This was the issue on GitHub which led to the removal of the left-click to join clips
Impossible to select point audio with cursor at shared clip boundaries #1815
Prior to this change it was impossible to make a point selection at a shared clip boundary (which one can now do).
But also as Steve pointed out earlier Muse are using clip boundaries for non destructive clip editing and time stretching.
So I think it extremely unlikely that Muse would ever consider bringing back the left-click to join.
They believe they have ameliorated this by moving the Ctrl+J (Join Clips) shortcut to the default Standard set of shortcuts. And if a two-key shortcut is too troublesome for you (it probably would be for me if I were doing a lot of clip joining) you can replace that with a single-key shortcut.
BTW there are several sing;e keys that are not used in the Standard and Fill shortcut sets:
F, G, H, M, N, O, S, T, V, W and Y
So any of those could be used without conflict with any pre-existing Audacity shortcut - but you can of course choose any key you like and overwrite/replace the existing shortcut.
Further amelioration would be afforded if this Enhancement Request that Steve posted and I supported gets implemented by Muse:
Consistent behaviour when joining a selected clip to adjacent clips #5509
In particular the edge case from that would mean that one would be able to right click on the shred clip boundary and then use the shortcut to join the clips - so just two actions.
Same here. The removal of the click-to-join feature for clips has introduced a level of inconvenience that was previously absent in my editing workflows.
I always found the click-to-join feature extremely efficient, allowing me to swiftly and seamlessly join clips with a single click. Its removal has added several additional steps to this process, increasing the time and effort required to perform what was once a simple task. The current method is considerably more tedious, especially for those of us who use this feature frequently. I had to reverse to an older version.
The beauty of Audacity has always been its user-friendly interface and efficient functionality. This change seems to move away from those core values, complicating a process that was pretty straightforward. It would be greatly appreciated if this feature could be reintroduced. Even like an optional setting that users can enable or disable according to their preference. This would allow those who found the feature beneficial to continue using it, while not impacting those who prefer the new method.
We understand that development involves making tough decisions and that not all features can please every user. However, the click-to-join feature was a fundamental part of many users’ editing process. We hope that my feedback is taken into consideration.
Following feedback here and on GitHub, I created this Issue on Muse’s GitHub:
Restore the “Click to join adjacent clips” as an “off” by default option/preference #5722
It’s up to Muse if they want to restore this (hidden by an off by default preference) or not.
This would allow those who found the feature beneficial to continue using it, while not impacting those who prefer the new method.