Hi -
I just installed Audacity and I can’t figure out how to create a Project. It seems like it should be obvious, but I can’t find it. Using Audacity 2.1.1 installed from .exe file, Windows 7 Professional.
Thanks!
Adam
“Save Project As…” if you are starting from a clean project window with no changes made yet: http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/file_menu.html#save_as.
There is no absolute compulsion to save a project: Managing Audacity Projects - Audacity Manual.
Gale
Thanks for the prompt reply, Gale - I tried that with a clean window and I get the error message, “‘Save Project’ is for an Audacity Project, not an audio file. . . .” But there’s no audio file open, so still can’t create a project. What am I missing?
Adam
That is not an “error” message. That is just “informing” you (a “warning” not an “error”) that it is creating an Audacity Project (and not an audio file).
Hi Steve,
I would call this a usability bug, very easily fixed. Just change the dialog message to " “‘Warning: Save Project’ is for an Audacity Project, not an audio file. . . . Click OK to save to a new project.” Would have saved me time and frustration, and others the trouble of answering a dumb question.
Thanks!
Adam
We have found that generally, the longer the message, the less likely people are to read it, so it is important to keep the message concise.
The current warning message is already quite similar to what you suggest:
“Click OK to save to a new project” would not be accurate when re-saving the current project, so we might either need two different warning messages (depending on whether saving for the first time or re-saving), or an even more verbose message to say that it is saving a new, or re-saving the current project.
The main reason for the warning is that many new users were saving the project when they actually wanted to export a normal audio file, so the second part of the message (For an audio file that will open in other apps, use ‘Export’') is very important.
We could perhaps have something like:
Warning:
Save Project’ is for an Audacity Project, not an audio file.
Click OK to continue.
For an audio file that will open in other apps,
cancel this dialog and then use ‘File → Export’.
[_] Don’t show this warning again
or
Warning:
You are saving an ‘Audacity Project’, not an audio file.
Click OK to continue.
If you want an audio file that will open in other apps,
cancel this dialog and then use ‘File → Export’.
[_] Don’t show this warning again
but in both cases the length of the message has about doubled, so is likely to be read by half as many people 
It’s a delicate balancing act between providing enough information for clarity, without being tediously verbose.
Hi Steve -
Thanks for the great support! One further thought:
Even more simply, just put a “Create Project” entry on the File menu - which what I was looking for and was puzzled that I couldn’t find. For further clarity, change “New” to read “New Audio File”
Cheers!
Adam
Full disclosure: Former QA engineer and database developer
It is not a new audio file, it’s a new project. Exporting produces an audio file.
Gale
I can see the problem with Save Project As… in that it spews a warning immediately which does not make complete sense when you are saving a project that does not yet have any audio.
I did not mention File > New… because (in the case where you already have an empty project window without changes), it needlessly creates a new project window and then you have an extra window to close when you exit Audacity. However I think it would be useful it it said “New Project…”.
I am not really in favour of adjusting the save project warning yet again, and not in favour of making it longer unless something really useful is added. I doubt any developer will accept “Click OK to continue.” Yes. That is what OK does.
If we added three words to the existing sentence by having
For an audio file that will open in other apps, click “Cancel” then use “Export”.
that might be a slightly better tradeoff, but you could still say “Yes, that is what Cancel does”.
I still contend that if the File menu had Save Project and Save Audio File/Save Selection as Audio File the need for that warning would greatly diminish. I still say that, already knowing that audio files are flat and may not contain all the properties of the project.
Is the confusion not understanding that you already have an (empty, clean, unsaved) project by merely launching Audacity? Would it have been clearer for you if the Audacity title bar said “Audacity - Unsaved project”?
Gale
This is an example of where we could help the user by putting a Help button on the error message which would lead them to the relevant Manual page, in this case: http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/audacity_projects.html
Peter