Audacity Keyboard Shortcuts
Learning these shortcuts will significantly speed up your editing workflow.
Playback and recording
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
| Spacebar | Play / Stop |
| R | Record (starts recording at the end of existing audio) |
| Shift + R | Record a new track (records on a separate track) |
| P | Pause (resumes from the same position) |
| Home | Move playhead to the beginning |
| End | Move playhead to the end |
| Left / Right arrow | Move playhead back / forward by a short amount |
Selection
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
| Ctrl + A | Select all |
| F1 | Switch to Selection tool |
| F2 | Switch to Envelope tool (for volume automation) |
| F3 | Switch to Draw tool |
| F4 | Switch to Multi tool |
| [ or ] | Snap selection start or end to playhead position |
Editing
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
| Ctrl + Z | Undo |
| Ctrl + Y | Redo |
| Delete | Delete selected audio (closes the gap) |
| Ctrl + X | Cut selected audio |
| Ctrl + C | Copy selected audio |
| Ctrl + V | Paste audio at the playhead position |
| Ctrl + D | Duplicate selection to a new track |
| Ctrl + L | Silence selection (replaces with silence instead of deleting) |
View
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
| Ctrl + scroll wheel | Zoom in / out horizontally on the waveform |
| Ctrl + Shift + F | Fit the entire project in the window |
| Ctrl + E | Zoom in to the selected region |
Export
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
| Ctrl + Shift + E | Export Audio (opens the Export dialog) |
Last modified: Thursday, 18 June 2026, 12:24 AM
