Cannot Save Project or Export Audio of recorded [SOLVED]

Audacity 3 Help Forum Windows
1

I am using Audacity 2.0.6 and Windows 7 Home Premium. I am trying to record podcasts. Until a week ago, saving recorded podcasts and creating export files of them was routine. Then, beginning last week, I could not save or export the recorded files. In each case, I am able to make the File-> Save Project and File → Export Audio… selections, with the corresponding Save Project and Export Audio windows appearing. I am able to enter the file name for the recording in each window. When I select the Save button, nothing further happens.
The log from the Audacity Log window shows:

10:15:56 PM: Audacity 2.0.6
10:15:56 PM: Trying to load FFmpeg libraries…
10:15:56 PM: Trying to load FFmpeg libraries from default path, ‘C:Program Files (x86)FFmpeg for Audacityavformat-55.dll’.
10:15:56 PM: Looking up PATH environment variable…
10:15:56 PM: PATH = ‘C:Program FilesCommon FilesMicrosoft SharedWindows Live;C:Program Files (x86)Common FilesMicrosoft SharedWindows Live;C:Windowssystem32;C:Windows;C:WindowsSystem32Wbem;C:WindowsSystem32WindowsPowerShellv1.0;C:Program Files (x86)Windows LiveShared;C:Program Files (x86)Common FilesRoxio SharedDLLShared;C:Program Files (x86)Common FilesRoxio SharedOEMDLLShared;C:Program Files (x86)Common FilesRoxio SharedOEMDLLShared;C:Program Files (x86)Common FilesRoxio SharedOEM12.0DLLShared;C:Program Files (x86)RoxioOEMAudioCore;C:Program Files (x86)Common FilesAdobeAGL’
10:15:56 PM: Checking that ‘C:Program Files (x86)FFmpeg for Audacity’ is in PATH…
10:15:56 PM: Warning: FFmpeg directory ‘C:Program Files (x86)FFmpeg for Audacity’ is not in PATH.
10:15:56 PM: Temporarily appending ‘;C:Program Files (x86)FFmpeg for Audacity’ to PATH…
10:15:56 PM: Checking for monolithic avformat from ‘C:Program Files (x86)FFmpeg for Audacityavformat-55.dll’.
10:15:56 PM: Error: Couldn’t find symbol ‘avutil_version’ in a dynamic library (error 127: the specified procedure could not be found.)
10:15:56 PM: Error: Couldn’t find symbol ‘avcodec_version’ in a dynamic library (error 127: the specified procedure could not be found.)
10:15:56 PM: avformat not monolithic
10:15:56 PM: Loading avutil from ‘avutil-52.dll’.
10:15:56 PM: Loading avcodec from ‘avcodec-55.dll’.
10:15:56 PM: Loading avformat from ‘C:Program Files (x86)FFmpeg for Audacityavformat-55.dll’.
10:15:56 PM: Returning PATH to previous setting…
10:15:56 PM: Actual avutil path C:Program Files (x86)FFmpeg for Audacityavutil-52.dll
10:15:56 PM: Actual avcodec path C:Program Files (x86)FFmpeg for Audacityavcodec-55.dll
10:15:56 PM: Actual avformat path C:Program Files (x86)FFmpeg for Audacityavformat-55.dll
10:15:56 PM: Importing symbols…
10:15:56 PM: All symbols loaded successfully. Initializing the library.
10:15:56 PM: Retrieving FFmpeg library version numbers:
10:15:56 PM: AVCodec version 0x373466 - 55.52.102 (built against 0x373466 - 55.52.102)
10:15:56 PM: AVFormat version 0x372164 - 55.33.100 (built against 0x372164 - 55.33.100)
10:15:56 PM: AVUtil version 0x344264 - 52.66.100 (built against 0x344264 - 52.66.100)
10:15:56 PM: FFmpeg libraries loaded successfully.

I had this problem originally with Audacity 2.0.5 and upgraded to 2.0.6. The problem is the same with both versions.

Thanks for your help.

2

Those appear to be normal log comments.

Did you fill up your hard drive? Did you put a date in the filename? Try saving the work again with the ISO version of the date. Today is 2015-01-08. Any better?

Koz

3

Hi Koz-

I tried the suggested fix and it does work. It seems to only work when there are no special characters in the file name used for the save.

This constraint, (including the date and no special characters, (e.g., “?”)) did not apply before the problem occurred last week. Any idea why?

Thanks.

Brent

4

There are strict requirements for file names imposed by the Windows operating system.
See: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/windows/desktop/aa365247(v=vs.85).aspx
and in particular see the section about “reserved characters”.

5

These are the characters that are reserved for the system on Windows and which therefore cannot be used in a file name:

  /  :  *  ?  "  <  >  |

So if you could use “?” before, you were not using Windows or you had found some workaround. If there is a Unicode character that looks like a “?” but does not represent a question mark, you can use that. I know there is a double question mark character that can be used.


Gale

6

Thanks. The guidelines provided work.