Directories Preferences

Peter 28Dec15: The image requires updating as the default workfile directory has changed with r0629c31 to C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Audacity\SessionData.

• Peter 29Dec15: updated the image for 2.1.2 - cleared the attendant P1 - but note that this is a W10 image.

Accessed by: Edit > Preferences > Directories    (on a Mac Audacity > Preferences > Directories)

Directories Preferences dialog showing the default temporary session data location on Windows Vista and later (Windows 10 image)

Click on any of the other Preferences sections in the above image to go directly to that Preferences page.

Temporary files directory

• Location: Sets the location of Audacity's temporary directory for session data. This is used whenever there is audio data that has never been saved as an Audacity project.

  To change the location of the temporary directory, press Choose..., select the directory you require and click OK. Audacity will then create a session workfile sub-directory in the directory you selected (on Linux the directory is called "/var/tmp/audacity-username"). Alternatively type the path required for the temporary directory into "Location" and Audacity will use that exact path, creating the new directory if needed.

  Exit and restart Audacity for changes to the temporary directory to take effect.

  Make sure the temporary directory is located on a fast (local) disk drive with plenty of free space. Avoid using network drives as these may be too slow for reliable recording. A RAM drive will always be quicker than a hard or solid state drive for recording and editing, but unless the RAM contents are saved to a physical drive the data will be lost when the computer powers down.

If your drive does not have sufficient space, you can reduce the space taken by temporary data by going to the Quality tab of Preferences and reducing the default sample format and sample rate. Reducing the sample rate will noticeably reduce higher frequencies, so is only recommended for speech data.

Peter 29Dec15: ToDo-1 I suspect "on Linux the directory is called ".audacity_temp"" is no longer correct.

• Peter 29Dec15 later: Steve assures me than on Linux in 2.1.1 and 2.1.2 the temp workfile dierctory is "/var/tmp/audacity-username" (and that thus the 2.1.1 Manual is wrong).
• Gale 29Dec15: Peter, I already updated the temp dir locations on Recovering crashes manually as you can see from Recent Changes. Only Windows has changed, and what we show is only correct for Windows.
  • Peter 30Dec15: Gale, yes I saw that you had made those changes there. I only made the Linux change here as there was already text indicating the Linux location, text that was wrong so I updated it.
    • ToDo-2On thinking about it I think it makes sense to note the Mac and Linux locations here on this page as it is in Prefs>Directories that the location is set. We could either duplicate it in Recovering crashes manually with a link to here. But I strongly feel we do need this information on this page and so have set a P2 to consider this post 2.1.2 release.
    • Gale 30Dec15: It is essential the default temp dirs are listed in Recovering crashes manually. I think it is less important here but by all means duplicate it here if you wish.