Device Toolbar Selects audio host, input device, output device and number of input channels Edit Toolbar

Cut, copy, paste, trim, silence, undo, redo, sync-lock, zoom Meter Toolbar

Displays levels for playback and recording Mixer Toolbar Controls the mixer settings of the sound card Selection Toolbar

Controls selection points and ranges "by the numbers" Tools Toolbar

Chooses various tools for selection, volume adjustment, zooming and timeshifting of audio Transcription Toolbar Plays audio at a slower or faster speed than normal, affecting pitch Transport Toolbar

Controls playback and recording

Arranging Toolbars
Toolbars can be moved to any new positions on the window background by dragging on their serrated left edge. When moving a toolbar into the top and bottom of the Audacity screen which will normally be occupied by other toolbars, a blue triangle will appear indicating an available docking position. All position changes are remembered in the next Audacity session. The default toolbar positions can be restored at any time by clicking View > Toolbars > Reset Toolbars

Transport Toolbar

The Control Toolbar has buttons for controlling playback and recording. These buttons can also be controlled with keyboard shortcuts.

Pause

Transport > Pause or P

Temporarily pauses playing or recording without losing your place. Press Pause a second time to resume.

Play

Transport > Play

Standard-speed playback. If an area of track is selected, only that selection will be played. Otherwise, playback begins wherever the selection cursor is. To loop-play (play the track or selection over and over until you press Stop), hold down SHIFT while pressing Play. This causes the button image to change to loop-play: .

Stop

Transport > Stop

Stops playing or recording immediately.

By default, Space on the keyboard functions as a shortcut to Play or Stop. To loop-play by means of a shortcut, use SHIFT + Space.

Skip to Start

Transport > Skip to Start or HOME

Move the cursor to the beginning of the project. This is useful if you want to play everything, or record a new track starting from the beginning.

Skip to End

Transport > Skip to End or END

Move the cursor to the end of the project.

Holding down SHIFT while clicking Skip to Start extends a selection region from the cursor position or current selection area to the start of the project. Holding down SHIFT with Skip to End similarly extends a selection region to the end of the project.

Record

Transport > Record or R

Recording begins at either the current cursor location or at the beginning of the current selection. Pressing Record always creates a new track, but you can append-record (start recording at the end of the currently selected track(s)) by holding down SHIFT while pressing Record.

Alternative button order

The default "ergonomic" order of buttons on the Control Toolbar can be unchecked in Interface Preferences to give this alternative order:

Transcription Toolbar
Transcription Toolbar lets you play audio at a slower or faster speed than normal, also affecting pitch. Slower than normal speeds can make it easier to transcribe speech or song lyrics.

Transcription Toolbar has its own own Play-at-Speed button which plays audio at the speed set by the Play-at-Speed slider to the right. Playback can be paused and resumed at the adjusted speed. Note that whatever the setting on the slider, using Space or the Play button on the Transport Toolbar to play will only do so at normal speed. Drag the slider to set a speed from one-hundredth of normal (0.01x) to three times as fast (3.00x), or right-click on the slider then use the keyboard arrow keys to change speed by 0.03x increments. To set a precise playback speed, double-click over the slider (or create a keyboard shortcut for this action), enter the desired speed in the box and click OK. It isn't currently possible to change speed during playback. To change speed when audio is already playing, change the speed first with the slider, then click the green Play-at-Speed button to play at the new speed. Playback resumes from the original cursor position.
Export of the audio will be at normal speed whatever the position of the Play-at-Speed slider. To export at an adjusted speed, use Change Tempo in the Effect Menu to change speed without modifying pitch, or Change Speed to change speed also affecting pitch.

Tools Toolbar
Tools Toolbar allows you to choose various tools for selection, volume adjustment, zooming and timeshifting of audio.

Selection F1
Click to select a start point for audio playback, or click and drag to select a range of audio to play or edit. You can also create a selection area between two points by clicking at one point, then holding down SHIFT while clicking at the other point.

Envelope F2
Allows smooth volume changes to be made over the length of a track by means of embedded volume "control points". Click in the track to create a control point, then set the volume of that point by dragging one of its four vertically arranged "handles". When you create other control points at different levels, a smooth curve is interpolated between them. Dragging either the top or bottom handle ensures you can never distort the track by dragging outside its original volume envelope. Dragging an inner handle allows you to amplify a quiet piece of audio beyond the original volume envelope of the track.

