How to get help

From Audacity Manual

Many of our users are not only new to Audacity, but new to recording or editing audio. Others may be more experienced, but just hit a snag.

Don't worry. Here's how to get help.

First of all, why not try the Frequently Asked Questions in this Manual?

Audacity Wiki

What on earth is a Wiki? It's a particular type of web site, like this one, where people can collaborate to create and modify pages to keep them up-to-date and useful. The Audacity Wiki is a site anyone can edit, where we keep our latest Tips, tricks and extra Tutorials about Audacity and digital audio. Find out how to make ringtones, send your Audacity project to your friends, and more. It's the first place to search for your answer.

You don't need an account to use Audacity Wiki, unless you want to edit the pages to make them better. All useful edits are welcomed. You can get an account immediately by signing up with a username and password, then entering a couple of words to prevent automated sign ups.

Audacity Forum

Still got a question? Then the Audacity Forum is a great place to ask! A Forum member will have the answer, or will point you to where you can find it.

Searching the Forum

Many questions have been asked before, and you can obtain your answer just by searching! Look for the Search box top right of any Forum page, and enter some general words that relate to your question, separated by spaces. For example if you are recording from a USB turntable and can't hear the records in Audacity, try entering:

USB  turntable  hear  records

How to join

If you need to ask your question on the Forum, there is a quick and easy registration process.

Go to the Forum Registration page.
Agree to the Terms of Service, then enter the required information.
Within minutes you will receive an account activation e-mail. This is only so as to stop others signing you up when you don't want to. Click the link in this e-mail to complete your registration, then you will be able to log in to the Forum and post your first question.

Sometimes it may appear that you don't receive the activation e-mail. Don't panic!

Go to the login page, and click "Resend activation e-mail".
You may need to search your Trash or Spam folders for the activation e-mail. The e-mail comes from Buanzo_at_audacityteam.org. If your e-mail client has a whitelist system, you may need to add that address to your whitelist.
E-mail Buanzo at that address in the case of any difficulties with registration.

Asking your question

Please post your question to the particular Forum that corresponds to your computer operating system and version of Audacity (for example, Audacity Stable 2.0.x for Windows). This makes it much easier for us to help you. Click the "New Topic" button top left, then submit your question.

By default you will be subscribed to the topic you created and will receive an e-mail when someone replies to you. You will not normally receive any other e-mails from the Forum unless you post to other topics. You can check the topics you posted to at any time by clicking "View your posts" near the top of any Forum page.

Audacity-users mailing list

This is another place where Audacity users can get together, learn about our program, share tips and post questions. The difference here is that this a mailing list, meaning you will receive e-mails every time a list member makes a post. Sometimes there can be a lot of e-mails if an interesting topic is started! To reduce the number of e-mails, you can always subscribe in "digest" mode, which combines each day's messages into one large e-mail.

If you only want to ask a question every now and then, the Forum may suit you better.

How to subscribe

Go to the list information page. Fill out the subscription information half way down the page. You will be sent an e-mail requesting confirmation. This is only so as to stop others signing you up when you don't want to. Click the confirmation link in the e-mail to subscribe and start receiving e-mails.

Note: This is a public mailing list - messages are seen by all list subscribers, and posted on several web sites where the messages are archived.

How to unsubscribe or change your options

Towards the bottom of the list information page, look for the "Audacity-users Subscribers" section. At the bottom of that section, you'll find "To unsubscribe from Audacity-users, get a password reminder, or change your subscription options enter your subscription email address:". Enter your e-mail address and click the "Unsubscribe or edit options" button.
On the page that follows, look for "Unsubscribing from Audacity-users" a little way down the page. If you really want to leave the list, click "Unsubscribe".