Preferences

The Preferences dialog can be selected from the Edit Menu or using the shortcut CTRL + P (CMND + P on Macs). Here you can change many of the default behaviors of Audacity. The dialog is split into nine sections, each of which have their own clickable tab:

Re-order these as soon as order (and removal of Batch tab) is confirmed

• Audio I/O : To select Audio devices and their properties.
• Quality : To select data rates and other trade offs between speed, size and quality.
• Import / Export : How and when audio is copied into projects, how audio is mixed and location of the LAME MP3 library.

Advanced settings for file formats when exporting are accessed using the Options button at time of export.

• Interface : Interface behavior, hiding and showing of additional information, language and preferred dB display range.
• Spectrograms : Presentation of spectrogram.
• Directories : Where temporary files are stored and how often to autosave.
• //// Batch : Used for a chain of commands applied to a number of audio files. Will almost certainly be removed/////
• Keyboard : Keyboard shortcuts for commands.
• Mouse : Mouse shortcuts for commands.

Also see: Where are your preferences stored?