Edit Menu: Select - Audacity Development Manual

# Edit Menu: Select

### From Audacity Development Manual

Items in the Select cascading Edit menu let you select time ranges of audio. Items in the Spectral sub-cascade let you select or deselect spectral selections within the time range.

Left at Playback Position followed by Right at Playback Position (or their shortcuts) are a time saving way to mark the start point then the end point of a selection heard while playing or recording.

All | CTRL + A
None | CTRL + SHIFT + A
Spectral | >
Left at Playback Position | [
Right at Playback Position | ]
Track Start to Cursor | SHIFT + J
Cursor to Track End | SHIFT + K
Cursor to Stored Cursor Position |
In All Tracks | CTRL + SHIFT + K
In All Sync-Locked Tracks | CTRL + SHIFT + Y

## All CTRL + A

Selects all of the audio in all of the tracks.

## None CTRL + SHIFT + A

Deselects all of the audio in all of the tracks.

## Spectral

The Spectral submenu lets you select or deselect spectral selections.

Spectral selection is used to make selections that include a frequency range as well as a time range on tracks in Spectrogram view. Spectral selection is used with special spectral edit effects to make changes to the frequency content of the selected audio. Among other purposes, spectral selection and editing can be used for cleaning up unwanted sound, enhancing certain resonances, changing the quality of a voice or removing mouth sounds from voice work.

### Toggle spectral selection Q

Changes between selecting a time range (and hence all the frequencies in that range) and selecting the last selected spectral selection in that time range. This command toggles the spectral selection even if not in Spectrogram view.

### Next Higher Peak Frequency

When in Spectrogram view, snaps the center frequency to the next higher frequency peak, moving the spectral selection upwards. This does the same as clicking and dragging the center frequency upwards.

### Next Lower Peak Frequency

When in Spectrogram views snaps the center frequency to the next lower frequency peak, moving the spectral selection downwards. This does the same as clicking and dragging the center frequency downwards.

## Left at Playback Position [

When playing or recording: Sets the left boundary of a potential selection by moving the cursor to the current position of the green playback cursor (or red recording cursor). The selection can then be drawn by using "Right at Playback Position" (below).

When there is no audio playing or recording: Opens the "Set Left Selection Boundary" dialog. This is useful for keyboard users or for time-exact manipulation of the selection instead of using Selection Toolbar. Move the selection boundary dialog's time digits backwards to create a selection leftwards from the cursor position or to extend the current selection leftwards. Move the time digits forwards to move the cursor forwards to an exact point or to contract the current selection from the left. See "Creating selections at an exact time" for more details.

## Right at Playback Position ]

When playing or recording: Sets the right boundary of the selection, thus drawing the selection from the cursor position to the current position of the green playback cursor (or red recording cursor). This is a quick way to mark a selection for future editing while playing or recording. Selections can be labeled while playing or recording using Tracks > Add Label at Selection or shortcut CTRL + B.

It will usually be more convenient while playing or recording to use the equivalent keyboard shortcuts ( by default, [ and ] ) to set the left and right boundary respectively.

When there is no audio playing or recording: Opens the "Set Right Selection Boundary" dialog. Move the dialog's time digits forwards to create a selection rightwards from the cursor position or to extend the current selection rightwards. Move the time digits backwards to move the cursor backwards to an exact point or to contract the current selection from the right.

## Track Start to Cursor SHIFT + J

Selects a region in the selected track(s) from the start of the track to the cursor position (or extends the current selection so that it starts from the start of the track).

## Cursor to Track End SHIFT + K

Selects a region in the selected track(s) from the cursor position to the end of the track (or extends the current selection so that it ends at the end of the track).

## Cursor to Stored Cursor Position

When playing or recording (or paused):, selection is made from the the position of the Playback cursor or Recording cursor to the position previously stored by the Edit > Store Cursor Position command. For easier use without having to Pause, you may want to add a shortcut for "Cursor to Stored Cursor Position".

When there is no active audio: selects from the current position of the editing cursor (or from the left edge of the current selection) to the stored position.

Example: Suppose you had paused playback (or stopped playback and set cursor) at the starting point of an intended selection and had stored that position. You could then start playback further along from the stored position in order to find the ending point of the intended selection. When you hear that ending, use "Cursor to Stored Cursor Position" to select from the stored position to the position of the playback cursor. You can then stop playback and the selection will be retained.

An alternative procedure if you want to store many positions is to add a label when required at the editing cursor or playback/recording cursor.

## In All Tracks CTRL + SHIFT + K

Extends the current selection up and/or down into all tracks in the project.

## In All Sync-Locked Tracks CTRL + SHIFT + Y

Extends the current selection up and/or down into all sync-locked tracks in the currently selected track group.

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