each time I switch from using desk mike and speakers, to using headset.
is there a way to do that from within Audacity app?
What a marvelous idea
The exact behaviour depends on how the sound system works on your computer (it can vary from one PC to another).
An important limiting factor is that Audacity can only see changes to the sound system by scanning the sound system. This does not happen automatically because it takes too long, and would interrupt your workflow if it scanned repeatedly. Instead, scanning the sound system is “on demand” (“Transport menu > Rescan Audio Devices”).
On some systems, when you plug in a new audio device (such as a microphone or headphones),then Windows will automatically switch to using the new device by default. Unfortunately this is not always useful - for example, on plugging in a USB recording device (such as a USB mic or USB turntable), Windows “may” select the new device as the default for both recording and playback, but a USB mic / turntable may not support playback.
If you select “Microsoft Sound Mapper” as the recording and playback device, then Audacity will use whatever Windows decides to set as the default. This can work for some users as Windows may automatically switch to the headset when you plug it in, and switch back to the built-in sound card when you disconnect the headset. As I said earlier, this does not work for everyone as Windows will often make bad choices for the default devices.
no biggee. I’ll click on the speaker icon in the win 11 system tray and change devices there as needed.