Summary: <br> <br> <br> Learn how to edit audio projects much faster with simple tricks in Audacity.<br> Stopwatch photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/75264768@N00/3271558744/">smaedli</a> via <a href="http://compfight.com">Compfight</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">cc</a><br> 1. Zoom shortcuts<br> <br> * Zoom in: Cmd-1 (OS X) or Ctrl-1 (Windows)<br> * Zoom out: Cmd-3 (OS X) or Ctrl-3 (Windows)<br> * Zoom to normal: Cmd-2 (OS X) or Ctrl-2 (Windows)<br> * Fit the entire timeline in the window: Cmd-F (OS X) or Ctrl-F (Windows)<br> * Fit all tracks vertically in the window: Shift-Cmd-F (OS X) or Shift-Ctrl-F (Windows)<br> * Zoom with mouse wheel: hold down Cmd (OS X) or Ctrl (Windows) and use the scroll wheel<br> <br> 2. Scroll shortcuts<br> Hold down Shift and use the scroll wheel to scroll horizontally across your timeline.<br> 3. Selection jump<br> Quickly jump to a specific time in your project:<br> <br> * Ensure the Selection Toolbar is activated. If it isn't, enable it through View menu > Toolbars > Selection Toolbar.<br> * Enter a time under “Selection Start.”<br> * Double-press Spacebar.<br> * The view will jump to your selected location.<br> <br> 4. Backwards editing<br> While recording, keep a log of times where you need to edit (if necessary). Then edit these from end to beginning.<br> By editing backwards, your logged times will always be correct. But if you edit forwards, then your proceeding times will be off-sync and make editing exponentially harder.<br> 5. Playback speed<br> If you can listen to audio at chipmunk speed and pitch, then you can edit your audio faster by dragging the playback speed from the Transcription Toolbar.<br> This will sound crazy, but it could help you edit twice as quickly!<br> 6. Labels<br> To make navigating your project easier, use a Label track to add notes at certain points. These help you mark and quickly find any portion you want to remember.<br> <br> * Go to the Tracks menu > Add New > Label Track.<br> * Click in the new label track where you want your label to be, or select a region of audio you want labeled and press Ctrl-B (Windows/Linux) or Cmd-B (OS X).<br> * Type your label and press Enter.<br> <br> Here are a couple notes about Labels.<br> <br> * Labels can overlap and move with your multi-track selection, or with Sync-Lock Tracks enabled.<br> * Move a label by clicking and dragging the small circle.<br> * Expand a label's region by clicking and dragging one of the triangle handles.<br> * Delete a label by clicking on it and removing the text and pressing Backspace one final time.<br> * You can also add a label during playback or recording by pressing Cmd-[Period] (OS X) or Ctrl-M (Windows/Linux).<br> <br> <a href="http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/label_tracks.html">Learn more about Label tracks from the Audacity manual</a>.<br> 7. Chains<br> <a title="How to use Chains in Audacity to save time – TAP095" href="https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/tap095-how-to-use-chains-in-audacity-to-save-time/">Learn how to setup and use Chains in Audacity</a> to automate tasks and remember effect settings.<br> 8. Keyboard shortcuts<br> Learn keyboard shortcuts for anything you keep doing. You can usually find these under the appropriate menu, <a href="http://manual.audacityteam.org/index.php?title=Keyboard_Shortcut_Reference">on this cheat sheet</a>, or adjust the keyboard shortcuts yourself.<br> <br> * Go to the Audacity menu (OS X) or Edit menu (Windows) > Preferences.<br> * Go to Keyboard to learn, set, or change keyboard shortcuts.<br> * Go to Mouse to learn, set, or change keyboard shortcuts associated with mouse tools. (The OS X version incorrectly says “Ctrl” when it means “Cmd.”)<br> <br>
