How to reach actual local files

[jmviita]

Plan

Premium

Country

Finland

Device

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014)

Operating System

High Sierra iOS 10.13.6

My Question or Issue

I see (and can listen to) a list of songs in "Local Files" in my MacBook Spotify App although the "Local Files" is disabled in Spotify Settings. The files can be played in Spotify Desktop App but are not present as individual audio files at my computer (=the files cannot be found in iOs Finder nor at my mobile). The files are originally from my iPhone Voice Recorder app and have been deleted from my iPhone but still I can listen them in my computer Spotify. Now I need to reach these files and re-save/re-backup them. Where can I find these files? Is there some cache file that can be restored as individual audio files at my hard disk drive?

[Bethany_Dawn]

Hey @jmviita and welcome to the Community! 🙂
Voice memos aren't saved by their original file name so it's possible why you can't find them by just searching Finder. If they are showing up in your Spotify app, they are likely stored somewhere on your HD. Have you tried checking this folder already? 
"Library/Application Support/com.apple.voicememos/Recordings"

You could also try doing a search by the extension. I believe they are automatically saved in .m4a so if you typed in .m4a in your Finder search it should bring back all relevant files in that file type.

I hope this was useful and please feel free to reply if I can help some more.

Have a wonderful day! 🙂

[jmviita]

Hello!

Thanks for your advice! I’ve already tried those actions you mentioned. Here’s some history of my activity regarding this issue:

1 Jan 2014 - 1 Jan 2019: m4a files recorded with iPhone Voice Recorder
1 Jan 2019: iPhone backup
1 Jan 2019 - 30 June 2019: More recordings recorded with iPhone Voice Recorder
30 June 2019: iPhone sync with MacBook -> m4a-files (recordsings) appearing in Spotify Local Files = Spotify iOs app "Local Files” setting activated. (Still I don’t know where and how the files are stored in my MacBook and from where they appear in Spotify iOs app.)
1 July 2019: Spotify "Local Files” setting inactivated (checkbox not checked)
1 August 2019: iPhone crashes and all data during 1 Jan 2019 - 1 August 2019 lost since the latest backup is 1 Jan 2019
1 August 2019: STILL the recordings during 1 Jan 2019 - 30 June 2019 (m4a files) appearing and can be listened in MacBook Spotify iOs app. The files are not in my iPhone anymore and cannot be located at my MacBook hard drive.

I’ve been rebooting my MacBook regularly on a daily basis but still the local files appear in Spotify. Also all the recordings files BEFORE 1 Jan 2019 that can still be located both in my iPhone and MacBook Spotify have the equal file name (e.g. ”New Recording 104”, "New Recording 105”, "New Recording 106” etc.)

Then this folder you mentioned ("Library/Application Support/com.apple.voicememos/Recordings”). There’s no such folder in my computer.

So again the same question: How can I locate the local files appearing in my MacBook Spotify but which are not in my iPhone anymore (MacBook Spotify app ”Local Files” setting inactive)?

Thanks!

-jmviita

[Bethany_Dawn]

Hey again @jmviita ! Thanks for your reply and all the additional background. 🙂
Just to rule one more step out, did you also delete the Spotify app on your Mac and do a clean reinstall? It has additional steps to fully clear the cache files that might be storing these. I've copied the steps below from Spotify's app support article just in case.
Let me know and we can go from there! 🙂

Mac

1. Quit Spotify.
2. Open Finder then click Go (on the menu bar on the top of the screen). 
3. Select Library from the drop-down menu that appears (you may need to hold the Alt key if Library isn’t visible).
4. Open Caches and delete the com.spotify.Client and com.spotify.client.helper folders.
5. Click the back arrow. 
6. Open Application Support and delete the Spotify folder.
7. Hit Command+Shift+G from your OS X desktop to bring out the Go to Folder window.
8. Enter ~/Library/ to open Library folder.
9. Enter “Spotify” in the search field, hit “Search: Library” and delete all files that appear:
10. Shut down your computer.
11. Wait a couple minutes and then hit the Power button again to boot your device.
12. Download and install Spotify.

[shaakywarrior]

Not sure if you’re still having the same issue after such a long time, but I just had a similar issue and I was able to solve it.

If you press [ Option + Command + . ] in finder and go to the source folder of your Local Files, it will reveal files that have been hidden. I was able to find the files that had been mysteriously popping up in my Local Files through unhiding them. 

Once you delete the hidden files, they will stop popping up in your Local Files.