File Menu

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Menu	Quick Description
	New Creates a new, empty Audacity project in a new window. Open... Opens either an existing Audacity project (these always have a file name ending in .aup), or an audio file like MP3. Multiple files can be selected, in which case they each open in their own window. Recent Files... ("Open Recent" on Mac) Lists the nine most recently opened Audacity projects. Close Closes the current project. If this is the last window open, then Audacity exits. If preferred, Audacity can open a new, empty project on closing the last window. Go to the Interface tab of Preferences to enable this. Save Project Saves the Audacity project with a file name ending in ".aup". Save Project As... Saves a copy of the currently open project to a new name. This safely renames a project (letting you then delete the original files), or lets you archive the project in its current state while continuing to modify the original project. Check Dependencies... Verifies if your project depends on the existence of files imported into it. If so, lets you copy that audio data in, allowing you to move or delete the original files. Open Metadata Editor... Lets you edit "tags" embedded in your MP3 or other exported audio file. Many audio players can read these tags, which display information such as artist or genre for each song. Import... Main purpose is to open one or more audio files such as WAV or MP3 into the currently open Audacity project. Export... Saves the entire audio in the project to an audio file such as WAV or MP3, ready for playing on your computer or burning to CD. This mixes together multiple audio tracks if necessary. Export Selection... Lets you save only the selected audio in your project to an audio file. Export Labels... When using a label track, saves the text in each label and their time positions to a text file. Export Multiple... Saves more than one audio file at a time. The separate files can be either the labeled sections in an audio track, or each audio track from a multi-track project. Exporting multiple files based on labeled sections is a great way to save individual MP3 or WAV files for each track of an LP or tape recording. Apply Chain... Performs the same preset series of effects to either the audio in your project or a group of files, according to the particular "chain" you select. The last step of the chain is normally to export the result to an audio file. Edit Chains... Lets you edit the order and parameters of the effects in your chain, or add and remove chains. Page Setup... Determines the settings used for printing the Audacity screen, such as margins and paper size. Print... Prints a copy of the Audacity screen using an installed printer. Exit Closes all open project windows and shuts down Audacity.

Quick Description

New Creates a new, empty Audacity project in a new window.

Open... Opens either an existing Audacity project (these always have a file name ending in .aup), or an audio file like MP3. Multiple files can be selected, in which case they each open in their own window.

Recent Files... ("Open Recent" on Mac) Lists the nine most recently opened Audacity projects.

Close Closes the current project. If this is the last window open, then Audacity exits. If preferred, Audacity can open a new, empty project on closing the last window. Go to the Interface tab of Preferences to enable this.

Save Project Saves the Audacity project with a file name ending in ".aup".

Save Project As... Saves a copy of the currently open project to a new name. This safely renames a project (letting you then delete the original files), or lets you archive the project in its current state while continuing to modify the original project.

Check Dependencies... Verifies if your project depends on the existence of files imported into it. If so, lets you copy that audio data in, allowing you to move or delete the original files.

Open Metadata Editor... Lets you edit "tags" embedded in your MP3 or other exported audio file. Many audio players can read these tags, which display information such as artist or genre for each song.

Import... Main purpose is to open one or more audio files such as WAV or MP3 into the currently open Audacity project.

Export... Saves the entire audio in the project to an audio file such as WAV or MP3, ready for playing on your computer or burning to CD. This mixes together multiple audio tracks if necessary.

Export Selection... Lets you save only the selected audio in your project to an audio file.

Export Labels... When using a label track, saves the text in each label and their time positions to a text file.

Export Multiple... Saves more than one audio file at a time. The separate files can be either the labeled sections in an audio track, or each audio track from a multi-track project. Exporting multiple files based on labeled sections is a great way to save individual MP3 or WAV files for each track of an LP or tape recording.

Apply Chain... Performs the same preset series of effects to either the audio in your project or a group of files, according to the particular "chain" you select. The last step of the chain is normally to export the result to an audio file.

Edit Chains... Lets you edit the order and parameters of the effects in your chain, or add and remove chains.

Page Setup... Determines the settings used for printing the Audacity screen, such as margins and paper size.

Print... Prints a copy of the Audacity screen using an installed printer.

Exit Closes all open project windows and shuts down Audacity.

