Export button

[MicahSixEight]

Hello. I am new and eager to begin helping out. So I have been trying to set up Audacity software on my laptop as per the recommended tutorial video. It says to move under the file tab from 'import' to 'export audio' but on my menu the option to do so is inactive. I'm stuck. What to do?

[Peter Why]

Do you actually have an Audacity recording to export? Menu options are greyed out when they haven't got anything to work on.

Peter

[MicahSixEight]

I see. Thanks. I am just learning, and not a tech guy at all, obviously...

[lizJns]

Hello,
I'm new too and I figured out that you do have to record something straight onto Audacity to get the Export button to become available. However, the Options button comes up differently on my computer. First of all, it gives me Bit Rate Mode with three options to choose. The only choice that allowed 128 Kbps to be selected was "Constant". I then was able to select 128 kbps under "Quality". Then it showed Variable Speed as Fast, but I wasn't able to do anything with that to so I left it alone. Finally, the last of the options that came up was Channel Mode with three options: Joint Stereo, Stereo and Force to Mono. Since the video didn't say what to do here I originally thought Force to Mono, but then in watching the video once more I saw very briefly that as Chenevert types in 128 kbps "Stereo" is actually indicated. I am hoping very much this is correct. If someone who has tech/spec knowledge can confirm, I'd appreciate it.
Thanks, Liz

[TriciaG]

Liz - Yes:

- Bit Rate Mode = Constant
- Quality = 128 kbps
- Variable speed is blanked out, so don't worry about it
- Mine is "joint stereo". I don't think it matters. I do think that some people, if they haven't set their recording to be in mono, can use "Force export to mono" to make it mono at this point, but this wasn't always an option, and actually setting the recording to be in mono from the start makes the most sense.

[lizJns]

Yay, thank you for that quick reply!
Liz