stops after several minutes, and even though I can see that the recording is much longer, nothing I do will make the computer or the iPhone replay the rest. Do you have any suggestions?
It is recommended that for better quality recording you should use an external mic. If your mic uses the headphones/mic port, the app will need permission to access that port but it does not appear in the list of apps under System Preferences/Security & Privacy/Microphones so how do you give it permission?
Why in the WORLD does Apple.com not include this information top and center on results for “archive voice memos” or “manage voice memos” — or just dead center in ANY documentation of Voice Memos?
I’ve been trying to offload 16 GB of voice memos off my iPhone for 2 years now, and could never find proof they wouldn’t be gone forever if I did so — remnants of iTunes’ voice memos genre / sync schemes that were already confusing enough, no longer had all the files that Voice Memos has, and no one anywhere would ever tell me where my voice memos files are — not even the voice memos app. Option-clicking an object to learn its attributes is as old as Mac, and for a mac program not to tell you where a file is is like a crime. Again, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! PLEASE TELL MAC YOU SAVED THEIR AS*!
It looks like Apple removed the voice memo syncing function from macOS Catalina using the Finder app (it was available using iTunes in macOS Mojave in the Music tab but is not available in Finder .) So the only way to sync Voice Memos easily is via iCloud.
Carol says
i have ios Catalina on my Macbook Pro, I want to get to get to ‘Preferences’ for Voice Memos so I can choose ‘lossless’ for quality of recording, I’ve been searching online as to how to do this with no luck. I cannot find ‘preferences’ in the voice memo app. When I open the app, there is no menu at the top, Can you help?
Aash says
I have an important 13 minute dictation on Voice Memo on my iMac but now when I attempt to retrieve it, it says the dictation is only 7 seconds long. How do I retrieve my dictation?
Steve Dorfman says
Please explain:
How do you copy a voice memo recording & paste it into Apple Music so it can be played on internal or external speakers as if it were music?
Thanks much !
Scott says
Hi,
I don’t have “com.apple.voicememos” in my pull down menu in Application Support. Catalina 10.15.7
Andrew says
I love using voice memos, but in the case of longer memos–15 minutes or more–I often can’t replay them entirely. The playback function simply stops after several minutes, and even though I can see that the recording is much longer, nothing I do will make the computer or the iPhone replay the rest. Do you have any suggestions?
Lawrence Silverman says
It is recommended that for better quality recording you should use an external mic. If your mic uses the headphones/mic port, the app will need permission to access that port but it does not appear in the list of apps under System Preferences/Security & Privacy/Microphones so how do you give it permission?
Robert Monk says
Now that I see all my voice memos as real files on my local drive, I want to delete batches of voice memos off my iPhone.
How can I tell which are iCloud and which are making up the 16GB of storage on my iPhone? How can I select dozens or hundreds at a time to delete?
Robert Monk says
THANK YOU!
Why in the WORLD does Apple.com not include this information top and center on results for “archive voice memos” or “manage voice memos” — or just dead center in ANY documentation of Voice Memos?
I’ve been trying to offload 16 GB of voice memos off my iPhone for 2 years now, and could never find proof they wouldn’t be gone forever if I did so — remnants of iTunes’ voice memos genre / sync schemes that were already confusing enough, no longer had all the files that Voice Memos has, and no one anywhere would ever tell me where my voice memos files are — not even the voice memos app. Option-clicking an object to learn its attributes is as old as Mac, and for a mac program not to tell you where a file is is like a crime. Again, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! PLEASE TELL MAC YOU SAVED THEIR AS*!
Milllie says
I can’t mail my voice memo. It got stuck when I tried to mail it? What do I do?
Ios 6s
Carlos says
Hello, I would like to know how I synchronize voice memos files, from my iPhone to my Mac without using iCloud with macOS Catalina.
Elizabeth Jones says
Hi Carlos,
It looks like Apple removed the voice memo syncing function from macOS Catalina using the Finder app (it was available using iTunes in macOS Mojave in the Music tab but is not available in Finder .) So the only way to sync Voice Memos easily is via iCloud.