Cant open any files

Audacity is being so slow. I can’t open any files. I’ve been waiting for like 30 minutes but there is just a rainbow loading thing. Does anyone have suggestions for how i could fix this

Which version of Audacity?

This could happen, for example, if your project file is on network or cloud drive.

a rainbow loading thing.

The video people call that the Rotating Beach Ball of Death. RBBOD.

You get that when the Mac has done everything it can to access or open some work, but the opening is taking longer than the time allotted.

There’s a trick to using network or cloud drives. Don’t let Audacity see them.

Do all your production on the computer internal drive. Opening, closing, importing, overdubbing, exporting, saving, and Project management. Close Audacity and then shuffle files around to network or cloud drives. Same thing in reverse. Move all the work to your internal drive and then open Audacity. There’s a fuzzy rule. You should be able to unplug your network or shut down your WiFi and use Audacity just fine.

If you insist on using those drives for production, you could send valuable work off to iCloud and never see it again.

Oddly, there’s nothing broken. Network and cloud drives are not fast or stable enough for Audacity to use for audio production.

Koz

I bet you’re getting ready to type: “How am I going to record my Zoom meetings?”

Recording Zoom meetings at home can be unstable. Depending on your setup, it’s likely to be unstable.

You can get Zoom to record them for you. If everybody in the meeting is listening with headphones, earphones, or earbuds, most of the Zoom sound distortion will vanish.

Koz