For some jobs it can be quicker and more convenient to use keyboard shortcuts rather than mouse control. A typical example is when appending a lot of files into one long track:
- Import all of the files, they will appear one below the other.
- Ctrl+3 to zoom out a bit (can also use Ctrl+Mouse Wheel to zoom in/out)
- Double click on the second track to select it
- Ctrl+X to cut the selected track
- Click on the [X] in the top left corner of the (now empty) track to delete the track *
- Use the “Up” cursor key to move focus to the top track
- Ctrl+K to go to the end of the track
- Ctrl+V to paste the copied track to the end of the first track
- Double click on the next track and repeat steps 4 to 8
Unfortunately step 5 switches from keyboard control to mouse control, which I find slows down the job significantly.
By default there is no keyboard shortcut for deleting the selected track, but fortunately there is an option (Audacity 1.3.x) to create one:
- Ctrl+P (open Preferences) and select “keyboard” in the left menu list
- Select “Category: Tracks”
- Scroll down the list if necessary and select “Remove Tracks” (it will probably be about the 9th item)
- Enter any unused shortcut key combination. I suggest using Ctrl+Del
- Click the “Set” button
- Click the “OK” button
Now step 5 in the previously mentioned procedure can be replace with:
5) Ctrl+Del (Delete selected track)
Note:Step 3 (Select track) can be accomplished through the keyboard with:
[]Home key (go to start)
[]Shift+K (Select to end of track).
Other useful shortcuts for procedures of this type:
Ctrl+A = Select All
Ctrl+Shift+A = Select None
Ctrl+1 = Zoom in
Ctrl+2 = Zoom Normal
Ctrl+3 = Zoom Out
The full keyboard shortcut reference can be found here: http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/Keyboard_Shortcut_Reference (also available in the Audacity manual from the Audacity Help menu)