How to CUT

[Furball]

Sorry to be such an idiot but I'm NOT computer literate. I am trying to edit a .wav recording in my computer. I use audacity to open it (the entire recording is there, no problem). All I want to know is how I can CUT the end off the recording. The "cut" symbol is greyed out and the tutorials only tell me what "cut" is....not how to use it. Can someone help me? Many thanks.
Furball

[steve]

Select the part of the track that you want to delete - (Left mouse click, hold the mouse button down, and drag along the track to the end, then release the left mouse button) - You will see that the selected area is highlighted.

Now, fro the "Edit" menu, select "Delete".

A good way to get started with Audacity is to work through some of the tutorials available here: http://audacityteam.org/help/

[jan.kolar]

This can make a problem to a beginner:

You are editing a project into which your Wav is actually "included".
You will want to export new wav at the end of your work.

Note that "included" above actually does not mean copied, it is only "pointed" or "used" by the project.
Therefore you should not delete or overwrite your original file.

[Furball]

Thank you SO Much for your responses. Steve, you seem to be the authority on stuff with audacity. I really appreciate you answering.
I looked through the tutorials but find them to be way above my head. And I couldn't find anything dealing with "cut". But I'll go back to them.
Thanks again.

[steve]

Try this tutorial, it starts at the beginning (a very good place to start ) and even has video clips to demonstrate the steps. http://www.edhsonline.org/other/audacity/index.html