help please- " couldn't find the project data folder".

Audacity Help Forum macOS
1

tuesday 17 february 2015
11 am eastern standard time

dear audacity help,

good morning.
i use a imac computer system 10.7.5 and audacity version 2.0.6.0.
when attempting to open an audacity file i saved which i did not move or change its original name
i receive this message: " couldn’t find the project data folder",
as well as: “could not load the file”.

i have read through many of your forum help suggestions.
i understand that if the .aup and _data files are moved or renamed audacity will not locate and open the .aup file.
i have tryed placing the .aup and _data files together in the same folder,
side by side on my desk top,
as well as downloading the original files from my crashplan back up
from the file creation date ( thursday 12 february 2015 ) and this file failed to open as well.

i also tried to import the contents / items inside the individual _data folders which resulted in a
mass audacity file pile up of mono sound parts one beneath the other
or as individual sound parts and silence parts each on separate audacity windows.
i managed to select and playback a sound piece, hoping to organize and join the sound pieces together,
however the playback was jumbled noise.

i recall reading and unable to relocate a forum suggestion to trash
an item in the preferences-library or something similar to that.

this recorded file is vital to me, any new helpful suggestions would be excellent.

thank you for your amazing volunteer assistance.

sincerely yours,

victor.

2

What did you call the show? What’s it’s name?
Koz

3

hello koz,

the .aup file was called/ labeled: the s.o.s band- 1986- sands of time- 05- the finest - youtube ( my echo remix version 2 ) .aup

and the accompanying _data file: the s.o.s band- 1986- sands of time- 05- the finest - youtube ( my echo remix version 2 ) _data

currently they are both on my desktop.

4

What happens when you double-click on the .aup file? Same thing?

The AUP file is the semi-English list of instructions what Audacity should do with all that stuff in the _DATA folder. Normally, you double click (or File > Open) the .aup file and it takes care of everything else. It won’t look very far for the _DATA folder which is why they have to be in the same place.

Even though you can take the _DATA folder apart, you probably shouldn’t. If you get the snippets out of order, the show will never open.

Right-Click (or Control-Click if you don’t have a right button) the .AUP file > Open With > Other Programs > TextEdit.

It should look something like below. Pull out the text window really wide so the text stops stepping all over itself. I made mine pretty with extra spaces, but you get the idea.

Somewhere in the first three lines or so, it should say projname=".

I wonder if it matches the real name.

~

I know you can put all those punctuation marks and spaces in a Mac filename, but it’s whether Audacity can handle them or not.
Koz

5

When you get done viewing, just close. Don’t save anything.

I suspect your wide and long filename is causing problems, but I’m not totally sure. I’m going to leave it to the senior elves. There’s a way to change everything to a much simpler show name, but you have to do some fancy text editing to get that to work.

As we go.

Koz

6

Being professionally obsessive, I would make a copy of both .AUP file and _DATA folder onto a thumb drive or other place not likely to get stepped on by accident while we straighten this out.

Koz

7

hello koz,



i copied the first main top music track from a separate three stereo track aup. to create a new file.

this new file contained only the first main music track ( divided in two: upper / right and lower / left stereo. )

i closed this file and saved it as a project to my desktop,

naming the project: the s.o.s band- 1986- sands of time- 05- the finest - youtube ( my echo remix version 2 ) test .aup

i reopened the separate three stereo track aup. and copied the second lower stereo track.

i reopened the new created .aup file: the s.o.s band- 1986- sands of time- 05- the finest - youtube ( my echo remix version 2 ) test .aup

and added a new stereo track then pasted in the second copied track.

i did the same to bring over the third stereo track.

i saved the project to my desk top and closed it.


i reopened the new .aup file to edit.

when cut into or moved a piece of any one music track all three stereo tracks were equally affected.

i just noticed a wall paper of clocks in the background of all the music tracks.

that wasn’t there before.

i discovered i cannot edit the new music track.

whenever i cut in to or move a piece of track the other two tracks

at the same track location are equally affected.

the affected two tracks are ruined.

i have found no way of isolating the stereo tracks to edit individually as i once did.

so i saved the project and closed it.



once again, i reopened the new three stereo track .aup i created.

i chose audacity- file- open- selected:

the s.o.s band- 1986- sands of time- 05- the finest - youtube ( my echo remix version 2 ) test .aup

and once again i received this message:

" couldn’t find the project data folder",

as well as: “could not load the file”.

both the new .aup and _data file are beside each other on my desktop.

the one did not connect / recognize the other.

when i went to audacity- import- audio

the same couldn’t find the project data folder message appeared.



thank you for your assistance.

8

You have enabled “Sync-Lock” http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/edit_toolbar.html#link
Click the “clock” button to toggle it on/off.

9

You have to open an AUP file, not import it.

The AUP file and _data folder should have been together when you first saved the project. It does not matter where the AUP file and _data folder are, as long as Audacity can read and write to that location.

Please attach the AUP file and the Audacity log file from Help > Show Log… . Please see here for how to attach files: https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/how-to-attach-files-to-forum-posts/24026/1


Gale

10

friday 20 february 2015
7:30 am


dear gale and koz,


thank you for explaining to me about the syn lock track function

and for pointing out that the .aup file and its accompanying _data file

must have exactly the same name / characters in the name.

currently i am once again able to open and edit my audacity file.

have a great day.

sincerely yours,

victor

11

I’m glad to hear that.

It’s an accompanying _data folder, not _data file.

Don’t rename either the AUP file or the _data folder by hand. If you want to rename a project, make a copy of it using a new name with File > Save Project As… in Audacity.


Gale