What Is Quick-Play in Audacity?

The Quick-Play feature on the timeline ruler in Audacity allows users to immediately start audio playback from any chosen point or audition a specific region without altering the project's main edit cursor or selection. This tool significantly speeds up editing workflows by providing a fast, non-destructive way to preview audio sections on the fly.

When you hover your mouse pointer over the Timeline Ruler—the horizontal strip at the top of the track display showing time increments—the pointer changes into a small green play triangle. Clicking anywhere on this ruler initiates playback instantly from that exact timestamp, bypassing the need to use the standard Play button or move your editing cursor.

Quick-Play also supports region previews. By clicking and dragging along the ruler, you define a temporary playback region. Audacity will instantly play the highlighted interval and automatically stop when it reaches the end of the dragged area. If you hold down the Shift key while clicking or dragging on the ruler, Quick-Play will loop the playback of the selected region continuously.

The primary benefit of Quick-Play is cursor preservation. During complex editing sessions, deselecting audio or moving the playback head can interrupt your workflow. Quick-Play allows you to navigate and listen to different parts of the timeline while keeping your active track selections, labels, and cursor positions completely undisturbed.

You can configure Quick-Play settings by right-clicking directly on the Timeline Ruler. This context menu lets you toggle the feature on or off, lock the play region, or enable dragging to scroll while audio is playing.