Trim is greyed out, selections don't stay

Audacity Help Forum Windows
1

Using Windows 7, installed from .exe. Instructions for clipping a section of audio say zoom in, hold down Shift, click at start and again at end, stop it playing and then Edit > Remove Audio > Trim. Doesn’t work: stopping it playing makes the selection disappear (as does the selection coming to an end) and Trim is greyed out. What am I doing wrong?

2

I think those instructions are wrong. Can you post a link to where you found them?

If you can describe exactly what you are trying to do then we can probably provide better instructions.

3

I found them at file:///C:/Program%20Files/Audacity/help/manual/man/tutorial_editing_an_existing_file.html

I’m trying to select a section, trim to the section and save it.

4

Is this the section that you’re referring to: http://manual.audacityteam.org/manual/help/manual/man/tutorial_editing_an_existing_file.html#Walk_through_deleting_all_but_approximately_10_seconds_of_selected_audio

To cut this audio file down to 10 seconds, follow these steps:

  1. Click near the point where you want the 10-second piece to begin.
  2. Zoom in until the Timeline shows 10 seconds or more before and after the cursor.
  3. While holding down the shift key, click 10 seconds to the right of the cursor.

Those instructions are assuming that playback is currently stopped.
I’ve changed that so that in the next version of the manual it will say:

To cut this audio file down to 10 seconds, follow these steps:

  1. With playback stopped, click near the point where you want the 10-second piece to begin.
  2. Zoom in until the Timeline shows 10 seconds or more before and after the cursor.
  3. While holding down the SHIFT key, click 10 seconds to the right of the cursor.

Does that work now?

5

OK, sorry maybe i don’t understand what we are talking about here, but when i need to TRIM, i put the cursor on the waveform where i want to start the trim and and click, the cursor turns into a hand and i hold the left mouse button down and drag to the END of the trim, release the button and press delete, the space inbetween is deleted, i then export so as to save the original file, Am i talking about the same thing?? if not pleasae excuse the interruption. Marty

6

I think you may be working too hard. You can simply click, drag, and let go anywhere on the timeline to make a selection. Three actions. You don’t need any other steps. It works backwards, too. You can get completely crazy by setting a label at both of the places. The labels become sticky or magnetic when you drag-select. That’s for very long selections.
Koz

7

If you’re used to a video editor, you’ll find that you can’t easily move the cursor by typing time offsets. In Final Cut, you click and type + 1 0 0 0 [enter] and the cursor leaps forward ten seconds. No such tool in Audacity that I know of. Koz

8

Although those Manual instructions assume as Steve says that playback is already stopped, you should when playing be able to click to set the start of a selection, SHIFT-click to set the end of the selection (so drawing the selection) then use SPACE to stop without removing the selection. This assumes you have not reassigned SPACE to Play/Stop and Set Cursor.

That isn’t a trim in Audacity or much technical terminology. A trim in Audacity terminology is removing everything except the selection, which remains.

Clicking on the Timeline only makes a temporary playback region. It doesn’t create or affect an existing selection:
Index of /man .


Gale