Mac OS 10.15.7 I had a newer version of audacity, but kept losing channels. now 3.0 how new can I go?

I was doing fine, kept upgrading but then lost channels. went from stereo to mono, then to 1/2… so I deleted all my audacity info, and tried to upload again, thinking it was a glitch. I couldn’t download and went back to 3.0. it works, but again, NO STEREO. just one track. I’d love to go forward, the interface was so much easier for me, but realize I’m limited in what I can do as everything progresses. Any helpful thoughts on 1: how to get my stereo back? 2. how far I can upgrade the versions before encountering pitfalls? Thank you so much for your help! I create classes and upload them for participants, I do this for love and not money, so any support is really appreciated. Spent a while getting this far as the forum didn’t have any answers for me that were clear.

You need a stereo source to record in stereo. If your input is mono (built-in microphone of a computer or a “standard” adapter for headset), then Audacity is probably recording mono only because there is no stereo signal.

I am using 3.6.4 without problems on macOS 12.7.6. I am no prophet, so I cannot tell in which version the authors will include errors. Is there at all any software without errors?

You can also try the following measures to “repair” any mis-configurations:

  • in the “Tools” menu of Audacity, select “Reset configuration”, or
  • delete the folder containing your audacity settings. In macOS it is in your user library folder, then “Application Support / Audacity”.