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Menu	Quick Description (scroll down for more help)
	New Creates a new, empty Audacity project in a new window. Open... Opens either a saved Audacity project (look for the filename ending in .aup), or an audio file like MP3 or WAV. Recent Files... Re-opens the most recent audio files or Audacity projects in a new window. Close Closes the current project. If this is the last window open, Audacity exits by default. Save Project Saves the Audacity project with a file name ending in ".aup". Save Project As... Saves a copy of the currently open project to a new name. Check Dependencies... Verifies if your project depends on the existence of files imported into it, allowing the data to be copied in if desired. Open Metadata Editor... Lets you edit artist, genre and related "tags" embedded in your MP3 or other exported audio file, for display in many computer or MP3 players. Import... Opens audio files inside the currently open Audacity project, rather than creating a new one. Export... Saves the entire audio in the project to an audio file, ready for playing on your computer or burning to CD. Export Selection... saves only the selected audio in your project. Export Labels... When using a label track, saves the label text and positions to a text file. Export Multiple... Saves more than one audio file at a time. Exporting labeled sections of a single audio track is an easy way to save individual MP3 or WAV files for each track of an LP or tape recording. Apply Chain... Performs the same preset series of effects to either the audio in your project or a group of files. Edit Chains... Lets you edit, add or remove effects chains. Page Setup... Settings used for printing the Audacity screen. Print... Prints that copy out using an installed printer. Exit Closes all open project windows and shuts down Audacity.

Quick Description (scroll down for more help)

New Creates a new, empty Audacity project in a new window.

Open... Opens either a saved Audacity project (look for the filename ending in .aup), or an audio file like MP3 or WAV.

Recent Files... Re-opens the most recent audio files or Audacity projects in a new window.

Close Closes the current project. If this is the last window open, Audacity exits by default.

Save Project Saves the Audacity project with a file name ending in ".aup". Save Project As... Saves a copy of the currently open project to a new name.

Check Dependencies... Verifies if your project depends on the existence of files imported into it, allowing the data to be copied in if desired.

Open Metadata Editor... Lets you edit artist, genre and related "tags" embedded in your MP3 or other exported audio file, for display in many computer or MP3 players.

Import... Opens audio files inside the currently open Audacity project, rather than creating a new one.

Export... Saves the entire audio in the project to an audio file, ready for playing on your computer or burning to CD. Export Selection... saves only the selected audio in your project.

Export Labels... When using a label track, saves the label text and positions to a text file.

Export Multiple... Saves more than one audio file at a time. Exporting labeled sections of a single audio track is an easy way to save individual MP3 or WAV files for each track of an LP or tape recording.

Apply Chain... Performs the same preset series of effects to either the audio in your project or a group of files. Edit Chains... Lets you edit, add or remove effects chains.

Page Setup... Settings used for printing the Audacity screen. Print... Prints that copy out using an installed printer.

Exit Closes all open project windows and shuts down Audacity.

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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 audio files, a list of files (.LOF) or an Audacity Project file 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 audio formats recognized by Audacity include : WAV AIFF MP3 Ogg Vorbis FLAC

Recent Files... ("Recent" on Mac)

Lists the nine most recently opened Audacity projects including the full path. The oldest item at the bottom is removed when a new item is added to the top. If you click on a project in the list which is no longer available, it will be removed from the list. The entire list can be cleared by opening the audacity.cfg configuration file in a text editor and deleting the [Recent Files] line.

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.

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.

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

Audio...

Similar to 'Open', except that the file is added as a new track to your existing project. This lets you mix two files together.

When importing audio files FFmpeg will be used transparently when necessary to import proprietary formats : you can just import the files as usual. The easiest way is to select the "Files of type: All supported files" box. This includes the types supported by FFmpeg. When importing aiff, wav, ogg, flac or mp3 files, Audacity will try to use the built-in importers, only using FFmpeg when built-in import fails. If for some reason you want to force Audacity to import aiff, wav, ogg, flac or mp3 file via FFmpeg, select those files using the "Files of type: FFmpeg-compatible files" box.

Labels...

See Label Tracks.

MIDI...

MIDI

Raw Data...

This function attempts to import an uncompressed audio file that might be "raw" data without any headers to define its format, might have incorrect headers or be otherwise partially corrupted, or might be in a format that Audacity is unable to recognize.

First, select the file in question in the "Select any uncompressed audio file" dialog. Then select appropriate parameters to assist Audacity in the formatting of the data. The fields in the dialog require you select:

encoding (PCM, ADPCM, float...)
byte order (this is almost always Little-endian if the file was created on Windows)
number of channels (expected to be found in the file and created as a result)
start offset in bytes
percentage amount of the file to import
sample rate to be applied to the created track

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 Dialog.

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 separate CD tracks, or archiving multiple working tracks. See the Tutorial - Copying tapes, LPs or minidiscs 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 specifically 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 and 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.

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.

Exit

Closes all project windows and exits Audacity. If there are any unsaved changes to your project, Audacity will ask if you want to save them. Note that 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 happy with it. But if you are working on a mix and plan to continue later where you left off, saving an Audacity Project will let you restore everything, exactly as you left it.

On a Mac, the Exit command is not in the File Menu. Instead, use "Quit" under the Audacity menu.