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pacrimguru Author

Level 1

47 points

iTunes 12.7 will not import my .m4r ringtones!

I'm having a frustrating time trying to figure this out. My ringtones will not drop into the iTunes sidebar, Tones section or anywhere in the iTunes library. They are true .m4r files that I've been using as ringtones for about five years. I've even tried recreating new .m4r files and they won't import into iTunes 12.7 at all. It looks like iTunes doesn't recognize .m4r files at all. I even uninstalled 12.7 and reinstalled iTunes 12.6, which did recognize my ringtones. But I had to re-upgrade to 12.7 after I realized that 12.6 doesn't work with my iOS 11 equipped iPhone 8. Does anyone have any useful advice?

I'm running:

iTunes 12.7.0.166

Yosemite 10.10.5

iPhone 8 iOS 11.01

Ringtones are 15 second long or shorter, .m4r files.

iPod nano, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), 7th Generation

Posted on Sep 28, 2017 11:07 AM

Top-ranking reply

JBenni

Level 1

9 points

Posted on Feb 3, 2018 1:22 PM

I chased this problem for hours. It looks like a bug to me. Here's what finally worked:

Navigate in the Finder window to select the .m4r file, choose Copy from the Edit Menu.
Navigate in iTunes to the device Tones panel, choose Paste from the Edit Menu.

I wish I could take credit, but I found this remedy in a closed discussion thread on this site. Not so much as an upvote!

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4014286?answerId=32450152022#32450152022

The above worked for me when nothing else did on High Sierra 10.13.3, with iTunes 12.7.3.46. I hope it helps someone!

View in context

85 replies

Oct 7, 2017 11:51 AM in response to turingtest2

I can't believe it! Finally.....this worked! Thank you!

Oct 23, 2017 2:52 PM in response to turingtest2

I've tried dropping them in both places. Out of 9, 3 worked, 6 failed. So that's not it.

turingtest2

Level 10

274,610 points

Oct 14, 2017 6:10 AM in response to LJ71

Glad it helped. 🙂

There are some other wrinkles for Windows users and removing unwanted tones that are covered in Create and manage ringtones in iTunes.

tt2

turingtest2

Level 10

274,610 points

Feb 11, 2018 4:47 AM in response to Jean_F

See this post: Re: Greyed out songs. Dull I know, but it is the only reliable way I know to fix this if you cannot delete those entries.

tt2

turingtest2

Level 10

274,610 points

Mar 21, 2018 4:05 PM in response to whelch123

See How to Make Windows Show File Extensions or macOS Sierra: Show or hide filename extensions.

tt2

turingtest2

Level 10

274,610 points

Oct 7, 2017 3:46 PM in response to Caribooster

You're welcome. 🙂

tt2

LJ71

Level 1

9 points

Oct 14, 2017 6:04 AM in response to turingtest2

Thank you! I am very glad that I found this post. I was beginning to question my intelligence. lol

turingtest2

Level 10

274,610 points

Oct 23, 2017 6:31 PM in response to dittoheadadt

Once you've found the way to add tones to the device if some of the files that you try to add are rejected then it suggests there is something wrong with the format of them.

tt2

turingtest2

Level 10

274,610 points

Oct 30, 2017 7:47 AM in response to dittoheadadt

Hmm, neither iTunes nor the iPhone should show .m4r tone files in the Music sections of their respective libraries.

tt2

Oct 30, 2017 9:29 AM in response to turingtest2

So anyway, based upon my experience, the iTunes program and/or iOS seem to be fairly messed up at least with regard to .m4r files and ringtone management.