problem running audacity on mac

[gibby]

I've had a few years of excellent experience with Audacity, but it was all on PC. My wife and I have just switched over to mac. Here's something I noticed about macs that differs from PCs.

After doing a fresh boot, I start an application and the little icon on the bottom tray bounces. When I close the application, and then start it again, it doesn't bounce. Trivial, right?

Yes, it's trivial, but what it signifies is something I'm grappling with - at least when it comes to Audacity in particular. When I first start audacity, the icon does its little bouncy thing, and the application starts. After closing it, however, and attempting to restart, it doesn't bounce nor does it come up on the screen.

Now, I have a hunch that it's not actually failing to start, it's just not showing on the screen. In fact, I don't even think I've really closed the application the first time - I just made it invisible - and that's probably what the non-bouncing means (it's already started, and we're just making it visible).

I say this because I've noticed something similar with iTunes. When I have iTunes open, and I have something playing, and then I close it (click the red x in the top left corner), it disappears from the screen, but the music keeps playing. So I'm guessing that clicking the little red x doesn't actually shut down the application - it just hides it somewhere.

If I'm right, then something similar should be happening to Audacity. However, unlike iTune - and this is where I'm struggling - it doesn't re-appear when I click on its icon. This is what I need to figure out. How do I bring Audacity up after I've closed it (or made it invisible) the first time (other than rebooting my computer)?

Whether it's iTunes, Audacity, or any other application, clicking the red x doesn't miniturize it to the lower right corner of the application tray (where active applications sit), so I can't access it from there. There must be some other means by which to access it. Is there a list of currently running programs that I can access from the OS somewhere? Is there some special way of clicking on the Audacity icon to force it to come up? Am I completely wrong about my analysis of what's going on?

Please help. Thanks.

[kozikowski]

The two computers use different metaphors. The little red (x) puts the application to one side so you can work on something else, but doesn't close it. Audacity > Quit closes the program completely.

File > New or File > Open should bring your desktop tools back.

Koz

[gibby]

Hey, thanks. That worked.