Audacity: Switching timeline to beats and measures

Joe at Claricast·Feb 2026

Demo summary

A walkthrough of changing the timeline ruler from seconds to musical beats and measures and enabling the snap-to-grid feature.

Step-by-step

Right-click on the timeline ruler
Select Beats and Measures from the context menu
Navigate to the bottom left of the interface
Enable the Snap checkbox
Adjust the measure setting to your preferred note value, such as quarter or eighth notes

Options

Switch between seconds and beats and measures
Select different snap increments like quarter notes or eighth notes

Tips

Use beats and measures if you are producing music or timing a podcast intro
Enable the snap feature to ensure edits align perfectly with beats and bars

Highlights

“This is especially useful if you're producing music, but again, if you just want to time things”

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8:101:04Copying smart clips between Audacity sessionsA demonstration of copying an audio segment from one project and pasting it into another as a 'smart clip' to retain editing flexibility.Joe at Claricast
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