Audacity Manual Contents

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Welcome, Audacity manual editors!

There are some important editor notes on the discussion page. Also see the extensive welcome message for new editors.

Audacity 2.0.1 alpha development Manual

This online Manual is only for the current 2.0.1 alpha development code. Click here for legacy 1.2 documentation.

• Use Help > Manual (in web browser) in Audacity 2.0.0 to access the installed Manual for that version.
• You can download and install the 2.0.0 Manual if the Manual is not installed.

Using Audacity

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) - Most common questions are answered in the FAQ

Quick Where and How

• Getting Started - Recording, Importing, Editing, Exporting...
• Finding the correct effect including generators and analyzers
• More help - Search the Wiki , ask on the Forum

Understanding Audacity

• Foundations
  • Digital Audio
  • What is an Audacity Project?
  • Audacity Setup and Configuration
  • Playing and Recording
  • Audio Tracks
  • The Waveform Display
• Editing
  • Selecting Audio
  • Clips - separate audio regions within a track
  • Splitting and Joining Stereo Tracks
  • Sync-Lock Tracks
  • Zooming
  • Undo, Redo and History
  • Mixing Audio Tracks

Tutorials

• Editing an Audio File - Import the file, edit and export it
• Your First Recording - Connect and record 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 - Some sample workflows

Help with Advanced Topics

• Accessibility (Audacity for the visually impaired)
• Audio CDs
• Batch Processing
• Crash Recovery
• Customization
• Latency when recording
• Recording Quality
• 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 map to learn more. Skip the image

More Details for the Project Window

• Additional menus on Mac:
  • Audacity
  • Window
• Additional Track types:
  • Label Tracks
  • Time Tracks
  • Note Tracks
• Details for importing and exporting:
  • LAME MP3 export and FFmpeg import/export libraries for more formats
  • On-Demand Loading of uncompressed files
  • Importing
  • Exporting
  • Metadata Editor
• How to arrange Toolbars

Preferences - changing your settings

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.

Devices

Import/Export

Directories

Playback Preferences

Extended Import Preferences

Warnings Preferences

Recording Preferences

Projects Preferences

Effects Preferences

Quality Preferences

Libraries Preferences

Keyboard Preferences

Interface Preferences

Spectrograms Preferences

Mouse Preferences

Tracks Preferences

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