transfering audacity files from windows 10 to Mac

Audacity Help Forum macOS
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I have been using audacity for about 5 years on my windows 10. Now I have a need to go to a new Mac. Are their certain challenges or should this be a somewhat easy task? Please advise, all of my existing Audacity files are stored on external hard drive.
The using of Audacity has been a painless adventure over these last years…
Thanks …Warren

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The main differences on Mac are:

  • Keyboard shortcuts that use the “Ctrl” key on Windows, are in most cases the same except they use the “Command” key instead.
  • The main menu is at the top of the display rather than the top of the app.
  • When you close Audacity, the app is still running in the background (same with other apps). To shut down Audacity entirely, you have to “Quit” the application.
  • If the Mac goes to sleep while Audacity is still running, you may have trouble restarting Audacity (this may have been fixed in the latest version, but still best to disable power saving while using Audacity).
  • “Finder” will not show hidden files or folders. If you need to open a hidden folder, use “Go” and enter the exact folder path (or use a better file browser).

There shouldn’t be a compatibility problem with your old projects, but keep backups just in case. Remember that an Audacity project is not just the “.AUP” file, it is the “.AUP” file and the “_data” folder.

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Now I have a need to go to a new Mac.

Because…?

Sometimes knowing that will let us predict what the shortcomings are going to be.

Can you speak Linux? Macs are built on a Linux base and the Linux is still back there if you need it. I did this with the Terminal app. Built in.


Screen Shot 2019-05-28 at 13.57.30.png

an Audacity project is not just the “.AUP” file, it is the “.AUP” file and the “_data” folder.

And they have to be in the same place or folder, they have to have the same name and it has to be the name you gave them in Audacity.




Do you have dates in your filenames? That’s a poor idea. Use ISO dates: 2019-05-28.

Cross-compatibility can be pretty good. I recently rescued the system drive from a Windows 98 machine with an external drive cabinet and my MacBook Pro.

The system may not have made it over, but all the data files did.

Koz