Audacity Manual Contents

Peter 5Jan13: ToDo-1 In the Reference section in the "magic" screen display that you can roll-over for detail the section for Edit Toolbar (numbered 6) is somewhat awry:

• "6" sometimes displays "Undo Button" and sometimes "Mixer Toolbar" (I suspect the mixer toolbar zone overlaps the 6 zone somehow - there is a dotted-line rectangle displayed around the "Mixer Toolbar" which extends over the "6". Surely the dotted-line rectangle should not be visible, it's not part of the Audacity GUI)
• "Cut" through "Silence Audio" seem to be ok
• "Undo" through "Zoom to Selection" are all shifted by one location and carry their neighbour's text and link
• "Zoom to fit" displays "Edit Toolbar"

I'm extremely wary of tampering with the "dark magic" that Bill used to create this section - I would prefer to leave it to his expert hands if he has the time.

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• Using Help Resources

Using Audacity

Quick Help

• Getting Started - Recording, Importing, Editing, Exporting...

Understanding Audacity

• Foundations
  • Managing Audacity Projects - Audacity's internal workspace
  • Audacity Setup and Configuration
  • Digital Audio Fundamentals
  • Audio Tracks and The Waveform Display
  • Playing and Recording
  • Importing audio
  • Exporting audio files - For use in other programs
• Editing
  • Selecting Audio
  • Clips - separate audio regions within a track
  • Splitting and Joining Stereo Tracks
  • Sync-Lock Tracks
  • Zooming
  • Finding the correct effect, generator or analyzer
  • Mixing Audio Tracks
  • Undo, Redo and History

Tutorials

• Editing an Audio File - Import the file, edit and export it
• Your First Recording - Recording microphone or guitar
• Mixing Voice with Background Music - For podcasts
• Recording Multi-track Overdubs - More complex recording
• Copying tapes, LPs and other media to CD or computer
• Recording streaming audio playing on the computer
• Vocal Removal and Isolation
• Making Ringtones - For your cellphone
• Example Workflows

Help with Advanced Topics

• Accessibility - Audacity for the visually impaired
• Audio CDs
• Batch Processing
• Crash Recovery
• Customization
• Latency when recording
• Scripting
• Simplifying Audacity

Reference

Guide to the Project Window

1 Menu Bar   2 Transport Toolbar   3 Tools Toolbar   4 Meter Toolbar   5 Mixer Toolbar   6 Edit Toolbar  
7 Transcription Toolbar   8 Device Toolbar   9 Timeline   10 Track Control Panel   11 Audio Track   12 Selection Toolbar  

Hover over and click on the image to learn more. Skip the image

More Details for the Project Window

Toolbars Overview - including how to arrange Toolbars

Additional Menus on Mac:

Audacity

Window

Additional Track types:

Label Tracks

Time Tracks

Note Tracks

More Details for Importing and Exporting:

LAME MP3 export and FFmpeg import/export libraries for more formats

On-Demand Loading of uncompressed files

Metadata Editor

Preferences - changing your settings

Devices

Playback

Recording

Quality

Interface

Tracks

Import/Export

Extended Import

Projects

Libraries

Spectrograms

Directories

Warnings

Effects

Keyboard

Mouse

Modules

Preferences are at the bottom of the Edit menu (or in the Audacity menu on Mac).

Many settings can be changed including keyboard shortcuts and the interface language.

Preferences settings can be reset to default at any time.

Index, Glossary and More

• Index
• Glossary of Terms - digital audio terms and file formats
• Credits

• Audacity License
• Information for Developers - join our developer community

• Information for the Media - Audacity and free, open software

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