Tip: Shortcut to delete selected track

[steve]

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:

1. Import all of the files, they will appear one below the other.
2. Ctrl+3 to zoom out a bit (can also use Ctrl+Mouse Wheel to zoom in/out)
3. Double click on the second track to select it
4. Ctrl+X to cut the selected track
5. Click on the [X] in the top left corner of the (now empty) track to delete the track *
6. Use the "Up" cursor key to move focus to the top track
7. Ctrl+K to go to the end of the track
8. Ctrl+V to paste the copied track to the end of the first track
9. 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:

1. Ctrl+P (open Preferences) and select "keyboard" in the left menu list
2. Select "Category: Tracks"
3. Scroll down the list if necessary and select "Remove Tracks" (it will probably be about the 9th item)
4. Enter any unused shortcut key combination. I suggest using Ctrl+Del
5. Click the "Set" button
6. 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/Keyb ... _Reference (also available in the Audacity manual from the Audacity Help menu)