Export individual label when multiple labels in project

Feedback and Discussion Forum Adding Features
1

Windows 10, Audacity 2.2.2

(I believe this is a general Audacity question, rather than specific to Windows. Posting here due to my OS, however.)

Is there a way to export an individual label when multiple labels exist in an Audacity project?

For example:

Audio track
Label track 1
Label track 2
Label track 3

Export → only “Label track 2.txt”

Searching on the forums and the Audacity wiki, I can only find information indicating that all tracks are merged into a single file. This file is named based on the last of the label tracks (i.e. “Label track 3” in my example above). I cannot find any information explicitly stating that exporting only a single label track is not possible, however.

It seems this would be a common task, so I was assuming I am missing it in the GUI or details about it in the forums somewhere. Or is it not possible and requires a feature request?

2

That is generally preferred. Even when the question is not OS specific, the answers often are.



  1. Click on the [X] in the top left corner of Label track 1 to delete it.
  2. Do the same for Label track 3
  3. “File menu > Export > Export Labels”
    Follow the prompts to complete the export.
  4. “Ctrl + Z”
    To undo deleting Label track 3
  5. “Ctrl + Z”
    To undo deleting Label track 1


First time I’ve come across this question.

3

Is this stable for many label tracks and/or long audio files? The example I provided was a simplified example. And deleting and undoing many tracks one longer audio files seems potentially unstable.

I’m surprised by this. Based on my experience with software in general, I would expect the currently selected label track to be exported (or either the first or last, if no label track is selected). And to export multiple/all only when multiple tracks are selected. Possibly having a preference to change this behavior.

4

According to a recent post in the Windows board, there is currently no built-in ability to export a) an individual Label track or b) multiple selected Label tracks.

There is a workaround - delete the Label tracks which you do not wish to export, then undo to restore them following the export.

My feature request to support exporting only individual or currently selected Label tracks could be implemented in two possible ways.

Possibility 1:

Label track 1
Label track 2 (selected)
Label track 3

Export->Labels (would only export Label track 2)


Possibility 2:

Add a new export option to complement Export->Labels:
Export->Label(s) (Selected)

Which would only export the currently selected Label track(s)


Possibility 2 would not require any change to the current Export->Labels feature, and therefore may be preferable from a design/user familiarity perspective.

5

Perfectly stable for me.
I assume that you make regular backups?

That’s quite different from how exporting audio works.
When exporting audio, all non-muted tracks are mixed to produce a single file.
When exporting labels, all label tracks are merged to produce a single file.

When exporting audio, there is an additional option “Exported Selected Audio”. The equivalent command for labels (which Audacity does not have) would be a command to “Export Selected Labels”.

What is your actual use case that requires exporting a single label track?

6

Topic split to: https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/export-individual-label-when-multiple-labels-in-project/58799/1