Edit Menu

The Edit menu provides the standard edit commands (Undo, Cut, Copy, Paste and Delete) plus many other commands specific to editing audio.

Undo

This will undo 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.

Redo

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

Cut

Removes the selected audio data and places it on the clipboard. Any audio to the right of the selection is shifted to the left. Only one "thing" can be on the clipboard at a time, but it may contain multiple tracks and clips.

Split Cut

Same as Cut, but none of the audio data to the right of the selection is shifted. This leaves a gap and also splits the existing audio clip into two clips that can be moved independently using the Time Shift Tool.

Copy

Copies the selected audio data to the clipboard without removing it from the project.

Paste

Inserts whatever is on the clipboard at the position of the selection cursor in the project, replacing whatever audio data is currently selected, if any.

When you select Paste and the cursor is inside a clip, the audio gets inserted into the middle of the clip and the following audio is shifted to the right to make room

When you select Paste and the cursor is outside a clip, and there is enough room for the audio on the clipboard, the audio on the clipboard is inserted without any other clips being shifted over

Trim

Removes all audio from the current clip except the selected part. Does not affect other clips in the same track.

Delete

Removes the audio data that is currently selected without copying it to the clipboard.

Split Delete

Removes the selected audio without placing it on the clipboard, but does not shift the following audio. The preceding and following audio are now separate clips that can be moved independently.

Silence

Replaces the selection with silence

Split

Splits the current clip into up to three clips at the selection boundaries. The audio before, within, and after the selection can now all be shifted independently

Join

If you select an area that overlaps one or more clips, they are all joined into one large clip. Regions in-between clips become silence.

Disjoin

In a selection area that includes absolute silences, creates individual non-silent clips between the regions of silence. The silence becomes blank space between the clips.

Duplicate

Creates a new track containing only the current selection as a new clip

Labeled Regions...

Applies the following commands (with exactly the same meaning as above) to the current selection area, if that area is denoted by a label:

Cut, Split Cut, Copy
Delete, Split Delete, Silence
Split, Join, Disjoin

In all cases, the labeled region itself is unaffected. For example, if you used the standard Edit > Delete command on a labeled region, the label itself would also be deleted.

ToDo: The above description is confusing and may be inaccurate. I'll play around with these commands and see if I can describe them better. - Bill

ToDo: Should the Labeled Regions menu really be enabled when the selection cursor is at a label point?
I don't think they should. They should follow the enabling behaviour of the standard edit items, should they not? - Bill

Select All

Selects all of the audio in all of the tracks.

Select Left at Playback Position

Select this command while Audacity is playing or recording to set the left edge of the selection.

Select Right at Playback Position

Select this command while Audacity is playing or recording to set the right edge of the selection.

Select Track Start to Cursor

Selects a region in the selected track(s) from the start of the track to the cursor position.

Select Cursor to Track End

Selects a region in the selected track(s) from the cursor position to the end of the track.

Find Zero Crossings

Moves the edges of a selection region (or the cursor position) slightly so they are at a rising zero crossing point. This is a point where a line joining the audio samples rises from left to right and crosses the zero horizontal line. Cutting and pasting at a zero crossing helps avoid clicks by matching the height of the waveform at the join. Note: this feature does not necessarily find the nearest zero crossing to the current position. It aims to find the crossing where the average amplitude of samples in the vicinity is lowest.

Move Cursor To Selection Start

Changes the right edge of the selection to equal the left edge.

Move Cursor To Selection End

Changes the left edge of the selection to equal the right edge.

Move Cursor To Track Start

Moves the cursor to the start of the selected track

Move Cursor To Track End

Moves the cursor to the end of the selected track

Region Save

Saves the current selection region and its position on the Timeline. Note this function does not save any actual audio data currently inside the selection boundaries.

Region Restore

Restores the selection region to the project at its saved Timeline position. The restored region is only explicitly placed inside those tracks which are currently selected.

Snap-To...

Turns snapping of the cursor to a grid of time values on or off. When off, your cursor can be positioned on any sample in the audio file. When on, it is restricted to certain points in time, determined by the time format in use. This is useful if your project must follow an external timecode exactly. You can change the current timecode using the Selection Bar.

Play Region...

Lock and unlock the play region in the ruler. See Play Regions in Playing and Recording.