File Menu

New

Creates a new and empty project window to start working on new or imported Tracks. This new work environment can then be saved as an .AUP file for easy and full retrieval of its contents via the Save Project or Save Project As File menu functions.

Open...

Selecting Open presents you with a standard dialog box where you can select either a file, an existing project, or list of files (.LOF) to open. If your current project window is 'blank' then you essentially have an empty project to work with, which will be used to load the file you choose here. If the project already has tracks/data in it, then the file you open here will be loaded into a new project, and appear in a new window.

The file formats recognized by Audacity include : WAV, AIFF, MP3, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, MIDI, and the Audacity Project file format (AUP), as described on the File Formats page.

Close

Closes the current project window, prompting you to save your work if you haven't saved.

Save Project

Saves the current Audacity project (AUP) file. Audacity projects are not intended to be read by other programs, but they are fast to load and save within Audacity. When you are finished working on a project and you want to be able to use it in another program, select one of the Export commands instead (see below).

Note that most of the audio data for an Audacity project is not stored in the AUP file, but in a directory (folder) with the same name as the project. For example, if you save a project as chanson.aup, there will be a directory called chanson_data created to store the actual audio tracks of the project. For more information on the project file format, see the File Formats page.

Save Project As...

Saves the current Audacity project (AUP) file, allowing you to give it a different name or move it to a new location if you have already saved it in one location. Audacity projects are not intended to be read by other programs, but they are fast to load and save within Audacity. When you are finished working on a project and you want to be able to use the combined track mix in another program, select one of the Export commands instead. For more information on the project file format, see the File Formats page.

Check Dependencies

An Audacity Project depends on all of the audio files that you've opened or imported until you finish your project and export the finished mix, or specifically make a copy of them by saving the Project in question. You should not delete or move an audio file that Audacity is using in an unsaved project. The Check Dependencies command will list all of the audio files that your project depends on, and give you the option of copying them into the project (into a project_data folder) so that they become self-contained. The disadvantage of this method is that it takes time to copy the files, and this uses up a lot of extra disk space.

Open Metadata Editor

Use this function to edit the ID3 tags that will be applied to an exported an MP3 file.

Import...

Similar to 'Open', except that the opened file is added as a new track to your existing project. This lets you open two files and mix them. You can also use this command to import raw data (see below), and labels (see Label Tracks).

Import Raw Data...

This function allows you to import an uncompressed audio file that is partially corrupted, or in a format that Audacity doesn't recognize such as PCM, U-Law, A-law, GSM, DWVW, etc... First, select the file in question in the 'Open' dialogue, and then select parameters to assist in the formatting of the unknown data into an Audacity track. Such as the ordering convention used to store and address multiple bytes on the system that created the file originally, the number of channels (expected to be found in the file and created as a result), the 'start byte' offset, a percentage amount of the file to import, and the expected sample rate to apply to the resulting track that will be produced by the raw data import function.

Export ...

Exports the current Audacity project as an audio file format that can be read by other programs. If there are multiple tracks in your project, they will be automatically mixed in the exported data. For more information about mixing, see Mix and Render on the Tracks Menu.

You can choose the exported file format and settings from the File Export Dialogue.

Export Selection ...

This is the same as Export, above, but it only exports the part of the project that is selected. This is very useful if you want to save a small clip from part of a track as a separate file.

Export Labels...

If you have any Label Tracks, this command will export them as a text file. This feature is commonly used in Speech Recognition research to annotate speech utterances and phrases and then export the annotation to be later processed by another program. To import these labels into a different project later, use the Import... command, above.

Export Multiple...

This allows you to do multiple exports from Audacity with one command. Export either multiple files based on the multiple tracks in the project, or based on the labels in a single audio track. A great timesaver for splitting up long recordings into seperate CD tracks, or archiving multiple working tracks. See the Tutorial - Copying a Cassette or LP to CD for an example of how this is used.

Apply Chain

This function is similar to a "Macro" of commands which allows you to select a Chain (which is a sequence of commands created via Edit Chains below) and apply it to either the current project, or to a specificly selected file.

Edit Chains

This function allows you to either edit, remove, or rename existing Chains, or add a new Chain. When editing an existing Chain, the commands are listed in order of first to last (End), and can be modified by double clicking, or highlighting adn pressing the spacebar. When adding a new chain, the Insert button allows you to choose from a selection of common Audacity functions and effects, and also specify the function parameters to be applied (see help items for specific functions if required). These chained Commands can also be re-ordered or deleted accordingly.

Process Batch...???

This command only works if you have a blank Audacity window open. See Batch Processing.

Upload File...

Upload files directly to an FTP server right from within Audacity. Useful after you've created a podcast.

Page Setup...

Opens the standard Page Setup dialog box prior to printing

Print...

Prints the contents of the Audacity window. The time ruler and all of your track waveforms and label tracks are printed, with no decorations. Everything is printed to one page.

Recent Files...

As expected, this item will list the most recent files opened, including a full directory path if they are not stored in the default directory.

Exit

Closes all project windows and exits Audacity. Although you will be asked if you want to save changes to your project, it isn't necessary for you to save changes if you've already exported your mix as a WAV or MP3 and you are now finished with it. On the other hand, if you are working on a mix and plan to continue where you left off, saving an Audacity Project will let you restore everything (as it is) later.