This is a tough solution to search for as the word OPEN is in so many posts but I’d like help on improving the OPEN command. I keep dozens and dozens of projects in a directory and, along with every AUP file, there is a *_data folder.
My problem is that when I wish to open an old project, I always have to scroll scroll scroll past all those folders until I get to the AUP file I need. Can’t Audacity somehow have a preference allowing file dialogues (OPEN, SAVE, etc…) suppress folders ending in _data?
It’s best not to keep projects for long term storage. If you are sure the project is finished, export it then delete the AUP file and _data folder.
See above.
Windows shows you the folders. Have you tried clicking to sort by date modified, or typing the first letter of the project in the “File name” box, then choosing from the list that appears?
Thanks but I occasionally go back to projects over a year old to tweak this setting or that. As an artist, I am never sure a project is finished and space is not an issue on a 3TB drive.
Yes. Unfortunately, while the sort order of both the files and folders will change, the folders will always display first.
In that case I would suggest one of the following:
For each project, create a new folder and name it to match the name of the project. Then put both the AUP file and the _data folder in it.
Create a ZIP archive of the projects. The contents of each ZIP file being the AUP file and its associated _data folder.
The advantage of (1) is that it is quick and easy.
The advantage of (2) is that it is likely to save around 40% disk space.
The advantage of both is that they keep the AUP file and _data folder safely together.
(For important projects I generally start by creating a folder, then put everything related to that project into the folder. When complete, I ZIP the folder and copy it to a network attached RAID drive.)
My problem is that when I wish to open an old project, I always have to scroll scroll scroll past all those folders until I get to the AUP file I need. Can’t Audacity somehow have a preference allowing file dialogues (OPEN, SAVE, etc…) suppress folders ending in _data?
You cannot do it from Audacity itself. But you can do it if you navigate to your “.aup” files using a file manager.
In Windows Explorer (Winkey+E), go to the directory where you store your Audacity Projects. In the Search box, enter “type:file” (without quote marks). Windows Explorer will only show the files present in the current directory.
In xplorer², go to the directory where you store your Audacity Projects, and press “Alt+J”. xplorer² will filter out the display of all folders in the directory.
You can then right-click the “.aup” file of interest, and choose “Open” in the menu. The Project will automatically open in Audacity.
Yes. Unfortunately, while the sort order of both the files and folders will change, the folders will always display first. [/quote]
Yes, but if you know the name of the project you want to open, you don’t even have to look at all the folders. Just start typing in the “File name” box in the dialogue. A list of file name matches appears underneath the file name box, then you can select from that list.
if you know the name of the project you want to open, you don’t even have to look at all the folders. Just start typing in the “File name” box in the dialogue. A list of file name matches appears underneath the file name box, then you can select from that list.
Audacity saves Projects using the same starting name for each “.aup” file and the associated “_data” folder. So if I start typing in the “.aup” “file name” in the Audacity dialogue, I get a list which includes not only the “.aup” files but also the associated folders. The folder names are still getting in the way…
In some cases, “type:file” does not work in the Windows File Explorer Search box. But “*.aup” seems to work in all cases, and the “_data” folder names are filtered out.
Yes, but at least the AUP names are interleaved with the folder names. You don’t have to scroll past all the folder names to find the AUP.
And are you sure that sorting in the export dialogue by descending date order (most recent first) doesn’t list files first? It does for me on Win 7. Explorer also lists files first if sorted in descending date order.
I do have xplorer2 set to “replace Explorer” but I have xplorer2 set to sort files with folders, not separately, so I don’t think xplorer2 is modifying what Windows does. Also the “short time” set in Windows “region and format” does not affect the separate sort.
I actually came up with a more creative solution which really solves multiple problems. I’m not sure how this will play out long term but I will give it a try for now.
In a nutshell, I wrote a program in AutoIT which loops thru my projects directory and does the following:
Remove _data from all directory names
Move the associated .aup file into that directory and call it aup.aup
Modify the project name within aup.aup to projname=""
… voila … the only thing in my projects folder are the other folders. All I need is to drill down to the song I want to work on and open aup.aup. The side effect is that it gives me total portability (at least on this operating system) with projects. I can move them around or rename them as I see fit without having to worry about not being able to open them again.
It does not matter which way xplorer2 is set to sort files and folders. If you click “View | Visual Filter > Hide Folders” (or press “Alt+J”), xplorer2 will filter out the display of all folders in the current directory.
This said, the solution found by “jaja714” seems ideal to me. Congrats, “jaja714”.
You can alternatively do a view per group by type). The *.aup files will naturally appear first. You can the opened files give another sorting, eg. by name or modification date (as I usually do)
That will only work if you want to do nothing else than play the project. As soon as you save the project, “projname” will be saved in the AUP as “aup_data” (which doesn’t exist), so the project will not open. You would have to change projname back to “” (which seems sufficient) to open the project.
Needless to say, we will not help you if you break your projects by moving or hand-editing AUP files in ways you are not supposed to.
and space is not an issue on a 3TB drive.