A friend emailed me this week and said that she was having trouble downloading the free hymn files. “I tried to download just one song but when I click on it once it opens and plays,” she wrote. “I don’t see the 3 vertical dots to download it. I’m not super technical so maybe I’m not doing it right. Help?”

Thank you, Deborah, for letting me know! I, too, am not technical at all, so I contacted WordPress for help.

Desktop Computer

Apparently, the Internet browser you use affects what happens when you click on a file name. So the first thing is to try using a different browser and see if that works.

I use Chrome, and I’m on a Mac. When I click on a file name, I see this:

Per my earlier instructions, if you click on the vertical three dots on the right, it shows this:

Easy peasy.

Here’s another approach: Place the cursor over the file name of the song you want to download and hold down the right-click button. (On my Mac trackpad, that means a two-finger tap.) When you do that, you should see this:

Choose “Save Link As…” and then Save it as an MP3 audio file.

Transfer the hymns to a music library

After you save the album or individual song files to your desktop, you’ll want to place them in a library:

1. Apple Music (if you have a Mac). Choose File –> Import –> Desktop –> choose the album and click Open. This will transfer the album to Apple Music. Then plug in your iPhone and tell it to sync the album to your phone.

2. YouTube Music (if you have a PC). Drag the album from your desktop into the library. Then sync to your phone or iPad.

iPhone or iPad, plus a speaker

From what I can tell, you can’t download the song files directly onto your phone; you need to use a desktop computer, load the files into a music library as described above, and then sync to your phone or iPad. If I find out more (or if anyone out there knows an easy workaround), I’ll let you know.

If you’re using these songs in a group setting, I suggest purchasing a small, inexpensive Bluetooth speaker like this one for decent sound quality. The directions will walk you through how to synchronize your mobile device with the speaker (or you can ask the electronics store staff, or anyone under age 40 🙂 )

I sure hope something in these suggestions works, but if you’re still having trouble, please let me know!

Peace be with you,

Photo by www_slon_pics / Pixabay