Sync-Locked Track Groups

Sync-Lock Tracks
Sync-Lock Tracks can be turned on or off at Tracks > Sync-Lock Tracks or by using the Sync-Lock Tracks button in Edit Toolbar. Sync-Lock Tracks is off by default. Turning on Sync-Lock Tracks does not immediately realign tracks or labels. It forces tracks and labels to remain synchronized if they move after Sync-Lock Tracks is enabled.

The button is shown as recessed when Sync-Lock Tracks is set to "on".

Sync-Locked Track Groups
Any audio track in Audacity can be in a group of one or more adjacent tracks that can be Sync-Locked with other tracks in that group. To form a Sync-Locked Track Group the tracks must be adjacent to each other, they may be terminated with a Label Track. If you require multiple Sync-Locked Track groups in your project then only the last one may be without a terminating Label Track, all the preceding ones must terminate in a label track to delimit them from the next following Sync-Locked Track Group. A Sync-Locked Track Group may have multiple label tracks as long as the label tracks are together at the bottom of the group.

When Sync-Lock is on, an icon shows bottom right in the Track Control Panel of each track in a Sync-Locked Track Group, provided at least one of those tracks is selected. The icon denotes all tracks that will be affected when a menu operation in a selected track inserts or deletes audio (or otherwise changes the audio's position on the Timeline). The unselected tracks in the Group that will be affected are denoted by a patterned "Sync-Lock" selection in the waveform (a wallpaper with clockfaces) instead of the dark gray of a normally selected track.

Selecting Groups for Sync-Locking
Selecting at least one track from within a Group will mark that particular group as Sync-Locked, the icon will appear in the Track Control Panel of all the tracks in that Group. If you have multiple Groups then clicking on a track in a different Group will cause the Sync-Lock selection to move to the new Group.

You can select multiple Groups to be Sync-Locked. Following your initial group selection, hold SHIFT while clicking on the Track Control Panel in one of the tracks in the additional Group(s) that you require. See the example below.

Using Sync-Locked Tracks
The following links demonstrate in more detail the use of Sync-Locked Tracks in Audacity for common editing tasks:


 * Using Sync-Locked Track Groups for Editing audio


 * Using Sync-Locked Track Groups for Time Shifting audio


 * Using Sync-Locked Track Groups for Time Stretching audio