Menu Bar
View
The View menu — zoom, panels, workspaces, waveform display options and window layout.
The View menu changes what you see without changing the audio itself: zooming the timeline, opening panels such as the label editor, metadata editor and history, switching workspaces, going full screen, toggling waveform display options, and restoring the default window layout.
Nothing in this menu edits your project’s audio — every command here is about how the project is displayed.
Zoom
The Zoom submenu controls how much of the timeline you see at once: zooming in and out, returning to the default zoom, fitting the selection or the whole project to the window, toggling between two zoom levels, and collapsing or expanding all tracks.
When zooming, Audacity keeps the view anchored sensibly: with an active selection it zooms around the selection’s centre, otherwise around the playback position. Several of these commands are also buttons in the toolbar’s zoom group — see the Toolbar section.
Zoom in
Zooms the timeline in, doubling the zoom level so a shorter stretch of the project is shown in more detail. Shortcut:
Zoom out
Zooms the timeline out, halving the zoom level so a longer stretch of the
project fits on screen. Shortcut:
Zoom default
Returns the timeline to the default zoom level, whatever zoom you are currently at. The view stays anchored on the selection’s centre if there is an active selection, or on the playback position otherwise.
Zoom to selection
Zooms so the current selection fills the visible timeline. It needs a selection to work on. The same command is a toolbar button, labelled Fit selection there — see Zoom to Selection.
Zoom toggle
Switches between two preset zoom levels, jumping to whichever of the two is further from your current zoom — so you can flip between a close-up view and a wider one without stepping through Zoom in and Zoom out. Shortcut:
Zoom to fit project
Zooms so the whole project fits in the visible timeline, from the start to
the end of the last clip. Shortcut:
Collapse all tracks
Reduces every track in the project to its collapsed height, so more tracks fit on screen at once. Shortcut:
Expand all tracks
Returns every track in the project to full height — the counterpart to Collapse all tracks.
Skip to
Not yet enabled in the current Audacity 4 alpha.
The Skip to submenu will hold two commands for moving the playback position without playing: skip to the selection’s start, and skip to its end. The submenu is present in the menu but greyed out in this alpha.
Show effects panel
Shows or hides the effects panel — the panel beside the tracks where each track’s realtime effects are listed and managed. When the command opens the panel, keyboard focus moves into it. The menu item is checked while the panel is visible.
Show label editor
Opens the label editor, where the project’s labels can be reviewed and edited in one place rather than one at a time on the label track.
Show metadata editor
Opens the metadata editor dialog, where the project’s metadata — the tag information carried into exported files, such as title and artist — can be edited.
Show history
Shows or hides the history panel, which lists the project’s undoable changes. It gives a view of the same undo history that Undo and Redo step through one change at a time. The menu item is checked while the panel is open.
Workspaces
The Workspaces submenu lists the available workspaces so you can switch between them — the same choice offered by the workspace dropdown in the top right corner of the window.
For what workspaces are and how to edit or create them, see Workspaces.
Full screen
Toggles the Audacity window in and out of full screen. Choosing it again — or using your operating system’s usual full-screen control — returns to a normal window.
Show clipping in waveform
Toggles whether clipping — audio that reaches or exceeds full scale — is marked in the waveform display. It only changes how the waveform is drawn; the audio itself is untouched. The menu item is checked while the option is on.
The setting applies to the whole application, not per project.
Show RMS in waveform
Toggles the RMS overlay in the waveform display. RMS (root mean square) is a measure of average level, so with the option on each waveform shows an inner, lighter band of perceived loudness inside the peak outline. Display only — the audio itself is untouched. The menu item is checked while the option is on.
The setting applies to the whole application, not per project.
Show vertical rulers
Toggles the vertical rulers — the per-track scale along each track’s edge that shows amplitude values for the waveform. See Vertical Rulers for more on the rulers themselves. The menu item is checked while the rulers are shown.
The setting applies to the whole application, not per project.
Restore the default layout
Puts the window’s panels and toolbars back to their default arrangement. Useful when panels have been moved, resized or hidden and you want the standard layout back. Your project’s audio is unaffected.
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