Editing, resizing and moving Labels

Methods for changing labels: moving them, resizing them, changing their text content.

Changing the length and position of labels with the mouse

You can move a label by clicking and dragging its circle handle. You can change the length of a label by clicking and dragging its triangle handle.

Holding Shift while dragging reverses this behavior, so that

dragging a circle handle changes the length of the label, and
dragging a triangle handle moves the label.

For example, this lets you resize a label by holding Shift while dragging its circle handle, then release Shift to move the resized label without having to move the mouse pointer to its triangle handle.

In the case where two labels meet you can adjust the junction point where they meet by clicking and dragging their shared circle handle.

Moving a point label

You can move a point label by clicking and dragging its circle handle:


Before	After

Expanding a point label

You can expand a point label into a region label by clicking and dragging either of its triangle handles:


Before	After

Moving and resizing a region label

You can move a region label by clicking and dragging either of its circle handles:


Before	After

You can change the length of a region label by clicking and dragging one of its triangle handles:


Before	After

Adjusting the junction point where two labels meet

You can adjust the junction point where two labels meet by clicking and dragging their shared circle handle:


Before	After

Moving a label when there is a selection

The illustration below shows what happens if you click in a label to select it, press Enter, then move the label.


Before moving a label with a selection	After moving a label with a selection

Contrast this to what happens if you click in a label to select it, then move the label.


Before moving a label when the label is selected	After moving a label when the label is selected

Using cut, copy and paste

The following examples of cutting labels with will move back any labels that follow to right of the removed label(s). To cut the label without moving following labels, use .

Cutting and Pasting Region Labels

You can cut and paste region labels using Edit > Cut and Edit > Paste, but you have to make sure you do not select any audio, or you will end up cutting and pasting audio where you probably did not intend.

In the image below, the label was selected by clicking in it, then the audio track was unselected by Ctrl-clicking in the Track Control Panel's Select button of the audio track (this can also be done with the keyboard by Enter, Up then Enter).

The label was then cut to the clipboard with Edit > Cut:

To paste the label at a different point in the audio track, either

click in the label track at the point where you would like the label to begin, or
click in the audio track at the point where you would like the label to begin then Shift + Down-arrow to extend the selection to the label track.

The label can then be pasted to that spot using Edit > Paste.

Cutting and Pasting Point Labels

To cut and paste a point label to a different location, first select the text of the label as shown below. Note the difference in appearance of selected label text (the text is highlighted separately from the box) versus a selected label (where the entire label box is highlighted).

Do Edit > Cut (shortcut Ctrl + X) - the text of the label is cut to the clipboard, leaving a label with no text.
Press Delete to delete the label, or right-click in the label and choose Delete Label from the context menu.
Click in the new location for the label and do Edit > Labels > Paste Text to New Label.

Using the Context Menu

If you right-click on a label, the label's context menu will appear:

The context menu offers the following options

Cut: - cuts any selected text in the label and place it on the clipboard
Copy: - copies any selected text in the label and place it on the clipboard
Paste: - pastes the contents of the clipboard to the label
Delete Label: - deletes the entire label
Edit: - opens the Labels Editor with just the current label

Using the Labels Editor

The Labels Editor lets you add or remove Label Tracks and edit their labels entirely using the keyboard, so is particularly useful for visually impaired users.

Edit > Labels > Edit Labels... launches a keyboard-accessible Labels Editor. This shows all the labels at once in a tabular view, similar to a spreadsheet. Each row represents a single individual label:

Links

|< Label Tracks