Audacity Keyboard Shortcuts

Transport: Space is not the only play key

Space plays and stops, returning the cursor to where playback started. X plays and stops too, but leaves the cursor where you stopped — the difference sounds small and changes how you scrub through a recording. Shift + Space plays once without looping and P pauses. R records on the selected track and Shift + R records onto a new track, which is the one to use for overdubs so the original stays intact. L toggles looping over the current region.

Selection by key

J and K jump the cursor to the start and end of the track, and Shift + J and Shift + K select from the cursor to those points — the quickest way to trim leading or trailing silence. [ and ] set the selection edges at the playback position while audio is playing, so you can mark a region by ear. Z snaps selection edges to zero crossings, which removes the click you otherwise get when cutting mid-waveform. Ctrl + Shift + K extends the selection into every track.

Cutting without moving everything

Ctrl + K deletes the selection and closes the gap; Ctrl + Alt + K deletes but leaves silence in its place, which matters when other tracks must stay aligned. Ctrl + L silences a region in place and Ctrl + T trims to the selection, removing everything outside it. Ctrl + I splits a clip at the cursor and Ctrl + B drops a label at the selection, which is how long recordings get chapter markers for export. Ctrl + E zooms to the selection and Ctrl + F fits the whole project to the window.

Frequently asked questions