Draw F3
When zoomed in to maximum level, lets you adjust the volume level of individual audio samples. It can be used to eliminate narrow clicks and pops in audio by smoothing out the contour of the samples, so that one sample is not at a very different vertical position to its neighbors.

Click above or below a sample to move it to that point (holding down CTRL while clicking ensures only one sample is affected, even if you click near another sample). Remember, the closer the sample is to the horizontal line through the center of the track, the quieter the sample will be. Smooth a group of samples by holding down ALT, which changes the cursor symbol to a brush. Then click halfway along the group to progressively smooth out the samples.

Note: Draw Tool only works when using the default Waveform view (selectable on the Track Drop-Down Menu).
For very short lengths of audio up to 128 samples long, you can smooth out audio automatically with Repair tool under the Effect Menu

Zoom F4

Left-click zooms in one step Shift-click or right-click zooms out one step Middle button zooms in or out to Audacity's default zoom level of about one inch per second Click and drag creates a dotted region in the waveform; release the mouse to zoom in to that reqion

You can also zoom without using Zoom Tool by using keyboard shortcuts, or the zoom buttons on the Edit Toolbar.

Time Shift F5
Selecting this tool lets you synchronize audio in a project by dragging individual or multiple tracks or clips left or right along the timeline. Also use this tool to drag individual tracks or clips up or down into another track. Note: dragged audio cannot paste into other audio, so the area being dragged into must have sufficient space to accommodate the drag. To use Time Shift Tool, click in the audio you want to move, then drag in the required direction. To drag multiple tracks, click in the Track Control Panel of the first track you want to move, then hold down SHIFT and either:

click in the Track Control Panel to select the other tracks you want to move. use up or down arrow to select the other tracks you want to move.

You can now click and drag in any track to move all the selected tracks, providing you drag with the cursor inside a selection region. Dragging with the cursor outside a region (or when there is no region at all) gives you a way to drag only that track even when other tracks are selected. Similarly, to move a group of adjacent clips without moving all the clips in that track, use Selection Tool to drag a selection region over them, then switch to Time Shift Tool and drag inside the region.
When dragging audio to align tracks or clips together (for example, to synchronize the tracks in a mix), it's generally best to zoom in so you can align the tracks with sufficient accuracy. However, Audacity is able to snap time-shifted audio to natural boundaries such as the start or end of clips or labels. There are also various "Align" commands available in the Tracks Menu to automatically align audio.

Multi F6
Combines all five tools in one. One tool is available at a time, according to the mouse position. The shape of the cursor changes to show which tool is active. More details here.

Edit Toolbar
These tools perform the same functions as those accessible through the Edit menu, View menu, Tracks menu and keyboard shortcuts.

Cut

Edit > Cut or CTRL + X

Removes the selected audio data and places it on the clipboard.

Copy Edit > Copy or CTRL + C

Copies the selected audio data to the clipboard without removing it from the project.

Paste

Edit > Paste or CTRL + V

Either inserts the clipboard contents at the position of the selection cursor, or replaces a selected area with the clipboard contents.
The clipboard can only contain one item at a time, so cutting or copying to it always replaces any previous content. However that content may contain multiple tracks or tracks of indefinite length.

Trim

Edit > Trim or CTRL + T

Deletes everything but the selection. Does not affect audio outside the selected clips.

Silence

Edit > Silence Audio or CTRL + L

Replaces the currently selected audio with absolute silence.

Undo

Edit > Undo and CTRL + Z

Reverts the last editing operation. Audacity supports unlimited "stepwise" undo. This means you can undo every editing operation back to the last time the project was opened, but you can't undo one particular edit without also undoing any changes made after that edit. You can review your editing history and jump straight back to any particular edit point at View > History.

Redo

Edit > Redo or CTRL + Y (on Mac SHIFT + CTRL + Z)

Restores the previous editing operation that was just undone. Note: If you undo an operation then perform any new one that appears in the Undo History, you can no longer redo that undone operation.

Zoom In

View > Zoom In or CTRL + 1

Zooms in to a higher magnification level. You can continue to zoom in until you reach the level of displaying individual audio samples.

Zoom Out

View > Zoom Out or CTRL + 3

Zooms out to a lower magnification level. You can zoom out so far as to fit 228 hours of audio on the screen.

Zoom Selection

View > Zoom to Selection or CTRL + E

Zooms a selection region in or out so that it fits in the available horizontal window area. The button is therefore grayed out unless a selection region is made.

Fit Project

View > Fit in Window or CTRL + F

Zooms in or out so that the entire audio of the project fits in the available horizontal window area.