Editing for Beginners - Introduction

From Audacity Manual

Selecting and Aligning

Basic Rules
Selecting can be done with the keyboard, the mouse or by combining the keyboard and mouse. You need to have the Selection Tool on the Tools Toolbar activated to make a selection. The exception is selecting the entire track by clicking on the track panel.

The align functions all still work the same way no matter which tool is activated. However, making selections and placing the cursor still requires the Selection Tool.

The selection modifier key is SHIFT. In a word processor or text editor, the SHIFT key is the modifier to turn any character that you enter via the keyboard into an UPPERCASE character. In Audacity and most audio editing applications, holding down the SHIFT key means that any cursor movement or placement will result in a selection.

How do I ...

select audio on one track?

Place the cursor on the waveform of a track, hold down the mouse button, drag the mouse and release the mouse button.

You can select audio with the keyboard as well, but may need to place the cursor with the mouse first. You need to hold down the SHIFT key and use the left/right cursor keys to expand the selection. Combine the former with the CTRL key (STRG on the German keyboard) to shrink the selection.

expand/shrink my selection?

Hold the SHIFT key, then click and hold the mouse button.

If you clicked to the left of the center of the current selection, you will now be able to move the left selection boundary with your mouse. The same goes for the right hand side of the selection center. Release the mouse button when you are satisfied.

You can use the cursor keys as well. It works the same way as described in the previous item.

select from the cursor to the start of the track?

Use the Start to Cursor function from the Select in the Edit menu.

To do: the Start to Cursor does not show on the Edit Menu page - confusing

select from the cursor to the end of the track?

Use the Cursor to End function from the Select in the Edit menu.

To do: the Cursor to end does not show on the Edit Menu page - confusing

select from the cursor to the start of the project?

Hold the SHIFT key and click on the Skip to Start button. ///ADD IMAGES RATHER THAN LINK???///

select from the cursor to the end of the project?

Hold the SHIFT key and click on the Skip to End button.

select all the audio of a track?

Click on the track panel. The resulting selection will be confined to the contents of that track.

select all the audio of two or more tracks?

It cannot be done precisely right now, if one track isn't within the range of the other. It actually doesn't have to be, because of the group functions in the Align menu, but more of that later.

If the start and end of one track is within the start and end of the other, simply select the longer track, then SHIFT + click the second track panel.

If the start and end of one track is not within the start and end of the other, select the one track, then expand the selection by SHIFT + clicking in to the second track until the selection encompasses all the desired material.

select all the audio of the project?

Use the Select All function in the Edit menu, or hit CTRL+A.