Edit Menu

Peter 30Jan13 Peter 24Jan13: ToDo-1 Gale wrote: "the text of the new sections could do with some amplification. For example, we should say something in the text for "Clip Boundaries" about what a clip is (at the least, link to Audacity Tracks and Clips)". Will be done after this page is published and links corrected.

• Peter 11Feb13: Gale has greenlighted D4 - currently we are awaiting f/b from David Bailes on th implications of this choice for VI users.
  • Peter 15Feb13: I have implemented the approved D4 table style for all remaining tables on this page.
  • Peter 16Feb13: ToDo-2 This page is ready for publication pending greenlighting by Gale.
  • Gale 18Feb13 I made some tweaks to the table summaries. Please go ahead and move into the main namespace. This leaves the "content" ToDo-1 (above) for me to deal with, and I added a ToDo-1 for the shortcut cells in the tables needing to align. Please play with that (see below).

The Edit Menu provides standard edit commands (Undo/Redo, Cut, Copy, Paste and Delete) plus many other commands specific to editing audio or labels.

There are many commands available from this menu so some commands have been grouped into a cascading sub-menu.

Undo  CTRL + Z

Undoes the last editing operation you performed to your project. You can undo as many times as you want, all the way back to when you opened the window. To undo many operations, select History... from the View Menu. The name of this menu item will change to reflect what will be undone; if you just recorded some audio, the menu item name will be Undo Record.

Redo  CTRL + Y

Redoes any editing operations that were just undone. After you perform a new editing operation, you can no longer redo the operations that were undone.

Remove Audio or Labels

Gale 18Feb13: ToDo-1 Tables: I think the cells for shortcuts should line up vertically in all the tables (they weren't doing, as there was no width control on the first two td's).

• If you have each td at 50% width with the current table width of 304px (as in the first three tables), the command text in the last table will wrap to a new line.
• If we don't want that wrap (I think we don't) then the choice is to have A the first td of all the tables at 60% width and the second at 40% width (as in the last two tables), OR B increase the table width so that the 50% width split can be kept.

I think the 60%/40% width split with the current 304px table width may look best. This is like Keyboard Shortcut Reference where the width of the shortcut cell is less than that for the command. Please try B (or A and B for comparison) and see what you think).

Commands in this cascading menu remove audio by cutting, deleting, silencing or trimming (which leaves only the selection behind).

Cut	CTRL + X
Delete	CTRL + K
Split Cut	CTRL + ALT + X
Split Delete	CTRL + ALT + K
Silence Audio	CTRL + L
Trim Audio	CTRL + T

Clip Boundaries

The items in this cascading menu create or operate on separate clips in the audio track.

Split	CTRL + I
Split New	CTRL + ALT + I
Join	CTRL + J
Detach at Silences	CTRL + ALT + J

Copy, Paste and Duplicate

These commands copy, duplicate and paste audio and labels.

Copy	CTRL + C
Paste	CTRL + V
Paste Text to New Label	CTRL + ALT + V
Duplicate	CTRL + D

Labeled Audio

Labeled Audio commands apply standard Edit Menu commands to the audio of one or more regions that are labeled. To use, drag a selection in the Label Track that fully includes (or extends beyond) each region label whose audio is to be affected. Labeled Audio Split can also mark an audio split at each point label where the selection touches (or extends beyond) the point label.

Ed 27Jan13: in the above sentence "Splits are also made…" (my emphasis) we reference a subordinate case in which splits are "also" made but we have not made previous mention of a case in which splits are made. We either need to make the original case or remove the "also".

• Peter 28Jan13: Is that better now Ed?
  • Ed 28Jan13 : Not completely; at least now I think I understand what we are trying to say. Still, we have an "also" case without a previous reference case - just get rid of the word "also" and the sentence will still be logical and grammatical (I think).
• Gale 28Jan13 This is supposed to be a summary. Forbidding "also" makes it very hard to say this concisely and intelligently. The split page itself had "Labeled Audio Split also applies to point labels." I now made that say "Labeled Audio Split can mark audio splits at point labels as well as at region labels."

  For this page I suggest "Labeled Audio Split can also mark an audio split at each point label where the selection touches (or extends beyond) the point label." The "also" refers by implication to the previous sentence. I think it parses far better with also.

The following Edit commands can be applied to labeled audio.

The shortcuts in this table apply the commands shown when used on labeled audio. The shortcuts shown when clicking the link to the command's description are the shortcuts for using that command on a standard audio selection.

Cut	ALT + X
Delete	ALT + K
Split Cut	ALT + SHIFT + X
Split Delete	ALT + SHIFT + K
Silence Audio	ALT + L
Copy	ALT + SHIFT + + C
Split	ALT + I
Join	ALT + J
Detach at Silences	ALT + SHIFT + J

Select

The commands in this cascading menu select ranges of audio.

All	CTRL + A
None	CTRL + SHIFT + A
Left at Playback Position	[
Right at Playback Position	]
Track Start to Cursor	SHIFT + J
Cursor to Track End	SHIFT + + K
In All Tracks	CTRL + SHIFT + K
In Sync-Locked Tracks	CTRL + SHIFT + Y

Find Zero Crossings  Z

This command helps to avoid clicks at the edit points when making cuts and joins by moving the edges of a selection region (or the cursor position) slightly so they are at a rising zero_crossing point.

Move Cursor

These commands move the cursor directly to the start or end of the selection or the track.

Region Save

Stores the position of the current selection region or cursor as observed on the Timeline. The position of this region or cursor can then be recalled by using Region Restore (see below). Using this command again will overwrite the previously stored position information. The command is grayed out if there are no audio tracks.

Region Restore

Moves the selection region or cursor to the position stored by the last Region Save command (see above). If a region is restored, this is only explicitly placed inside those tracks which are currently selected.

Only the position of the region or cursor is restored. No audio content is restored. Labels or split lines that were associated with the region or cursor are not restored. The screen focus does not return to the restored position, so you may need to zoom out or scroll the project to see the restored position.

Play Region

Lock: Locks playback to the current position of the editing cursor or playback region (or to the current position of the Quick-Play region or Quick-Play cursor). This Timeline position is then always used when starting playback with a play button or with SPACE, instead of starting from the cursor or region position in the waveform. See the Timeline page for details. This menu item is only active when the editing cursor, playback region or Quick-Play region in the Timeline shows in gray color (unlocked).

Unlock: Removes the Play Region Lock. This item is only active when the Lock is already active (the locked cursor or region shows in red color in the Timeline).

Play Region Lock or Unlock may be performed even when the track is playing, recording or paused.

Preferences...  CTRL + P

Displays the Preferences dialog. Preferences enable you change most of the default behaviors and settings of Audacity.