Hi there,
I have an Audacity Project File located on my desktop, with tracks of recordings also on my desktop. Yesterday I moved all the files to my Documents and today I couldn’t open the aup because error messages “couldn’t find project data folder” and “could not load file” popped up. I remembered that I moved them to my Documents, so I moved them back to my desktop. However, the error boxes are still showing up.
Is there any way I can let Audacity know that the files are back to their original location?
Thanks 
There is some information [u]here[/u]. If you can keep the AUP file and the data folder together in the same location you should be able to recover. But, it’s best if you can avoid moving (or sharing) Audacity projects.
And/or export to WAV files, which are “normal” files that can more-easily be moved-around, copied, and backed-up, etc. (It depends on what you’re doing, but I rarely save a project.)
Do not, ever, change the names of either the AUP file or the _DATA folder.
You can open the AUP file in a text editor (don’t save anything) and read what the original name was.
Yes, as long as the two parts are sitting right next to each other, you should be OK.
The AUP file will not go through your machine looking for the _DATA folder.
Koz
Yesterday I moved all the files to my Documents
There is a silly joke about this. Only the obsessively neat people get nailed with this problem.
There is a much more serious possibility. Did this particular show open before you moved it?
A desperation diagnostic is to drill down into the _DATA folder and try to open one of the AU files in Audacity. The AUs should be tiny 6-second sound files and play just fine, although briefly. The AU files at the beginning of the pile are not sound files, so don’t try to open those.
Koz