Audacity Forum

Every time I export a file (as MP3 or WAV) and then try to close it, I get a pop-up asking me “Save project before closing?” As I don’t save projects, over time this gets tiresome and time-wasting.

In Preferences > Warnings: I have the “Saving projects” unticked, but I still get the pop-up.

Is there a way to avoid the pop-up confirmation, and close the file directly?

(Audacity 2.3.1 on Windows 10 64 bit, but the question applies generally).

Katzenfreund wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 13, 2019 12:53 pm

Is there a way to avoid the pop-up confirmation

No there isn't. Closing the project is final - once it's gone it's gone. The Audacity team are of the long held opinion that closing an unsaved project without warning would be negligent / foolhardy / dangerous. For the sake of ONE click per project...

Katzenfreund wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 13, 2019 12:53 pm

As I don’t save projects, over time this gets tiresome and time-wasting.

If you are doing a sequence of short tasks, you may not need to close Audacity each time - just delete the tracks and do whatever to the next file. You will then only be prompted once at the end of the session. However, note that working on a sequence of large files could cause Audacity's "Undo" history to grow very large.

Thanks for the answer steve, even if it’s not the one I would have liked. At least now I know, and your quick response is appreciated.

As for your suggestion when working in sequence, when I do, it’s usually several operations, undoing which won’t require fewer clicks. I could of course delete, but would then need the extra operation of selecting all (plus the large “Undo” you mention). Any net gain would be minimal.

If I can make a suggestion, though there is logic in the pop-up, there is also logic in letting the user decide for himself and take the responsibility for his decision. So someone who never works with projects can deactivate the pop-up, and if he later decides otherwise, reactivate it through the settings. To stress the importance of the pop-up, it's deactivation might be made to require 2 steps, with a warning in red about the consequences requiring (double) confirmation.

Not everybody works this way. Photoshop, for one example, assumes if you save your work, no matter what it is, that was your goal and doesn't badger you to save a Photoshop® PSD file. If you don't save anything it gets very cross with you.

It can also be argued that time wasters are not welcome. Anything that causes you to use the phrase "I had to stop what I was doing and..." should be avoided.

I have an extreme example when, in a hurry, I closed everything and shut down my machine. I got back at the end of the day and Audacity was holding the shutdown until I saved my project.

I'm not a fan.

Koz

kozikowski wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 13, 2019 6:09 pm

I'm not a fan.

Me neither, but having argued the case so many times before, I'm not sure I have the will to do so again

steve wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 13, 2019 6:24 pm

having argued the case so many times before, I'm not sure I have the will to do so again

Well, if you adopt my suggestion (last para of my previous post) you may not need to do so again.
I can’t imagine anybody complaining about absence of pop-up when he himself had deactivated it against all warnings.

Katzenfreund wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 13, 2019 7:10 pm

Well, if you adopt my suggestion (last para of my previous post) you may not need to do so again.

We have discussed this many times on the Audacity team and the consensus has always been to err on the side of safety and retain this warning with no option to permanently turn it off.

This is to avoid users forgetting that they have made a setting to turn it offf and weeks/months later forgetting to Save an existing project or to save changes made to a project - and thereby losing important work.

Katzenfreund wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 13, 2019 7:10 pm

I can’t imagine anybody complaining about absence of pop-up when he himself had deactivated it against all warnings.

But they'd complain mightily if and when they inadvertently lost an important project through failing to save it ...

Every time I export a file (as MP3 or WAV) and then try to close it, I get a pop-up asking me “Save project before closing?” As I don’t save projects, over time this gets tiresome and time-wasting.

I agree that this can seem tiresome to folk who work on a lot of projects in a day (as a QA tester I close many more projects, that don't need saving, than the average user) - but "time consuming" ? Just how much time does it take to click the "No" button (or Tab + Enter) if you want to avoid using the mouse.

WC