Unable to open target file for writing

[Helpme]

Just recently I got Audacity for my Mac. It is Audacity 1.2.5. I wanted it so I could stereo record some sound effects for a little project of mine. However, the program that I use for the project does not allow you to edit any imported audio, so I relied on Audacity.

Unfortunately, every time I try to export a file, it says "Unable to open target file for writing." I've searched this up a million times and the only solution is to remove "forbidden" characters. That is not that case here. I have no dashes or unicode characters. I have LAME for Audacity. I keep trying but it doesn't work.

I've even tried making a blank recording with no name at all, saving it, and then trying to export it. What do I get? Unable to open target file.

Does anyone have a fix for this? I'm not going to sound effect sites, the effects are pretty bad and the best ones you have to pay for, which is ridiculous.

[kozikowski]

The problem may be a little more basic. Stop using Audacity 1.2.5 immediately.

http://audacityteam.org/download/beta_mac

You don't have to take 1.2.5 off. They will both install, but you can only use one at a time and Audacity 1.3 projects will not open in 1.2 -- not that you'd want to.

Audacity 1.2 is not supported on modern Macs. I have one Mac where it won't launch at all.

Check out the file management and if you still have problems, write back.

Koz

[corbokhan]

I'm having this same problem!

[steve]

I'm having this same problem!

Then it's the same suggestion - upgrade to Audacity 1.3.12

[jennder]

I am using Audacity 1.3.12, trying to export to mp3 and having the same problem!

[kozikowski]

There is one other thing that can mess this up, did you use MP3 metadata panel and did you use forbidden characters there? Like write down the artist and music type, other notes, etc, etc. By Audacity 1.3.12, you're supposed to have to worry about this, but sometimes you still do. Try Exporting the show as WAV and just OK the metadata information panel without typing anything into it. You can prevent the metadata panel from even coming up at all in Audacity Preferences.

Try exporting the work to the desktop even if that's not where it's eventually going to go.

Does you filename go over 32 characters? Try a shorter one just as a test.

Try downloading this six second piano solo, open it, and export as WAV. Does that work?

http://www.kozco.com/tech/piano2.wav

If everything just doesn't want to work, you may need to restart the Audacity Preferences. This will clear Audacity back to First Birthday when you downloaded it, so write down any special preferences or settings you have. This is the nuclear option and it's officially how to "reinstall" Audacity. Trashing the program file doesn't do anything.

Close Audacity. Trash this folder:

Go > Home > Library > Application Support > audacity

Launch Audacity and it should open in First Birthday with the opening and welcome screen.

If it doesn't, then this could be part of the problem. You can have multiple preference files fighting with each other for control.

We'll take that as we go.

I can't stress enough that even though we're in the forum for Audacity 1.2, Audacity 1.2 is not supported on newer Macs and is unstable and in certain conditions unusable. Only use Audacity 1.3.12 (or later) from here:

http://audacityteam.org/download/beta_mac

It comes with its own special lame and FFMpeg software for MP3 and special formats, so you can't use older ones you already have.

Koz

[billw58]

"Unable to open target file for writing" usually indicates a "/" (slash) in the filename.

-- Bill

[kozikowski]

<<<Unfortunately, every time I try to export a file, it says "Unable to open target file for writing." I've searched this up a million times and the only solution is to remove "forbidden" characters. That is not that case here. I have no dashes or unicode characters. I have LAME for Audacity. I keep trying but it doesn't work. >>>

The original post was pretty clear about that, although I suppose it could be a misunderstanding of what forbidden is.

No dates. Write dates 20101110, not 11/10/10. Slashmarks are forbidden.

Koz

[bgravato]

It would be good if we had some feedback for all those users... I'm assuming, from their silence, that they solved the problem. It would good to know what the problem was and how they solved it...

Therefore, Helpme, corbokhan and jennder, we'd appreciate if you could give us some feedback wether you solved your problem(s) or not and how...

[herald22]

I just followed these instructions. and it DID NOT work! This is very frustrating. HELP!